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Celtic Fan View: Younger, Fitter and Better
Kris Commons proclaimed on the eve of an Old Firm match in 2011 that Celtic were a ‘younger, fitter and better’ team than their greatest rivals. He and his team-mates had the courage of their convictions to follow that statement up with a resounding 3-0 win.
Saturday’s first league game between the sides for four years had a touch of deja vu about it as Celtic- like that day in 2011- utterly tore Rangers apart, in fact, even more emphatically to firmly established themselves as the superior team with their 5-1 triumph. It’s the first time since 2000 that an Old Firm derby ended with someone winning by a four-goal margin. The supporters weren’t just watching the humiliation of their oldest foe but also history being made.
Scott Brown said post-match that this was “men against boys,” he was right and unlike in 2011, the chances of the Gers making a title-winning comeback look nonexistent. Celtic have a four point lead over the Ibrox outfit with a very winnable game in hand against Partick Thistle. Commons’ words ring true today just as they did half a decade ago; Celtic are younger, fitter and better and Rangers couldn’t live with them at Parkhead.
Last season’s defeat in the Scottish Cup served as the principal reference for the negative effects that can be caused by overconfidence and arrogance going into this fixture. But this reinvigorated team, albeit it’s very early in Brendan Rodgers’ tenure, is showing more maturity, and even with Leigh Griffiths watching from the stands, they weren’t about to let this opportunity to set the record straight idly pass them by.
After an initial 20-minute lull in which Rangers’ possession took the sting out the game, and the home side’s pressing was somewhat sporadic, the Bhoys slowly started to build some momentum through the wide players and made it count with two fine finishes from Moussa Dembele. Rangers had offered next to nothing and were extremely lucky to go into half-time just one goal behind. What the latter part of the first half showed, though, was Mark Warburton’s men were likely to collapse due to the hosts’ sustained pressure and that’s exactly what happened in the second period.
Despite going close through Barrie McKay just after the interval, the Blues could barely string two passes together for what remained of the 90 minutes and were given a ruthless lesson from the Celtic midfield and forwards. The pace and energetic transitions were too hot to handle as the confidence and assurance continued to ooze through Rodgers’ men with every wave of attack in the East End sunshine.
The tempo was too much for their lethargic opponents as Dembele and Scott Sinclair took advantage of the huge spaces in front of them to link up for the third goal before Dembele completed his hat-trick, becoming the first player to do so in this fixture for 29 years. Stuart Armstrong and Patrick Roberts offered the running power to push Rangers back even further while Brown and Nir Bitton’s ball usage was almost always progressive. It was the perfect execution of clinical, cohesive, direct football.
It’s telling that all of Celtic’s goalscorers are under 27 and some way from their peak, four of the five players that notched an assist fall into that category too. As for Rangers, the three ‘marquee’ signings- Joey Barton, Niko Kranjcar and Philippe Senderos- who were supposed to elevate them to the next level with their Premier League experience are over 30, on a downward trajectory and were quite frankly liabilities once Celtic got into their stride. On paper these players promised so much but have delivered very little so far, much like Warburton’s game plan when it became known that he had selecting a very attacking XI.
Instead, only one team had a clear idea of how to win and look like they have an identity at the moment. League titles can’t be won at this stage but they can certainly be lost, Rangers’ title challenge already looks to be falling by the wayside. Trips to Pittodrie and Tynecastle over the next month may well spell the end for them in this respect. Scott Brown joked a few weeks ago that Aberdeen- not Rangers- would be the team’s main challengers and he might just be proved right after all, although nobody looks like they’ll get near this rampant Celtic team.
At this stage of the campaign, the lack of a challenge is not something that should be entirely celebrated especially in a country whose football culture is seriously lacking excitement and progressive thinking. No matter what’s been said in the last few years, Celtic need Rangers to push them and it’s the return of this rivalry that arguably forced the hierarchy to get the finger out and finally put together a team of more polished individuals that can consistently entertain as they did on Saturday. Rangers, however, are neither ready nor strong enough to put up a fight. The gulf between the teams is evident and the margin of this victory did not flatter the Bhoys one little bit.
