The good thing heading into this Old Firm cup final is that Michael Beale has already faced Ange Postecolgu’s Celtic which, at least, gives him an idea of what he is going to be up against.
Like them or loathe them – and I don’t think it’s too presumptuous to assume the latter – Celtic are a good side, they will be heading into March with dropped points in just one game outside of the last league derby at Ibrox where we really should have emerged with all three points and put a little more pressure on them at the top of the table.
So, how do we beat a side that is, almost, unbeatable?
The thing with this Rangers squad is that we all know what they are capable of and that is both a good and a bad thing. For every Borussia Dortmund away or Scottish Cup semi-final, there is a Parkhead collapse which means – like Forest Gump and his box of chocolates – we never know what we are going to get.
We know how Celtic will try to play, with their full-backs inverted to flood the midfield and turnover possession, restricting our attempts to build up from the back but with this style and system comes opportunity and one that Beale should look to take advantage of.
One glance at Celtic’s average possession map against Aberdeen in their last fixture says it all – look where the space is.
Ryan Kent and, in particular, Fashion Sakala, are going to be key in this weekend’s final. Get them the ball in good positions, be more clinical than we have in recent weeks and we won’t be far away. At Ibrox in January, it was Sakala who caused them problems, at Hampden last spring, the goals came from deliveries from either flank. The template for success is there.
Sit back and allow Celtic to dominate and, well, we know how that story plays out.
The reason sakala caused problems was a dodgy penalty and an injury to Taylor that won’t happen again so let Celtic_fc_1888 have position maybe park the bus and go for breakaway Celtic_fc_1888 have been playing the whole spl who play that way and if Celtic_fc_1888 score attack them why not just do it attack them from the start cause Celtic_fc_1888 would rip you apart with there front players go back to drawing board or be like mickey try and anger oppent so they forget football
Dodgy penalty?! It couldn’t have been more stonewall and it was Juranovic that came on for Taylor – your best full-back!