Celtic boot up the backside from Rangers during dead rubber derby has me feeling Treble deja vu – Chris Sutton
Brendan Rodgers said in the build up there is no such thing as a dead rubber derby in Glasgow.
Rangers didn't play like it was one at Ibrox – but Celtic did. You could say this one had shades of the Michael Beale 3-0 win after Ange Postecoglou had wrapped up the title a few years ago. The difference is Celtic haven’t yet crossed the Premiership finishing line this year. In fact, there is still a long, long way to go. We’re only at the halfway stage, for goodness sake. Celtic have a huge 11 point lead, and no one really expects them to lose it from here.
But this is perhaps a bit of a kick up the backside that can sometimes come in handy. Yes, Rangers were good. They totally deserved their victory and you have to give them credit. The pressure would have been on with the prospect of going 17 points behind. But they played with a ferocity that suggested it meant something to them and that’s back to back games against Celtic when they’ve scored three goals.
That must be a concern for Rodgers. It’s also easier to turn up when the pressure is off. Rangers had to beat St Mirren and Motherwell to have a chance of cutting the gap here.
Instead they are further behind now than they were going into the festive period and looked like a side with nothing to lose on Thursday. At least they can start 2025 with an actual victory rather than a moral one – even if there’s no trophy up for grabs.
Joking aside, it was a strong performance and Celtic never laid a glove one their rivals. Is it a major worry for supporters though? I wouldn’t think so.
It was a bad day – a really bad day. I don’t think a single Celtic player got pass marks apart from perhaps Cameron Carter-Vickers. Players who have excelled in this fixture had total stinkers.
They were flat, slow on the ball, ponderous in possession and I don’t think I’ve seen a Rodgers side give the ball away quite so much. It was incredible. The Celtic midfield didn’t react well to being put under pressure and it forced them to fluff their passes.
But even when they were not under pressure, there were times when they failed to hit a man or even passed the ball right out of the pitch. It was hard to believe what we were seeing. I don’t care what anyone says, no one saw this coming.
There will be some who say that’s two games in a row where Philippe Clement had Celtic’s number. I wouldn’t be so sure. Rangers did well in the first half of the League Cup Final at Hampden and very well for 90 plus minutes the other day.
But it’s taken Clement seven attempts to get a win against Rodgers and Celtic so I wouldn’t say he’s cracked the code just yet. Even if he has, the Belgian needs to figure out how to get his team to win away from home against the rest of the Premiership, otherwise the talk over his future will crank up again.
In the meantime he can enjoy a win and Celtic need to lick their wounds. Look, I’ve been there. Our Celtic team got battered 5-1 at Ibrox remember. What happened that year again? Oh yes, we went on to win the Treble.
I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the outcome again this time. Having been involved in a fair few of these games, results like the other day can happen.
Sometimes it defies explanation. It can be a collective off day, a red card, a dodge decision, you name it, anything can happen and it just tips the momentum and games can get away from you. It’s the reaction that matters. Thursday was Celtic’s worst performance since Borussia Dortmund and the response to that defeat was emphatic.
They have back to back home games against St Mirren and Dundee United in the next week to get back to it and underline their authority in the title race. Rangers go to Hibs and who knows what could happen there. Nothing would shock you with Clement’s team, who seem to be capable of raising their game against the likes of Spurs and Celtic, but come a cropper elsewhere.
Their wild form actually just highlights how impressive Celtic have been over a long period of time. Trust me, some people take it for granted, but it’s hard to win week in, week out.
The consistency levels shown by this team have been incredible. Have they been at their free-flowing best in the last month or so? Probably not. But – up until Ibrox – they’ve still picked up results and found a way.
The strange thing against Rangers was the lack of a reaction on the pitch when it wasn’t going well. Usually there is a spark, sometimes from the bench, but it just wasn’t there. It was just so passive, like an acceptance a bad day at the office was unfolding.
That is unlike them but I don’t expect it to happen again. I also suspect Rodgers will be reminding the board his team and squad is not yet the finished article.
There is still work to be done and it’s important to strengthen in the January window. Everyone knows the areas Celtic will want to bolster and now is the time to do it, especially with the prospect of Champions League qualifiers in the summer.
They need to keep the foot down in the league too and while the New Year clash was one to forget, no one will remember it if Celtic are sitting with the main silverware come May.
