Celtic Should Be Weary Of Injured Rangers Team
Rangers have taken an absolute pummelling in the media and on phone ins recently. Everybody and their dog is kicking sand in the face of the Ibrox club as they lie crumpled in a sad pathetic heap on the ground. The possibility of an absolute doing on Saturday would even make Bill Struth, who has been deid for 50 years, tremble in his coffin.
Regular readers will be aware of my concern for Celtic being put on a plinth of invincibility relative to Rangers as there's always a comeback to these situations. This is indeed the situation we find ourselves in and it is this very situation which makes Rangers most dangerous.
Such complacency will be our undoing and we can only hope that Gordon Strachan is hammering home this point. Celtic might be in a position where, man for man, there isn't a single player in the Rangers squad who would be on Celtic's bench.
But we must not forget that Paul Le Guen is the manager who brought about our demise from the Champions League in 2003. Right after getting to a European cup Final, we were minutes from being the first Scottish team in recent years to reach the latter stages of the CL, but a dubious penalty to Lyon robbed Celtic of their destiny.
Le Guen knows how to get the better of Celtic, even though he would have lost on aggregate. But the important thing is that Rangers will be up for this game. Barry Ferguson, will do a captain's job by getting his team mates fired up for the game as this is make or break time for Rangers.
This is a game they absolutely cannot lose or they'll be 7 points adrift of Celtic with only the Cup competitions to look forward to. A draw would be an excellent result. This would keep Rangers within touching distance for the next game at Ibrox where they'd be guaranteed to claw back three points.
After being totally humiliated by Hibs last week, it will be much easier for Gers to face a slower team such as Celtic. Whereas Hibs are fast on the break, can play one touch, silky football, that even Celtic struggle against, Celtic are much more within their realm of play. We can't play fast attacking foorball and we need a minimum of 2 touches before the ball goes to an opponent.
Add to this that we've lost our best defender in right back Wilson, then if Le Guen can figure out that running at pace will cause our defence to implode if exposed tactically.
In Rangers' arsenal of attacking options Le Guen has the ability to play three forwards in Prso, Boyd, and Burke who have the pace, goal scoring prowess, and craft to tear our defence to shreds. You can guarantee that their manager will do his home work and will expose our deficiences in the backline.
Especially tragic for Celtic's defence is that goal machine Kris Boyd was back to his very best scoring against Dunfermline earlier this week. You can pretty much give him a goal as he hasn't, for all his legendary goal scoring exploits last season netting a European boot busting 37 goals, scored against Celtic.
It will generally come down to the point that if Paul Telfer is in the defence then Celtic will lose. I fear for how Prso, Boyd, and Burke will expose our defensive frailties and gain the upper hand in the league.
I expect Celtic to lose 0-2.
Regular readers will be aware of my concern for Celtic being put on a plinth of invincibility relative to Rangers as there's always a comeback to these situations. This is indeed the situation we find ourselves in and it is this very situation which makes Rangers most dangerous.
Such complacency will be our undoing and we can only hope that Gordon Strachan is hammering home this point. Celtic might be in a position where, man for man, there isn't a single player in the Rangers squad who would be on Celtic's bench.
But we must not forget that Paul Le Guen is the manager who brought about our demise from the Champions League in 2003. Right after getting to a European cup Final, we were minutes from being the first Scottish team in recent years to reach the latter stages of the CL, but a dubious penalty to Lyon robbed Celtic of their destiny.
Le Guen knows how to get the better of Celtic, even though he would have lost on aggregate. But the important thing is that Rangers will be up for this game. Barry Ferguson, will do a captain's job by getting his team mates fired up for the game as this is make or break time for Rangers.
This is a game they absolutely cannot lose or they'll be 7 points adrift of Celtic with only the Cup competitions to look forward to. A draw would be an excellent result. This would keep Rangers within touching distance for the next game at Ibrox where they'd be guaranteed to claw back three points.
After being totally humiliated by Hibs last week, it will be much easier for Gers to face a slower team such as Celtic. Whereas Hibs are fast on the break, can play one touch, silky football, that even Celtic struggle against, Celtic are much more within their realm of play. We can't play fast attacking foorball and we need a minimum of 2 touches before the ball goes to an opponent.
Add to this that we've lost our best defender in right back Wilson, then if Le Guen can figure out that running at pace will cause our defence to implode if exposed tactically.
In Rangers' arsenal of attacking options Le Guen has the ability to play three forwards in Prso, Boyd, and Burke who have the pace, goal scoring prowess, and craft to tear our defence to shreds. You can guarantee that their manager will do his home work and will expose our deficiences in the backline.
Especially tragic for Celtic's defence is that goal machine Kris Boyd was back to his very best scoring against Dunfermline earlier this week. You can pretty much give him a goal as he hasn't, for all his legendary goal scoring exploits last season netting a European boot busting 37 goals, scored against Celtic.
It will generally come down to the point that if Paul Telfer is in the defence then Celtic will lose. I fear for how Prso, Boyd, and Burke will expose our defensive frailties and gain the upper hand in the league.
I expect Celtic to lose 0-2.
posted by big tommy at
7:29 PM
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