The outcome of Sunday’s Glasgow Derby is not going to change the destination of the Premiership title.
Does that suggest this is a meaningless encounter? Absolutely not. There is no such thing as a meaningless game when Celtic face Rangers.
Look, the stakes are lower for Celtic. A defeat would cut the gap to 13 points but there’s no way Rangers are going to find the miracle needed to claw that back in the remaining seven games, even if they were to win the next derby at Ibrox. It’s not like the dead rubber derby from a couple of years ago when the title was mathematically gone.
It makes me SAD there is nothing tangible resting on this match. I’d much rather seeing these two going at it hammer and tongs going down the stretch.
But Celtic’s incredible consistency combine with Rangers’ woeful inconsistency has left us looking for other angles of meaning. There are still some.
The pressure is probably more on Rangers. They’ve endured a horrible season domestically and they could do with some positively heading into the summer, to go along with all the takeover talk.
It’s also a huge encounter for Barry Ferguson. Does he have to beat Celtic to have a chance of getting the manager’s job on a full time basis?
I’m not sure it will count too much either way, but he certainly couldn’t afford to be on the end of a sore one. Avoiding a loss is probably must. But where does all that leave Celtic in terms of motivation?
It shouldn’t be hard to get up for this one no matter what. If I was in that dressing room I’d see this as a chance to bury Rangers and get the title in the bag as soon as possible.
They will also be desperate to right a few wrongs from Ibrox at Christmas. That was Celtic’s poorest performance of the season and it just seemed to come completely out of the blue.
Back then Rangers were toiling and people were wondering how many they’d lose by. Instead, it was Philippe Clement’s last stand as his team ran riot. Fair play, they were terrific on the day and Celtic were way off it.
You can forgive Celtic for that as those off days have been few and far between. Yet that is the kind of result and performance that sticks in the throat of Brendan Rodgers. You could see it at the weekend with his stuff about Rangers stealing Celtic’s game in Govan.
He is rightly proud of his incredible derby record – and he’d love to put Rangers in their place again. This is the chance to make a statement, to show who is boss in Glasgow.
Rangers are great at the big talk. They are always coming or back, or whatever. Celtic are the ones in pole position in the league and they will be out to show why.
This reminds me a bit of the final derby of the 2003/04 season. We’d ran away with the league and there was seemingly nothing much to play in the last encounter at Celtic Park.
We’d beaten Rangers in all three previous league games and in the Scottish Cup and the title race was over. We treated it like a must win though. It was nice to seal it in style with a finish most people will agree was world class.
The long ball, the flick on to Henrik Larsson, taking the return, shrugging off Frank de Boer and then chipping Stefan Klos from 30 yards. To be honest, I think it was more me knowing my capabilities end not fancying attempting to dribble the ball in.
It was my son Ollie’s birthday as well and it’s still known as his Green and White Wash birthday.
No one can say that game was meaningless – even if the points at stake didn’t change much. These games are never dull regardless and it will be interesting to see how both sides approach it.
Ferguson will probably use his Fenerbahce away game plan, sitting in with a back three or five and trying to hit on the break.
That will force Celtic to take the initiative and try to break them down – while being mindful of the counter. It will be fascinating.
I know there’s been some debate over who gets the nod up front and I get the temptation to keep Daizen Maeda out wide because he nullifies the threat of James Tavernier in attack and scares the wits out of the Rangers captain going the other way.
I just can’t see Rodgers going for anything than Maeda though the middle though. His form up front has been sensational. Fans have practically forgotten about Kyogo because he’s been so prolific.
That sale does sum up how little challenge Rangers have provided this season though. If there were two or three points in it back in January, there’s no way he’d be twiddling his thumbs on the Rennes bench right now.
He’s old news and it’s Maeda the main man now. I’d expect him to be up front again on Sunday and that would allow Jota to play on the flank.
He could be the man to unlock the defence if Ferguson does send them out to sit deep. The likes of Adam Idah could be effective from the bench as the game goes on and perhaps opens up.
Rangers are a threat though. They can play when expectations are low and there won’t be many tipping them on Sunday. Let’s face it, how many of the Rangers players would get in the Celtic side right now?
You’d be lucky if one or two of them make the bench. That’s a decent argument but any talk of a meaningless derby isn’t up for debate.