I was going to make the fatal mistake of titling this ‘Old Firm preview’ but everyone is outraged by that tagline nowadays so left it out.
Anyway, tomorrow afternoon bang on noon the blue half of Glasgow visit Celtic Park.
800 or so hardy souls will make their way to the stadium at 10.30am in the morning to support them with a deadline of 11am to get into the stadium before their little corner’s doors are locked and the barriers are removed to allow the home support to move in.
It seems harsh if you think about it from the perspective of the shoe being on the other foot but this is a situation of their own making so they can’t really complain. Of course, they will and indeed have anyway but then a warped perception isn’t exactly rare amongst Rangers fans. It was the holding company that went into liquidation apparently and not the club. Must have been the club that went into administration though as they got docked points etc but hey that’s all ancient history now isn’t it?!
Anyway to the football and this is a must-win game for our visitors. With a pretty luxurious 10 point advantage at the top of the league in our favour, anything but a win for Steven Gerrard’s team means that any slim hopes of a title challenge become dying embers with only seven games left thereafter and another trophyless season beckons.
The fixture has been pretty one-sided in recent years. We’ve won ten, drawn two and only lost one of the last thirteen. Aggregate wise it’s a pretty incredible 31-7 in our favour over those13 matches. Of course, this season things have been tighter with a dominant 1-0 win earlier in the campaign at home which saw Olivier Ntcham slam home the only goal and then on December 28th Rangers claimed their solitary win in the fixture since coming back up via a 1-0 win at Ibrox. Ryan Jack scored the only goal that day in a game where Celtic were decimated by injuries that saw us lose Tom Rogic, Leigh Griffiths and Izaguirre in the build-up with Edouard and Tierney only able to make the bench meaning Mikey Johnstone was deployed up front as a lone striker and McGregor was pitched in at left-back.
We’ll be without Ryan Christie tomorrow but on the positive note Edouard and Tierney should be raring to go and there’s even a chance Benkovic, Tom Rogic and Ntcham – who have all been out with long term injuries – may also play a part.
There’s no doubt that Rogic, Tierney and Edouard were all missed from the starting line-up last time and their inclusions tomorrow should see a totally different approach deployed though of course with Neil Lennon now in charge that would have been the case anyway
There’s also the fact they’ll be in front of 58,000 or so ravenous Celtic supporters with an opportunity to take a vital step towards an 8th consecutive league championship.
For Neil Lennon, it’s a potentially vital match in his audition for getting the reigns at Celtic Park permanently for a second time. Him getting the job is something I have mixed feelings about but that is something that can be debated another day.
His own Old Firm record is pretty impressive having managed the club in 12 fixtures during his first tenure in the hot seat and he won six of them with two draws and four losses. That was against a very different and dollar for doughnuts I’d say a much stronger Rangers side than the one he’ll face tomorrow. Lenny’s record at Celtic Park is of particular note as he has won five of six with only one loss in the tie and an aggregate of 11-4 with four clean sheets. Rangers haven’t actually won at Celtic Park since October 2010. Long may it continue.
Lennon’s record as Hibs manager against Rangers was also pretty tasty having won two, drawn three and lost only one of his six fixtures in charge against the light blues.
There’s no doubt he gets his teams up for these matches – I can’t imagine why – though so far under his second tenure I have been a bit underwhelmed by our play. Three wins and a draw isn’t to be sniffed at but we’ve needed goals at the death to win two of them and were particularly underwhelming against basement dwellers Dundee last time out on St.Patrick’s Day.
Rangers will come to sit in and play on the break with their big hope being Morelos. He is their greatest threat but also their greatest liability and in the white-hot heat of a partisan Old Firm (don’t crucify me) atmosphere, he could easily crack. If the Celtic defenders are cute enough with him there’s always a chance he’ll sabotage himself.
For me, though it’s all about the Celtic and what we do and player for player we are superior especially with an almost full catchment to choose from so I’m hoping for a quick and powerful start and obviously an early goal. I expect it to be tight though and we’ll need to be patient. Under Brendan, if it’s okay to even mention his name again yet, I was pretty confident of not only winning almost every time we played them but of posting a big score and we often did ie: 5-1, 5-1 4-0 and 5-0. Recent encounters and events off the pitch though have rained in those expectations but there’s always hope that we can give them a doing.
My prediction…….2-0.
My hope………..10-0!
....Always A Tim! 