Rangers v Celtic: No room for error for Michael Beale's men

Rangers indispensable find a mode to nullify Celtic and spell connected the onslaught if they are to devour into the league leaders' nine-point advantage

It remains to beryllium seen if Michael Beale is simply a champion manager, but there's nary question that the Rangers brag is simply a champion talker. Eloquent and interesting. Even Beale, though, indispensable person had capable of the chat by now. The clip for yapping is over. He'll cognize that if his squad suffer to Celtic connected Monday past the league is arsenic bully arsenic over, too.

Trailing by 9 points and by a whopping extremity quality that efficaciously makes it a 10-point spread there's nary information nett for Beale's team. Lose and they're done. Draw and, well, they're astir apt inactive done. A nine-point spread is simply a chasm erstwhile you've got doubts astir wherever your ain squad is at, arsenic Beale has, and erstwhile the squad you're attempting to prosecute has won 18 of their 19 league games.

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To enactment that into context, the Brendan Rodgers squad of 2016-17 won 18 of their archetypal 19 league games. Martin O'Neill's broadside did the aforesaid 13 years earlier. No different Celtic manager has got this acold into a league play with the aforesaid grounds arsenic those three, including Jock Stein and his set of immortals who won each trophy they played for successful 1966-67. They were the Bhoys with the Midas touch. Bertie Auld would person ridden the victor of the Derby that twelvemonth if he'd enactment his caput to it.

In his clip astatine Celtic, Postecoglou's league victories person tally the gamut from 1-0 astir each the mode done to 9-0, with an 8-0 the lone 1 missing from the sequence. Slackers.

It's not the routs that person wrecked the heads of Rangers people this season, though. It's the different ones, the ones wherever it looked similar Celtic were astir to driblet points and connection anticipation to the chaser crossed the city, the ones wherever they've toiled lone to onslaught precocious and present different victory.

Two goals successful the past six minutes to bushed Ross County 3-1; a 90th-minute victor against St Johnstone; 2 goals successful added clip to bushed Dundee United 4-2; an 87th-minute victor to flooded Aberdeen.

The galling happening for Rangers people is that since a Filip Helander extremity won the archetypal Old Firm crippled against Postecoglou's Celtic they've been mostly outplayed successful the league. Livingston person a amended grounds against Postecoglou's squad than Rangers portion the Australian has been successful municipality (they've each taken 4 points disconnected Celtic successful in 5 games but Livi's extremity quality of -5 trumps Rangers' -7).

Last play relegated Dundee scored much league goals successful 3 matches against Celtic than Rangers person managed successful five. Lawrence Shankland scored a 20-minute hat-trick erstwhile Celtic went to Tynecastle successful October and thereby matched Rangers' full goals scored against the champions crossed the past 7 and a fractional hours of Premiership football.

Rangers person been hampered by excessively galore injuries this season. That's undeniable. Helander was a first-choice planetary centre-half but helium hasn't kicked a shot successful the league. Just implicit a twelvemonth ago, arsenic a Hearts player, John Souttar starred, and scored, successful a World Cup triumph implicit Denmark, but Souttar has played conscionable 1 lucifer for his caller club. Ianis Hagi is simply a decent subordinate but wounded has claimed him arsenic well. Kemar Roofe scored 10 league goals past play and 14 the play earlier but he's lone appeared twice. Tom Lawrence, who looked bully successful his aboriginal games, has lone played 5 times successful the league.

Rangers request some, oregon all, of these guys backmost but they besides request caller blood, a Postecoglou-esque revamp. Therein lies an issue. They don't person the wealth for it and don't person capable sellable assets to self-fund it. Celtic, meanwhile, recovered a manager omniscient to the opportunities successful caller markets. Postecoglou's recruitment has been terrific, but the astir momentous portion of concern done astatine the nine was the woody that brought him to Scotland successful the archetypal place.

This Rangers side, peculiarly successful a cardinal midfield that's pedestrian, requires much creativity, beingness and gait to marque important progress. Remember however Celtic's tempo proved mode excessively overmuch for them earlier successful the season. Six of the Rangers squad that bushed Motherwell past week were aged 28 and upwards. Four of them were successful their 30s. Allan McGregor volition beryllium 41 astatine the extremity of January.

Man for man, you'd prime Celtic each time agelong connected Monday, but wrong Rangers determination indispensable beryllium a feeling that determination is nary time successful the league if they lose. That desperation tin springiness a broadside an edge, a rage for triumph that's hard to handle.

Home vantage is different factor, for sure. The games astatine Ibrox person been tight. The hammerings person each happened astatine Celtic Park, the 3-0 and the 4-0 that showed Postecoglou's players astatine their effervescent best. If they lucifer that benignant of energy, question and people past they'll win. They're conscionable a amended side. It would beryllium unwise to disregard the Ibrox factor, though. That and the aggression that Rangers volition surely person with their backs present firmly against the wall.

The aggregate people betwixt Postecoglou's Celtic and Rangers is 10-3. Nine of Celtic's goals person travel successful the archetypal half, 3 successful the archetypal 8 minutes. Beale's players person been warned. They cognize what's coming. Knowing it and stopping it are 2 antithetic things, though. Whatever the upwind is doing, there'll beryllium thunder astatine Ibrox. That's the 1 implicit certainty.