Celtic went to Ibrox today with a squad which has been badly struggling due to multiple injuries and still left with all three points in what was a fantastic show of guts and passion to deliver a result which heaps even more pressure on theRangers manager Mick Beale.
A lot of fans weren’t overly looking forward to this one, myself included, due to the fact that we haven’t looked especially good over the past few weeks as the players try to get to grips with the type of football their manager Brendan Rodgers wants them to play. Today however we got the first glimpse of what the future will hold as the team looked way more fluid than what we have seen from them so far this season.
I have mentioned before in a previous article that a lot of us assumed that when Brendan Rodgers came back he wouldn’t have to change much as previous manager Ange Postecoglou had this team playing good, exciting football which was getting results and saw us continue to pick up all of the silverware available in Scottish football. An elite manager like Rodgers however was never going to follow someone else’s blueprint to success and was always going to want to implement his own style on this Celtic team.
Up until today that style has been a bit of a hard watch as we witnessed the team struggle to get to grips with their new managers vision, offering up what looked like a disjointed approach that was far from easy on the eye.
Today however, especially in that first half, we got a glimpse of what it is Rodgers wants from these players. In previous games it all looked a bit sluggish but today the zip was back, the fluidity was there for all to see.
The perfect example of this was Callum McGregor. Our captain has been uncharacteristically out of sorts over the past few weeks but today he was back to his best. He alone set the tempo of that game. He demanded the ball constantly. He was always on hand to receive a pass, especially when the player on the ball looked to have got himself into trouble.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching some of our build up play today. The players were brave on the ball, they showed composure and more often than not played their way out of danger by passing in triangles rather than just hoofing the ball out of their own box. It all looked very controlled. Our rivals could not live with our passing in that first half as we cut through them with ease. We looked like a proper football team while they were the ones who looked disjointed and clueless.
A lot of the post game talk has been around their ruled out goal, with their manager stating that he thought they were the better side on the day but unfortunately didn’t take their chances. I don’t know what game he was watching but in all honesty Celtic could have put this game to bed on a few occasions. On another day Kyogo could have, and probably should have, scored a hat-trick. Liel Abada was also denied a certain goal by a wonderful fingertip save from Jack Butland.
We pretty much dominated that game up until the latter part of the second half when we decided to defend and hang on to what we had. Although they had a few half chances I have to say I never really felt like they were going to score.
One of the most fascinating aspects of today’s match up was where the two teams are at. Celtic are only a couple of months into the new Brendan Rodgers era. Mick Beale has been in charge over there for almost a year now. Our squad is still trying to get used to the new managers style of play. After this long theRangers still seem to be trying to work out what Beale’s style is.
On top of that we are going through a bit of an injury crisis, particularly in defence. What will be our regular starting centre backs when the players currently injured return? Our right back is only back from injury and currently can’t play the full 90 mins. Our left back had to go off injured today. We finished today with a backline of Ralston, Scales, Lagerbielke and Bernabei. None of them will be starters when we are at full strength. We are still missing one of our top players in Hatate, his replacement today David Turnbull was anonymous.
We also have three new signings who have only came in during the past few days who we still need to get up to speed. On the other hand that was pretty much their best side who played today. I think Borna Barisic is their only injury at the moment.
Their new signings have been here for quite a while already and seem to not be improving. Even their own fans think they have been ripped off on some of those deals. So all in all our team that was severely weakened was able to go to their stadium full of their fans and take three points from pretty much their strongest team. Brilliant.
A lot of our players stood up today when it mattered. Most Celtic fans were hoping Nat Phillips would have been ready to come in and start today’s match as they feared Liam Scales being in our defence.
The Irishman was excellent today. He was the calm and composed figure we needed out there, especially with his partner Lagerbielke trying his best to look like the Swedish Efe Ambrose. I think Lagerbielke will come good once he gets to grips with the pace of the game in Scotland. It would never have been on the manager’s mind to have thrown him in at the deep end this early in his Celtic career but with our injuries he had no choice. I’m glad Scales won the Man of the Match award, it was thoroughly deserved. As I mentioned earlier, Callum McGregor was also back to his best today. He controlled the game throughout.
A special mention must also go to a few players who have been receiving a fair bit of criticism lately. I thought both Joe Hart and Daizen Maeda showed exactly why Brendan Rodgers has kept his faith in them.
Hart made a few good stops when called upon and was switched on throughout, often anticipating attacks early and getting off his line quickly to snuff them out and also always being available to help keep the ball moving along the backline when required.
Maeda put in one of those shifts that makes you tired just watching. I can’t remember James Tavernier getting much joy in attacking areas and that was due to the constant pressure put on by the Japanese star. At one stage it seemed like he was marking both Tavernier and Cantwell out of the game at the same time.
Brendan Rodgers often gets mocked for bringing up ‘mentality’ so often but you could see the players are starting to listen and deliver. Mentally we were miles ahead of a side who seem to continually choke on these big occasions.
Their fans have been delusional ever since that 3-0 dead rubber game at the end of last season. They thought that was the start of momentum swinging in their direction. Beale had Celtic’s number. Except it was exactly what most normal people said it was. A game with no meaning that Celtic didn’t turn up for.
When it matters theRangers still can’t produce the goods. This time last week the talk was not about would they beat Celtic, it was by how many. Oh how a midweek European hammering and a defeat at home to your severely weakened big rival can change a mindset so quickly. Watching their fans at the end of the match today was a joy to watch. A much needed dose of reality for those angry Bears.
Today’s win has come at the perfect time for Celtic. There was a lot of negativity swirling around the club and the fan base over the last couple of weeks but that will hopefully now clear. Rodgers has a couple of weeks now to work with this squad over the international break (the ones who aren’t away representing their country anyway) to further implement his style. It gives our new recruits a bit of time to get settled in at the club and the city and increase their fitness levels to match the ones who have had a full pre season with Celtic.
This was a huge win today, one of the most important Glasgow derby results in a while. Both managers were dealing with negativity from the fans heading into today. Now all the pressure is on Beale and I think most Celtic fans will be feeling positive about the future under Brendan Rodgers.
I know it has certainly helped settle some of the worries I have been feeling over the past couple of week’s and I’m certainly looking forward to finding out how good this team could be once we get over our injury problems.
Hope you all enjoy the rest of your Beautiful Sunday!
Hail Hail
Conall McGinty
