Is anyone else starting to think we may have gone a bit early here?
It was only a few weeks ago after all when this season’s title race was being widely declared as pretty much done and dusted. Celtic had just about stuck four in a row in the bag already and the main matter of interest centred around whether or not Aberdeen could hold onto the runners up spot.
For his part, Philippe Clement was only hanging onto his job because rudderless Rangers didn’t have anyone with the authority or mandate to sack him and a double header against Spurs and Celtic was almost certain to bring around his inevitable demise. And yet now here we all are against all the odds, with Clement’s credentials intact after a visit from Celtic managers past and present and his team beginning to look like it knows what it’s doing after all.
Let’s get one thing straight. This should not be misconstrued as an apology to the Belgian. It’s far from it. On the contrary, had he listened to his critics a little bit sooner and reached the same obvious conclusions then his side might not be stranded in such a distant second place, languishing as it does nine points behind bitter rivals Celtic in what has felt like a seemingly irretrievable position.
Sunday’s 0-0 draw for the champions against Dundee United has opened a door just slightly.
But it’s still a long shot where Rangers and their manager are concerned. Clement still has to carry the can for that because he was the man responsible for making the job a whole lot harder than it had to be in the first place.
He didn’t rate Ianis Hagi, hardly played Nico Raskin and made up his mind that Hamza Igamane was nowhere near to being ready for first team consideration. All the while he stuck with the consistently dysfunctional Cyriel Dessers as his central striker and left Danilo out of the squad for the Europa League, even though the Brazilian was always scheduled to return from injury in time to make a contribution.
On top of all of that, he disenfranchised Todd Cantwell to such an extent that the Englishman chose to cut and run back over the border to Blackburn Rovers rather than stick around to fight a losing battle for a regular starting place. Granted, if Cantwell was half the player he thought himself to be he’d have been twice as impactful as he was for Rangers but, regardless of his overblown, rampant ego, there seems little doubt he would have added quality to Clement’s attacking options at a time when Rangers were rendered blunt and devoid of a cutting edge in the final third.
But, the truth of the matter is, Cantwell was forced into concluding he couldn’t coexist with a manager who didn’t trust him and Rangers were considerably worse off for it. These unfathomable decisions have left some rather indelible black marks against the judgement of Clement and created a lingering suspicion that this recent surge in Rangers’ form might have come around more by accident than by design.
That may feel a little bit churlish and mean spirited, especially at this time of year when it’s supposed to be a period of goodwill and glad tidings to all men. But Clement was treated to an early Christmas present on Sunday when an illness and injury ravaged Celtic left a couple of points behind at Tannadice and, yes, for the first time this season there is the hint of a chink of light where Rangers’ title chances are concerned.
All of a sudden an 11 point gap has been reduced to nine and, with another Old Firm showdown now looming just over the horizon, Rangers have an opportunity to make an even more substantial dent in it heading into the New Year.
Let’s be in no doubt, irrespective of Sunday’s result on Tayside, Celtic have tailed off in form since the start of November when they annihilated Aberdeen in the League Cup semi final before romping to a stunning win over RB Leipzig in the Champions League.
Yes, Brendan Rodgers has kept them winning games of football but the Parkhead boss won’t have failed to notice that his team has not been functioning in quite the same sweet spot over the last month or so. It hardly constitutes a crisis but it has been a mini wobble which is why it came as no great surprise on Sunday when Celtic struggled to impose their attacking style of play on a well drilled, highly motivated United team.
Missing key men such as Cameron Carter-Vickers, Alistair Johnston and Nicolas Kuhn, there was more of a drop off in standards than Rodgers might have anticipated even if his side has been short of its very best in recent weeks. But, even so, that wouldn’t have made any material difference to the big picture had it not coincided with the sudden, unexpected reinvention of Clement’s team across the city.
Hagi’s return to the dressing room appears to have sparked Rangers into life.
The Romanian has added the kind of imagination, craft and guile which has been missing since Cantwell threw his toys out of the pram. Raskin is running games from the middle of the pitch in much the same way as he was when he first arrived from Clement’s homeland around this time two years ago.
And, yes, Igamane might be as raw as a pound of Moroccan mince but, even though he’s learning on the job, he’s providing the Rangers attack with much more movement and menace than Dessers could muster on one of his good days.
Danilo, too, has made Clement’s team look like a much more dangerous, unpredictable attacking force and for all of these reasons, Rangers represent a very different and much more genuine threat to Celtic than they had previously offered up.
Sunday’s result at Tannadice merely feeds into the narrative that there might be some life left in this season’s tussle for supremacy. Of course, it could be snuffed out all over again if Celtic go to Ibrox and slap them back down a week on Thursday – or if Rangers should slip up themselves either at St Mirren or Motherwell.
But the fact remains, if Rangers find a way of coming out of the festivities with another nine points in the bag then this entire campaign will have been blindsided by a plot twist that almost no-one saw coming.