One thing Sunday’s Old Firm showed us is that we learned more about them than Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou will have about us.
Arriving home late after an arduous away trip to Armenia, in conditions that can only be described as hellish, given that the temperature was 30 degrees and had been in the forties during the day, preparation was already limited for the biggest domestic game of the season, that they had to then cope without their first choice keepers, captain and manager made things even harder.
Boss for the day Gary McAllister revealed post-match that there were a few players struggling for fitness, Ryan Kent in particular, had been written off until after the international break but played through the pain barrier.
Postecoglou won’t have learned much that he didn’t already know about us; we are good at set-pieces, we are disciplined out of possession, we can press successfully when the need arises and we are happy to let players that can’t hurt us have the ball.
On the flip side, we saw almost all of their cards; their defence is still poor, they can’t defend set-pieces, Callum McGregor is their midfield and Kyogo Furuhasi has clever movement around the box when he plays centrally – something the Celtic boss admitted that he regrets not doing from the start.
A fully fit and rested Rangers midfield – or deeper forward – would smother McGregor in normal conditions, and if we cut out the supply to Kyogo, he has only replaced the threat that Odsonne Edouard used to carry, he is a good player but he is not an upgrade on the disenfranchised Frenchman.
A forward line with Scott Wright and a fit Fashion Sakala would also cause them all sorts of problems, Alfredo Morelos and Kemar Roofe are outstanding forwards but they aren’t blessed with the same sort of pace, pace Celtic’s rearguard struggle with.
If we can put in that sort of performance with the odds stacked against us, I can’t wait to see us firing on all cylinders and with a fully fit squad.