With so much riding on it, it was almost inevitable Sunday’s Old Firm match was going to end honours even.
Alas that was a far better outcome for Celtic, with their game in hand, than it was for hosts Rangers. We absolutely blew a golden chance to move 3 points clear of them and close the gap on Hearts.
McInnes
Derek McInnes’ side scraped another 3 points and moved 7 clear, and a win for Rangers would obviously narrow that to four.
Sadly the mistakes made, again, by Danny Rohl, cost the home side a critical victory. A victory in Govan itself wasn’t going to guarantee the title. McInnes will have a lot to say about that.
But while Ibrox Noise had already conceded the title after that abysmal draw many weeks ago v Hibs, there remained always that unlikely sliver of hope that this could be reversed.
And after 45 minutes in Govan against Celtic, two things were apparent:
Youssef Chermiti once again produced miracles against Celtic and defied his form in just about every other match – this took the home side 2-0 up.
But the catch, and this is the second thing, was how wrong Martin O’Neill got his side and setup. A total mess, and Rohl’s Rangers didn’t even have to push themselves hard to secure the upper hand.
Ibrox Noise worried that the visiting boss would fix his errors at half time.
We just didn’t think Rohl would change his system as well.
Not only did MON remove two empty jerseys from his side, but Rohl decided, naively, yet again, to sit back and soak up the onslaught.
Admittedly Tuur Rommens missed a glorious chance on 47 minutes to put it beyond Celtic, and that moment would prove very costly.
But Rohl decided, with a confirmed lack of knowledge of Glasgow and this fixture, to sit on the lead.
Meanwhile MON had fixed his setup entirely and Celtic completely dominated the second half, with the highly unfortunate Dujon Sterling, otherwise having an excellent match, conceding a penalty.
Fortune
Rangers were, in the end, fortunate to even get a point. The manager’s half time work clearly wasn’t understanding what he needed to do.
He talks about hunting, well, he acted like the prey in the second half, inviting O’Neill on him to have a go. An invite the visitors duly took.
The first half was probably the worst Celtic half in an Old Firm since Dick Advocaat and the 5-1. They were absolutely dire, and MON was a big reason for it.
Stats
Rohl’s Rangers weren’t great in truth. Just 2 shots on target in that first half, and possession was even between both sides. But MON got his system all wrong, and Chermiti exploited that.
Second half wasn’t just a different story, it was MON sorting out his errors, and Rohl sitting back on things. Second half saw absolute domination from the visitors. 60% possession, 16 shots (7 on target) and they would have deserved a win.
Rohl is single-handedly the reason Rangers didn’t win Sunday’s Old Firm match.
He got lucky in the first half yet again. But his luck deserted him when his passive nature decided not to hunt, but hide.
Rangers won’t win anything with this man in charge, because like everyone else before him, he doesn’t have the balls to succeed at this club.