Normally in Old Firm games, at least one side has some momentum going into it. This can be a run of wins, highly rated new signings or even a result in a difficult game. It’s hard to remember one where both sides of the fixture are in such poor form. Both sets of fans are still waiting to be convinced on summer signings, Rangers got humiliated in Eindhoven whilst Celtic have a loss and a draw against Killie and St Johnstone respectively in the run up to this derby. Both sides have lumbered towards this game with many fans declaring the winner will be the least rubbish of the two, rather than expecting a performance from their side.
In my opinion it would have been hard for Rangers to have a worse performance before the first derby of the season. Losing to PSV in itself isn’t humiliating, they are a very good side with some quality players but losing in the manner we did is another thing entirely. A lack of hunger, a lack of quality and even a lack of luck were all on display from our team in the Phillips Stadium and whilst it’s fair to say how good PSV are it’s equally fair to point out just how poor we were. It is also worth noting for all there was a gap in quality there isn’t such a gap financially with PSV having a similar wage bill and annual turnover as our own club. Obviously it wont be said in the press but this must have been a confidence draining trip for the squad as they just didn’t have an answer for the Dutch side.
Goldson’ horror own goal summed up our night in Eindhoven
We have also had a poor transfer window by most standards. The jury is still out on our attacking players that have been bought to the club. Dessers is struggling to make an impact, Danilo seems to have been caught with dodgy pictures of the managers wife as he can’t buy a start and Lammers control is just about at opposite ends of the spectrum with him either controlling the ball like velcro or his second touch becomes a tackle. Sima has looked poor outside that one moment of quality and Cifuentes has seen our two biggest games pass him by. Even if all of the aforementioned players come good there are still some fairly glaring holes in our business. We followed one CB but when he went elsewhere we apparently had no backup plan whilst everyone knows we need another LB. Then there is the lack of width in the team with only Sima, a true winger from the new signings. We bought in lots of attackers but most would agree there are areas of our squad which still need addressed.
Outside of the PSV result and the transfer business perhaps the biggest target for fans ire is manager, Michael Beale. Our shape in that PSV game seemed ineffective as the lack of width exposed our full backs and his midfield setup offered little cover. Despite everyone seeing it wasn’t working in that first half we then came out and continued to do the same. By the time we did change shape a bit, it was already too late. This isn’t the first time either and people are beginning to wonder if Beale is perhaps a little to married to his “philosophy.” He also has a habit of saying things which come back to bite him. It was Beale who said we needed a defender and also Beale who said we needed to replace Kent, neither of which we’ve done. It is also Beale who has signed all these players but then played them in positions they aren’t accustomed too.
Beale has it all to prove vs Celtic
All of these factors have combined to make this a must win game for the manager. The league wont be decided at the final whistle tomorrow but it’s fair to say fan opinion on manager and team may well be. Win and things will be better heading into the international break. Lose and a lot of the fan base will be piling on the pressure but lose badly and the Giovanni van Bronckhorst comparisons will be coming out with many believing that defeat, in the corresponding fixture last year was the beginning of the end for him.
Beale’s case probably isn’t helped by the usual Celtic cheerleaders applying their pressure on the match officials in advance of the fixture. In the latest example of things that didn’t happen Allan Stubbs has come out and claimed a referee told him the ref would never give a penalty against Rangers, to Celtic. Popular Twitter / X account, Jas Boyd has done some digging and identified the ref Stubbs is referring to by Stubbs previous comments on the platform. The ref in question is McCluskey and in a rather strange twist he actually gave Celtic a penalty against Rangers prior to supposedly telling Stubbs this.
Going into tomorrow there wasn’t much to report on squad wise. Roofe comes back into contention after not being named in the UCL qualifying squad and many will feel after scoring last weekend he may provide a better option than the new guys. Barasic who hobbled off in the PSV game comes back into contention with the manager revealing in yesterdays presser that following a scan the injury wasn’t as bad as thought. The only absentee for us is Kieran Dowell who is on the mend apparently but the Old Firm just comes too early for him to be ready.
