Ibrox Noise verdict: Celtic v Rangers

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Ibrox Noise verdict: Celtic v Rangers


Having laboured to a turgid win over Motherwell, to follow on from horrific displays against Kilmarnock and St Johnstone, few gave Rangers a sniff today.

Few, including us. Yes, like most of you reading, we had no hope for a decent performance never mind result, and we had given up on anything, hoping only for damage limitation from the first whistle.

But once again, fan expectations were defied as (almost) to a man Rangers honoured our shirt, fought for every ball, defended like their lives depended on it, all while creating plenty of outstanding chances which better finishing and less competent goalkeeping (Celtic’s Craig Gordon was sadly exceptional) would have seen goals from.

From kick off this was different – Rangers had a high tempo, high urgency, and pressed constantly in Celtic’s half. For the first 20 minutes it was not just even, it was Rangers’ game. The loss of Bruno Alves seemed to swing momentum though, and Celtic got their foothold in the game for the majority of the rest of the half.

The second half though was breathless – all that was good about Rangers in the first half was magnified and it was easily the best display against a side, with ZERO mitigating circumstances to trivialise the achievement aka Aberdeen, this calendar year.

From the best performance in a Rangers shirt from the brilliant James Tavernier, to the wondrous partnership between the again exceptional David Bates and the reliable Danny Wilson, to the hard work and frequently excellent football on the flanks from Daniel Candeias and Declan John, to the grit and dig in the middle from Ross McCrorie and the evergreen Jason Holt, then up to the steely tank-like hold up play from (the unfortunately profligate) Alfredo Morelos, Rangers more or less to a man were absolutely fantastic.

Josh Windass had a quieter game, if not a poor one, and less said about Kranjcar the better, but overall this was a scintillating game – and Rangers fans were given a team to be proud of.

Murty did it again – he went to Parkhead and nailed it. Just like he did last time. We have been against his appointment from the word go, even if we have respect for the man, and results and displays till today justified that concern, but if Murty can start to cultivate what was good at Parkhead and keep it in his team going forward, Rangers can finally feel like we are on the right path.

We would love to be wrong about Murty, and we certainly were wrong about our prospects today – as were the rest of the fanbase, in truth.

We still do not think we will – we foresee a continuation of recent displays rather than this one being a turning point but we would give anything to be wrong.

What we got today is what we expect from our Rangers team – hard work, constant dig, and even though in patches we tired and the pressing reduced, the desire was never gone.

And that defending was simply sublime – once again David Bates, smeared by Ibrox Noise readers more than once, was absolutely impeccable. A truly outstanding replacement for Bruno Alves and if the Portuguese does pack up his stuff and leave next month, Bates seems more than capable of filling his shoes. Meanwhile Wilson had yet another great match, and without Alves, suggesting it is more the run in the side than the partner of choice that is getting the best out of him.

The only backhanded worry we have is Tavernier’s stellar, sizzling display down the right will only have boosted his value, and with Sunderland sniffing around, the amount will go up as could the number of suitors. But we have praised him most of this season as finally adjusting to the SPL, and today was his rites of passage.

That all said, it has to continue – if Murty is to convince us, he must keep this up, and get the most of what he has. He cannot go back to the dross we keep seeing at Ibrox.

If he can, he has defied our expectations.

And few would be happier to be wrong about this than Ibrox Noise.

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20 COMMENTS

  1. The difference between this game
    And the rest is we were playing a team that didn’t sit 11 men behind the ball. The fact that we’ve bet aberdeen, Hibs, hearts and now drawing with Celtic it shows we can compeat with the rest. All we need is that magic midfielder to open up sitting in defenders and another forward with morales to help out. Though I do think hardie couldn’t be the perfect partner up front not Windass

  2. What a great performance…to man in blue! Even Kranjacar run around blowing and only really made one mistake giving the ball away just like he did against His. This so called invincibles should have battered us today but they didn't, mainly because they are not actually that good when they have some pressure and a team that will stand up to them.

