No Winners at Ibrox: Rangers and Celtic Serve Up Old Firm Frustration | OneFootball

The Old Firm had quite the build-up, with both sides eliminated from the Champions League as well as both sets of supporters being left frustrated with their respective clubs, whether it be team performance or recruitment to strengthen. The Old Firm derby at Ibrox was a chance to put some of that misery behind and whilst there were moments where something might happen, it ultimately failed to catch fire.

1st Half Analysis

Rangers had the better start to the Old Firm. Russell Martin tweaked his shape for this game and it was evident early on with the positioning of Thelo Aasgaard. Out of possession to begin with, he was playing as a number 10 and the purpose behind that was to block Celtic from playing into Callum McGregor. It was important for Rangers not to allow him to dictate early on and they were successful in doing that.

As well as Aasgaard’s positioning, Rangers were very aggressive and also well organised defensively. Mikey Moore and Connor Barron gave them a bit of bite, physicality and far more intensity. That was something they’ve lacked in previous games this season. The presence of an actual number 9 in Bojan Miovski also helped because they had someone they could play into or play one in behind for him to run onto, something evident within the first 7 minutes.

in possession for Celtic, everything seemed very one-paced. There wasn’t any aggression, a bite, dynamism or any real fluidity in their play. Jack Butland had nothing to do at all in the first 45 minutes.

2nd Half Analysis

The pattern of the 2nd half for a large part followed what was seen in the first half. Rangers having that aggression, an intensity, and a desire to at least fight. Whilst for Celtic everything just seemed one-paced, lethargic, sideways and backwards.

It wasn’t until Brendan Rodgers brought on Shin Yamada that Celtic seemed like a threat in an attacking sense. He was using his body well, won a fair few free kicks through good hold-up play, and added a little bit of energy which they were lacking. Even though he didn’t have a clear-cut chance to score, there was promise in his performance.

The big issue in Celtic’s attacking play to go alongside that lack of intensity was that Anthony Ralston on the right was far too deep on a few occasions. There was space to run into to make the overlapping run to support his winger as well as to be an extra body in the attack. But he sat off and it made things quite comfortable for Rangers on that side of the pitch.

Generally and the big takeaway from the game as a whole, whilst there were signs of promise such as Shin Yamada’s cameo and the intensity of Rangers, there was no quality whatsoever in that final third and the respective performances reflect the result.

Player Ratings

Rangers

Jack Butland – 6/10. He didn’t really have anything to do during the game due to Celtic’s lack of creativity. Took a couple of risks in possession but he did just ok.

James Tavernier – 6/10. Again, it just seemed ok. What he did give Rangers on their right side at least was stability and he showed leadership.

Nasser Djiga – 6/10. Did his job, nothing that special. Played a part in Rangers’ defensive stability.

John Souttar – 6/10. He had a goal ruled out in the first half due to offside. He did a solid defensive job too.

Jayden Meghoma – 6.5/10. He did a solid defensive job on his left flank and, like the others, contributed to the stability Rangers had at the back. He also linked up well with Mikey Moore and tried getting forward when possible.

Connor Barron – 7/10. He had a fantastic impact for Rangers, particularly without the ball. It was his first start; in all the previous games under Russell Martin, they seemed to lack that intensity and bite in duels. Barron offered that and did fantastic.

Mohamed Diomande – 7/10. He formed a good partnership alongside Connor Barron in the midfield. Also had the aggression and bite but where he impressed was with the ball; he showed good strength to look after it.

Thelo Aasgaard – 7/10. His impact with the ball was very minimal in an attacking sense. But his positioning as that number 10 to shield Callum McGregor from getting the ball was really important.

Djeidi Gassama – 5/10. He struggled to have the same impact down the right that he’d usually have down the left. He got into good positions but the end product was not there and the angle of runs he was making almost looked unnatural as well.

Bojan Miovski – 7/10. He only officially signed for Rangers on Saturday. Considering the lack of training, if any at all, he’s had to understand the Russell Martin way of playing, he led the line very well throughout. He was a good target presence for Rangers and he also made runs in behind which also helped.

Mikey Moore – 7/10. He couldn’t provide the end product Rangers would’ve liked to snatch all the points but what Mikey Moore did well was offer an energy and dynamism out wide with a good high intensity. He gave Ralston a tough game.

Celtic

Kasper Schmeichel – 6/10. Just like Jack Butland, he didn’t really have much to do at all.

Anthony Ralston – 5/10. Mikey Moore gave him a tough game defensively and to be fair to him, he handled that fairly well. The disappointing part of his game was the lack of attacking intent because opportunities to get forward were there for him but he chose to play safe and hold a defensive position, which made things comfortable for Rangers.

Cameron Carter-Vickers – 6/10. He did ok. Tried driving forward on a couple of occasions to make things happen. He did his defensive job when required to as well.

Liam Scales – 6/10. As always, he was a physical presence in terms of his height and he won a fair few of his aerial duels too.

Kieran Tierney – 6/10. He had a solid defensive display against a tricky winger in Gassana. He just couldn’t get forward the way he would’ve liked to.

Callum McGregor – 6/10. He also had just an ok game. But he couldn’t impact, dictate or control the game the way he’s capable of doing and that’s mainly because Thelo Aasgaard did a fantastic job in shielding him from receiving passes for a large part of the game.

Reo Hatate – 5/10. He didn’t seem himself and struggled to have a true impact. Usually he’d like to get on the half turn and drive forward. But against Rangers he was too safe and it showed with the lack of impact he had.

Arne Engels – 5/10. Just like Reo Hatate, it just felt like he couldn’t really get into the game or impact it the way he would’ve liked.

Benjamin Nygren – 5/10. He was moved out onto the right wing with Yang not in the squad and he just wasn’t much of a great influential presence that he has been in previous games prior to the Old Firm.

Daizen Maeda – 5/10. Usually as that false 9 when he starts in that role, his movement and speed are so clever and, in a way, frightening. That wasn’t the case in the Old Firm here and he didn’t really have much impact on the game.

Michel-Ange Balikwisha – 6/10. He saw a fair amount of the ball, particularly down Celtic’s left-hand side in the first half. He got one vs one with James Tavernier on a few occasions but the issue was that he played it too safe by taking the safe pass backwards. He should’ve driven past him down the inside, forced him backwards, and tried to make something out of nothing. He showed good promise but was far too safe.

Final Thoughts

It wasn’t necessarily a bad game, as in a bad game. But in terms of Old Firm derby standards, it was well below par. It lacked some energy from Celtic, it lacked quality from Rangers and just generally, it just wasn’t a very good game. Maybe Celtic were impacted by jet lag travelling back from Kazakhstan; who knows?

But it was clear that this game needed a spark of quality from somewhere and unfortunately that just didn’t arrive.