An absolute shambles of a performance from Celtic at Ibrox | OneFootball

An absolute shambles of a performance from Celtic at Ibrox. Not one player other than Colby Donovan deserves pass marks and the manager and coaching staff need to take their share of the blame…

13th September 2026; Ibrox, Scottish League Cup Football, Rangers versus Celtic; Rangers and Celtic players react on the pitch. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Celtic exited the Premier Sports Cup with a whimper as we lost 3-0 to the Rangers at Ibrox, in what can only be described as a disgraceful performance, in a cup-tie that was disgraceful in itself with the SPFL deciding that there should be no away fans at this match.

There will now be no away fans for the game at the weekend and in the next three Glasgow Derby matches after that in the Scottish Premiership but that still leaves yesterday’s Celtic fan lockout to be reciprocated at some point in the future.

Celtic should clearly state that this will be happening.

13th September 2026; Ibrox, Scottish League Cup, Rangers versus Celtic; Benjamin Nygren of Celtic is yellow carded by referee Nick Walsh. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

That SPFL decision provided the Rangers with a huge and unfair advantage and you could see that in the referee’s performance as Nick Walsh looked to have been included by the roar of 50,000 inside Ibrox.

Kudos to the home side who were well worth their win, and looked the more superior side in every department all afternoon as Martin O’Neill was outfoxed by Derek McInnes who targeted Celtic’s weakest link in the middle of the park and crazily Celtic did absolutely nothing about it.

13th September 2026; Ibrox, Scottish League Cup Football, Rangers versus Celtic; Celtic manager Martin ONeill and Rangers manager Derek McInnes greet each other before kick off. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Not one Celtic player can hold their head high – other that Colby Donovan – after serving up that performance, from Sam Johnstone in goal who looked a nervous wreck, to a lightweight and lack of fight midfield, not to mention our forwards who yet again looked scared when it came to having a pop at goal, as our dire stat of just one shot on target suggests. That is entirely unacceptable.

We looked like a squad of players who hadn’t played together, we couldn’t even do the basic stuff like pass the ball properly. It was a very amateurish display by a team of so called international players.Last week it was suggested on here that the result in Linz was freakish and so could be ignored.

Yesterday showed that is clearly not the case and it must now be addressed before Thursday night…

13th September 2026; Ibrox, Scottish League Cup Football, Rangers versus Celtic; James Forrest of Celtic puts the ball in. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Martin O’Neill also has to take his fair share of the blame, as he is the man who sets the side up after all, or allowed Shaun Maloney to do so. And it was rather evident we had no shape or structure, especially in the middle of the park, an area that’s clearly been a cause for concern for quite some time.

Sinisalo has experience of playing at Ibrox – that should not have been overlooked

Starting the ineffective Sebastian Tounekti at the expense of the impressive Haissem Hassan, was a major blunder by the veteran Irishman, as was starting Sam Johnstone at the expense of the Glasgow Derby experienced Viljami Sinisalo.

13th September 2026; Ibrox, Scottish League Cup, Rangers versus Celtic; Sam Johnstone of Celtic checks his gloves after Dan Neil of Rangers shoots and scores in the 75th minute to make it 3-0 to Rangers. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

And if Hassan’s disturbed sleep meant he had to be benched for the first half then the vastly experienced James Forrest would have been a better option that the Tunisian international who seems to lack the heart of a battle.

The home side aren’t exactly a top quality side, but that’s exactly what we made them look like all afternoon in front of a entire home support, who unsurprisingly lapped up what unfolded in front of them, as indeed we would have done ourselves in similar circumstances.

Celtic can’t play with that midfield three in our next two games

With the Ibrox side travelling to Celtic Park this weekend on league duty, it goes without saying that we need to play so much better, although to be fair we couldn’t play much worse. And as already mentioned this morning on Celtic Shorts, it surely needs to be a different formation and different personnel in the middle of the park.

13th September 2026; Ibrox, Scottish League Cup Football, Rangers versus Celtic; Mika Baur of Celtic on the ball. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

There are strong reasons for all three midfielders yesterday to be concerned about their place in the team for the next two matches. And while Celtic has a Europa League match on Thursday night the Rangers can start preparing for their trip to Celtic Park now. They’ll turn up full of confidence and looking for what Ould be a painful and costly Glasgow Derby double over the Champions.

That’s right lurking Bears – we are the Champions!

Just an Ordinary Bhoy

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