The build up to an Old Firm game is always full of mind games and when news of Celtic’s line-up was “leaked“, few believed there was any truth in the story.
Connor Goldson, Rangers hero on the day, has revealed in an interview with Talksport, reported by The Scottish Sun, that he was made aware of the rumour on the day of the game but that he and his teammates were fully prepared to face Odsonne Edouard and Christopher Jullien – neither of whom made the match day squad.
When asked if his side had taken any notice of the line-up that had been circulated, he said:
“No truthfully we never.
“We went into the game – even in our pre-match meeting – thinking [Christopher] Jullien and [Odsonne] Edouard would play.
“I think a few of us saw that team but we didn’t really believe it.
“We obviously know in an Old Firm you can never trust anything that comes out. One day someone is injured and the next day they are playing.
“Listen, every player wants to play in an Old Firm whether you are injured or not. You try to get through it. So we actually went into the game thinking Jullien and Edouard would play.
“Truthfully I got on the coach and I had a message from one of my best mates down south who plays for Doncaster.
“He said that Walshy [Stephen Walsh] was playing and Edouard wasn’t. I messaged him back saying ‘Yeah, good one we will see when we get there’.
“Obviously when we got there the team was true so I don’t know how he knew playing down south but he was the only person who text me.”
Celtic’s season has been far from plain sailing, disciplinary problems with Leigh Griffiths and Boli Bolingoli followed by Neil Lennon’s rant about players not being committed, after a 1-1 draw with Kilmarnock, that saw both Kristoffer Ajer and Olivier Ntcham look to secure moves away from the club.
Their desperation to get Ryan Christie involved on Saturday despite being in self isolation was a sign of things to come, the wheels are slowly falling off.
Are the wheels falling off Celtic?
Yes
No
As Goldson rightly says, all Rangers can do is focus on themselves and keep ticking off the three points every week and as the superb Four Lads Had a Dream blog says – “Ignore the nonsense, the irrelevant and the noise”.