As for who plays or what shape they play it’s a bit of a guessing game as we continue to see things moving around. Key questions ahead of this one are do we play the three at the back he has mentioned numerous times or stick with a back four. For me the three at the back is too risky to deploy from the off as we haven’t played it enough so far. With news of Barasic being ready I suspect it will be the usual suspects here with Butland playing behind Tavernier, Goldson, Souttar and Barasic. Unfortunately this doesn’t fill me with confidence as this is the same backline (outside Butland) that conceded so many goals last season. Whilst I fully agree Souttar is more equipped to deal with the rough and tumble of Scottish football it’s fair to say he is very prone to making a mistake, dare I say it, perhaps more so than the oft maligned Ben Davies. We all know the danger Kyogo gives to Celtic going forward and between him in the middle and Abada cutting in from the right against Barasic it could be a long afternoon for the defence.
Barisic came off vs PSV but is fine to return for the weekend
In midfield we are likely to see a similar story. Both Raskin and Cantwell will likely start and both have played this fixture previously. The final place is up for debate with Cifuentes, Jack and Lundstram all vying for the spot. For me I would go Ryan Jack in this fixture with his ball winning and breaking up play likely to be crucial to victory. Cifuentes was a passenger in both PSV games and with a similar level of intensity likely at Ibrox, it might be better for both the team and the player to leave him out and let him get up to speed in the other domestic fixtures first.
Up front is more of a lottery with so many players able to play there, especially when we don’t know how the front line will set up. Will it be a front three with one striker and two wingers, perhaps a single striker with two tens in behind or two strikers with one ten behind. So far we’ve seen it all and whilst there have been some good individual moments we’ve yet to see any of these setups yield the level of play we want consistently.
Perhaps the most interesting (or damning, depending on your view) point is there is a good chance two of the three front men who start might be players that were already here. Kemar Roofe is a secret to none of us. The guy is widely acknowledged as our best finisher and likely wouldn’t even be with Rangers if he could stay fit. Following surgery, a lengthy recovery period and being eased back into action he is now fit and showed the fans what they expect with a smartly taken goal, away to Ross County. In most of our minds there is that nagging doubt that as soon as we get used to him being in the squad he will be injured again which causes us to not want to rely on him but given the travails of our other strikers we may need to do exactly that and trust him to secure the OF result we want.
Even more of a shock is the sudden emergence of Rabbi Matondo this season. If you had asked me to compare him to another player previously it would be Sakala, minus the goals and assists. Last year, Matondo had been erratic in his time on the pitch and shown some really poor decision making but this season we’ve started to see why clubs have paid big money for the guy despite him accomplishing very little so far. With pace to spare and a really neat dribbling ability he was desperately unlucky not to score in the PSV second leg, seeing his effort come back off the post. I said on a podcast the other week that whilst I was hoping he continued his form, it was way too early to declare he had “come good” and I still maintain that is the case. A few good showings doesn’t amount to a successful career at Rangers but he is definitely on the right track now and his confidence will be flying after earning a call up for his native Wales. A good showing in the Old Firm will only add to the confidence he is feeling.
Matondo continues his redemption in a Rangers shirt
That leaves one slot available up front and I suspect this will go to Cyriel Dessers, playing infront of Matondo on the left and Roofe coming off the right as we all know he can do. Personally I wouldn’t play Dessers in this one as I think he will be easily handled by the Celtic defence in a similar manner to how the PSV defence controlled him but all the evidence suggests he is Beales man for the main occasions.
With a leaky defence and a stop / start attack Rangers don’t have a right to expect much from this game but our opposition are looking equally poor with a stop gap defence, a keeper their fans are questioning and failing to score in their last two domestic games. I think this will be quite a tight game and expect to see a Rangers 2-1 Celtic result with Matondo and Roofe scoring our goals.
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