    Bear in mind this is a Rangers team(?) made up of young guys like McCrorie (19) and Bates (22) who was only playing about his 5 or 6 match this season…and he won MOTM! So much for Brenda and his superstars…Broon was no were to be seen in the second half and had the little Bull been a bit sharper we could have won that match. Also remember Wallace, Jack and Dorrans all out…and the useless Alves hobbling off like a 10 year old…could you see Bomber Brown doing that, no!

    Lets hope we can of load the Pedro crew and get one or two in to help push us forward. The possibility of Jimmy Nicol coming in is the best news in months as if nothing else he will bring a sense of 'The Rangers' and that will help Murty.

    Great result and even greater performance from every body on the pitch in blue and manager Murty.

    • You on the Bucky? He was a total passenger. Be lucky if he covered 2-3 miles the full match ffs. Gave away needles fouls and thought everything was a laugh.. The game was screaming for young Barjonas certainly missed Dorrans yesterday..

    • Kranjcar was awful. Experience must have got him the nod over Barjonas in Murty's mind. Should have hooked him at HT, Barjonas much more energetic.

    • Fair point people…in the euphoria of the after match I forgot about Kranjcar! I would have started with Barjonas personally. Any Happy New Year!

  3. The difference is that when we play the teams at the top they play attacking football and we get more freedom to play ,the other teams in the lower half park the bus and hit on the break and we can't break them down, we always struggle against a packed defense.

  4. We definitely showed up today Niko can't be fit when was the last time he was.just hope next game we have the same fight and players playing like that.woul give Pena a chance do think he could be the key to us getting second and catching the manky mob there no where near as good as they think a few class players in we won't be far away from them

  5. We played great and should have won it and my £20 bet at 8/1 would have been up,but it was not to be today but it is coming,it could be the last time we see some of the Selltic players it did look like some where not going be there and just played out the game win lose or draw they did not care but hey we did look much better than them for big parts of the game,sad thing is that they know we are on them now so they will spend and so do we need to spend on players.

  6. It was a fair result in the end , I feared the worse , tarvenier definitely mom , he's easily been our best player this season , he's our righthanded cafu ,his defence isn't great but he's been better this season , but you can't be in two places at once , he's a winger ??? Murty said he never shouted at them after Kilmarnock defeat and admitted he let them shout at eachother today at halftime , like the bloke but win or lose is he going to let them manage the team

  7. screaming oot for miller to be on the end of some of they chances. when teams park the bus then adapt and go route one, use the big man up top as walter did on many occasions.

  8. Young McCrorie never fails to impress me another solid performance. Bates hardly put a foot wrong and surely must be worth a starting slot even at RB to accommodate Alves when fit and move Tav forward..Danny had a great game too Defence is looking better…Holt plenty of running and effort as always at least he does his best.. We need someone to bully that Celtic midfield like what Brown did in the first half against us..Who fits the bill for that role in the SPL without getting sent off? Jack is a marked man and he’s not a dirty player missed him yesterday…They are there for the beating that’s for sure..See how quick that mob turned on their own Team 😊 We must not be like them we're better than that 🔴⚪️🔵

  9. We got a draw being down to 10 men yesterday as Niko was not at the races. Can you imagine if we had a full team? Poor Alfredo was just unlucky as the save from Gordon was just lucky for them. Any other day it’s a goal. We may be turning a corner here but we still need support for Alfredo as he is so isolated at times. What a workhorse he is. Great shift from the lads and let’s hope we get a couple of quality signings in the window and have a great second half to the season! Happy New Year to all! Sammy

    • Have to agree with you on all of that..Still feel we could’ve won that game but I would’ve bitten yer hand off for a draw.. Plenty of plus points in the New Year 🔴⚪️🔵

  10. Good spirit, solid at the back and could of sneaked a win.

    Celtic were poor, as they have been for last month or so. Dominated first half but we dominated the second.

    Being realistic, about as good as could be expected.

    Shame some of our 'supporters' keep abusing the likes of Windass and Alves.

    Let's stop this nonsense and get behind the players. Our problems are all rooted in the dysfunctional board room.

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