Rangers defied the odds at Ibrox to hammer Celtic and give gaffer Philippe Clement his first Old Firm victory.
Goals from Ianis Hagi, Robin Propper and Danilo allowed the Belgian to savour a derby win at the seventh time of asking as they racked up an astonishing 3-0 victory. And it saw Gers close the gap at the top of the Premiership table to 11 points but there remains a mountain to climb. Brendan Rodgers’ side were odds-on favourites pre-match but failed to turn up and were well beaten.
Rangers – who were missing key players like Jack Butland and James Tavernier – were rampant and dominated their city rivals for 90 minutes. Hagi’s long-range strike in the first half put them in front before Dutch defender Propper made it 2-0 from a corner. Danilo came off the bench to score and cap off a fantastic day for Clement against Rodgers – who suffered only his second derby defeat. Here are five talking points from Ibrox…
The non appliance of science
Fair play to Philippe Clement. With everything stacked against him – and missing several key players including his goalkeeper and captain – he picked up his first Old Firm win at the seventh time of asking.
And no-one could have begrudged the big Belgian this one as Rangers fully merited their three points at Ibrox.
With the likes of Jack Butland, James Tavernier, John Souttar and Leon Balogun all out through injury, he had to re-shape his defence.Sports science went out the window as Clement simply picked the best players he had available.
And it worked for him as his team produced their best performance of the season so far to get one over their city rivals to narrow the gap at the top of the Premiership table.
There’s no doubt Clement was under pressure going into it and a defeat could have spelt the end for him in Govan. But this victory takes the heat off him – for now at least. And if new CEO Patrick Stewart got enough encouragement from the display, he should come out and back his manager. No-one expected Clement to dig out a result but his players at least showed they’re still with him.
Father time
Ianis Hagi was Rangers’ best player in the derby and scored a brilliant opening goal in front of his dad Gheorge in the Ibrox stands.
The Romanian midfielder helped set the tempo for Clement’s side with his hunger from the first whistle as he never gave Celtic right-back Alistair Johnston a minute’s peace. His team-mates fed off that and, technically, Hagi was also excellent.
But his performance did make you wonder why it took so long for Clement to get him back in his squad. At the start of the campaign, he was frozen out due to a wages clause in his contract if he played another game.
Apparently player power got Hagi back involved and it’s no wonder as he’s been outstanding ever since. Who knows if Rangers might be further up the table and closer to Celtic in the title race if he’d been welcomed back earlier?
Top of the slops
Complacency is something you’ve rarely – or ever – been able to label a Rodgers’ Celtic team with. But you couldn’t help but feel they turned up in Govan thinking they’d won the derby before they got off the team bus. Of course, Rangers MADE them look poor by the way they played. Celtic couldn’t live with the Ibrox side’s energy and tempo especially at the start of the game.
But that doesn’t explain some of the sloppiness in their play, which is uncharacteristic for this team. The likes of Liam Scales and Reo Hatate were particularly flakey with their passing and even skipper Callum McGregor looked off it in the first half. Going into the game, Celtic were understandably favourites with the bookies, given their 14-point lead at the top of the Premiership.
After Rangers failed to win their previous two games at St Mirren and Motherwell, they weren’t given much chance of a derby win. And it certainly looked like Celtic’s players bought into a bit of that as well with a sub-standard display.
Match of the day
Rangers proved – as they did at Hampden recently in the League Cup Final – that in a one-off game if they play with urgency and intensity they can be a match for Celtic.
But the big question is, can they back it up by replicating it in ‘lesser’ Premiership games and rack up a run of wins? In the first 45 minutes at Ibrox, they completely dominated Brendan Rodgers’ champions. With speed in their game, they hounded and harassed Celtic players into mistakes and deservedly led at the interval.
At times this term, they’ve shown what they’re capable of when they’re at it. But far too often, Clement’s men let their standards dip and don’t put in the same level of graft.
It must frustrate the life out of the manager to see them perform like this – compared to what they produced against St Mirren and Motherwell away from home in their previous two games. Up next for Gers is trips to Easter Road and Dens Park. It’s pointless putting in an Old Firm display like this if they follow it up by dropping more on the road.
Team with pride?
All the talk before the game was about what Rangers’ team sheet would look like. But by the end of it, you were left questioning Celtic’s line-up.
There’s no doubt Rodgers had the stronger squad to choose from and much has been made this season about his strength in depth. Going into the derby, all the doubts were about how Rangers were going to put square pegs in round holes with the back line decimated.
For the Celtic boss, it felt like he had an embarrassment of riches at his disposal – but it backfired on him. In the summer, he spent around £26 million on Auston Trusty, Arne Engels and Adam Idah.
With such huge fees being laid out, surely they were signed to play in the biggest games like yesterday at Ibrox? But instead, all three of them were left kicking their heels on the bench. It was only after an hour or so that Idah was brought on for Kyogo – shortly before Celtic went two goals down. Engels was introduced later on and Trusty didn’t see any action at all as Rangers ran out deserved winners in the derby.