I’ll be attending the inaugural Raheny St Patrick’s Parade tomorrow and will therefore watch the game “as live” later in the day. @Rocko, if I get tense & curious about the match I’ll send you the coded message…Do you need anything in the shop? If you reply “I think we have everything we need” then that means it’s all under control. An alternative response indicates anything from dour stalemate to rampant hun victory, but you’ll crucially not have revealed the exact score.
I think every Celtic supporter expected:
Schmeichel;
Johnston, CCV, Trusty, Schlupp;
Engels, McGregor, Hatate;
Kuhn, Maeda, Jota.
Well that was until McGregor’s calf injury was revealed yesterday. He’s come off in the second half of the last couple of games & hasn’t trained this week but was hoping to take part today & prove his fitness. Bernardo is still injured & Scales is out too - he might need cheekbone surgery after taking a bang against St Mirren recently. We’d be light in midfield without McGregor & Bernardo. Engels would drop back to the deeper role, with McCowan probably coming in. Otherwise Schlupp could move into midfield with Taylor filling in at left back. You’re then looking at some younger players as squad options. Yang & Idah will likely be used off the bench.
This is the first game with away support for a good while. The huns will have around 2,400 supporters in & netting has been erected. That kind of number will be reciprocated at Ibrox after the split.
The huns will be buoyant (deluded?) after going through in Europe the other night. Celtic should be forewarned about fatigue - there was the cup semi final in 2022 where Rangers under Van Bronckhorst defeated Postecoglou’s Celtic AET only 2.5 days after winning AET in Europe. They did look out on their feet throughout extra time on Thursday though so Celtic need to get after them with a high tempo.
They’ve rolled out the same game model against Celtic in recent times & had success last time out at Ibrox - it’s man-marking in midfield to disrupt Celtic’s build up & having specific triggers on when to press as a team. Basically not being bothered with possession stats but looking to restrict Celtic & win the ball back around halfway to strike quickly on the break. I’m mildly curious to see if their exploits on Thursday will prompt any change to that approach - will they look to conserve energy rather than press & set up more defensively & deeper as a unit?
Either way, Celtic need to be way better than last time out against them. I’ll be quite irked if Celtic are again discomfited by the hun set up. I’d expect the coaching staff to have looked at that in depth & the side to have been drilled in different ways to play through, around & over them (cc Kev’s principles of invasion sports). Whether that’s dropping a second midfielder back alongside McGregor in the build up & one of the wingers coming infield as another passing option etc to drag them into different areas. Looking forward to seeing Schlupp play against them - he’s been very good since joining & has the athleticism & physical attributes that should suit a derby.
Interestingly (for me), Rodgers has been fairly vocal in the lead up to this game both about the last match & putting it up to the players to respond. He also didn’t deliver any platitudes about Ferguson either when invited to by the media yesterday. Just said he hasn’t noticed anything different about Rangers under him than the previous coach & cited some good wins & poor defeats in his clutch of games. I generally think he’s considered in what he says so I don’t know if he was trying to wind them up a bit.
