As the dust settles on what was a particularly disappointing 2-0 Old Firm defeat v Celtic, we’ve had the chance to digest some of the tactical naivety that came with it.
There wasn’t a bluenose in the building who wasn’t surprised by Steven Gerrard’s lineup. By the same token, there probably wasn’t a Celtic fan either.
But the decision not to start Morelos and to offer no width by going with Arfield and Aribo wasn’t so baffling when you consider how Rangers played to beat Celtic 2-0 at the tail end of last season.
Defoe’s experience was very useful in that match, Rangers were commanding in defence, Glen Kamara was unplayable.
From that perspective, it kind of made sense.
But that match – as if Old Firms can ever be – was a bit of a dead rubber. At least as far at the title was concerned.
This match wasn’t. By the same token, it’s not going to be a defining one either. It wouldn’t have been had we won.
But where Celtic are at is very different from last season. They have new players – in Julien and Bolingoli – who’re under immense pressure.
We offered no width to challenge Bolingoli and no physical presence to rile up Julien. It was abject and uncreative. It was bordering on ludicrous – this was an opportunity missed.
What’s more, for the first 25 minutes Old Firm rookie Joe Aribo was pitted against Celtic pit bull Scott Brown. He shirked almost every 50/50.
We didn’t read the form going into this one, Gerrard also didn’t read Celtic’s minds either. Their fans feared the prospect of coming to Ibrox until probably an hour before kick-off.
It had shades of Rodgers coming to Ibrox in December last year, where his tactical changes really played into our hands.
That said – let’s not get carried away here.
If Connor Goldson doesn’t make a mistake, it’s still 0-0. The second comes as we push forward for an equaliser.
This wasn’t a swashbuckling display from Celtic by any means and the really poor quality of our performance stemmed from our own motivation and the strange system Gerrard employed.
Not from Celtic’s imposition on the game. Granted, they were worthy winners in the end.
We dust ourselves off going into a long two weeks before the Livingston match, but we’ve given ourselves it all do between now and Christmas.
But this isn’t over by a long shot. No matter the result on Sunday, it was never, ever going to be.
