Rangers travel to Celtic Park on Sunday with a seemingly impossible task. Without a permanent manager, they head to the home of an unbeaten team in Scottish football this season, a team that would like nothing better than to beat the Gers.
Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic are a formidable outfit and Rangers won’t be taking them lightly. However, there should be no over-confidence on the part of the home side either. The Gers, on their day, can put in a solid performance and should have more motivation than ever to try and get one over on their arch-rivals.
With incoming manager Pedro Caixinha likely sitting in the stands, they’ll need to individually and collectively put in a good performance to ensure they are in his plans at Ibrox going forward.
How does caretaker boss Graeme Murty even begin to set out his team and put together a game plan? Luckily we’re here to give the lowdown on where this match could be won and lost for Rangers.
This is Rangers’ how-to-guide to pick up a result at Celtic Park on Sunday…
The key tactic: Shut down Scott Brown
Scott Brown is the anchor of the Celtic team and the man who has every passage of Celtic play run through him at one point or another. Playing in a more restrained role this season under Brendan Rodgers, if you crowd Brown out of the midfield then Celtic aren’t going to have a very good day despite the quality they possess in the final third.
Rangers’ press will have to be impressive but if they can single out Brown then the rest of the team could fall with him. The best chance of a result for Murty’s XI is if they turn the game into an absolute slugfest in the middle of the park. That was their route to victory in last season’s semi-final at Hampden and they key again on Sunday.
That task will fall to the likes of Andy Halliday who needs to put in the performance of his life and show that his undoubted passion for Rangers can transfer itself onto the pitch.
The potential match-winner: Barrie McKay
Barrie McKay is undoubtedly Rangers’ biggest threat to Celtic and supporting him in the final third is obviously going to be a key aim of producing something against the Hoops’ backline. He can score from almost anywhere and already has a rocket of a goal against Celtic in his time at Rangers.
He was also nearly on the scoresheet last time at Celtic Park and if his powerful drive had hit the target then that game may have turned out very differently indeed.
To put it simply, Rangers need him to play well on Sunday and it’ll be interesting to see if he can live up to that responsibility and pressure. It isn’t easy playing in atmospheres like the one that will engulf Celtic Park but some players thrive on it and McKay has shown so far he could well be the match-winner on one of these occasions someday soon.
The under-the-radar threat: Patrick Roberts
While everyone will be talking about Moussa Dembele and Scott Sinclair prior to kick-off, it’s important that Rangers don’t let them become distractions from the ability the rest of the Celtic squad possess. Patrick Roberts has been in and out of the team this season but with James Forrest likely injured and Gary Mackay-Steven lacking so far under Brendan Rodgers, the scene is set for Patrick Roberts to get a start on Sunday.
He has excellent dribbling ability, an eye for goal and a lethal pass that can split defences so they can’t keep their eye off the young Englishman. It’s going to take a team effort to neutralise the Celtic attack but if they become too focused on Moussa Dembele and Scott Sinclair, Roberts could strike.
The inspiration: The first half at Ibrox
We’re not sure what Graeme Murty’s team talk will be on Sunday morning ahead of the lunchtime kick-off but he’d be silly not to tap into the Rangers performance in the first half at Ibrox in the New Year’s Eve derby.
The Gers had Brendan Rodgers’ defence rattled that day, Erik Sviatchenko in particular, for the first half of the game, or at least up until Moussa Dembele struck with an equaliser.
The key will be re-producing that over 90 minutes but that half an hour in front of their own fans in the stands must be used as inspiration for the squad to do similar at Celtic Park.
They know they have the ability on their day to get at the Hoops – even St Mirren had some joy last week. If they can do it, so can Rangers and they must hold belief or risk being beaten before they’ve even taken to the pitch.
