Old Firm Passion.
They came, they saw, and they…all went home fairly happy really.
The visit of Celtic at Ibrox was being heralded as ‘make or break’ for the men in blue. Already a humiliating 16 points behind their arch-rivals, the threat of an extension being added to that deficit loomed menacingly on the horizon. 16 is bad, but 19 would be beyond embarrassing, especially given the fact the season had not yet reached Yuletide. Nor even Christmas.
Going into this game, however, was an untimely public spat between the two most powerful staff affecting the team; the manager, Paul Le Guen, and the captain, Barry Ferguson. Having received word of the boss’s dismissive derision of the significance of the captain’s role, citing its lowly status back in his native France, the captain angrily responded categorically objecting to such comment and stating his abject disappointment at such a stance from his manager. Furthermore, adding fuel to the fire was his backhanded claim that Le Guen was lying, as his response to the Frenchman’s claim that the two of them had previously cleared this issue up between them was outright denial that such a meeting or conversation had ever occurred.
The reporting of this incident seemed to confirm, indirectly, strong and mounting speculation of rift between them; speculation dating back some months. This was the first time it had been so publicly exposed, however, and a split in the ranks would have been just what the doctor ordered for Sunday’s visitors Celtic.
Enter the Ibrox showdown, however, and five major changes had been made for the team; Clement, Sionko, Ferguson, Adam and Prso all started, with Buffel once again making do with a place on the bench. Likewise Sebo who must have been wondering if he would ever catch a break in Glasgow.
The game was played at a pretty harsh pace, with blood and thunder football in evidence. Rangers by and large controlled the flow of the first half, but were gutted when Graveson volleyed Celtic ahead. The second half was generally the same pattern, with chance after chance for the blues, but their inability to take them, until a break was caught when Hemdani fired one and saw it deflect off Graveson to sail nicely into the back of the net.
A word must go to two players who excelled; Ferguson was simply brilliant, and truly is back to his best, and is even perhaps surpassing it. His current form is the closest in Scotland to a genuinely world class player. And Boruc; the controversial Celtic keeper produced another of his wonderful displays to deny Rangers again and again – shades of Goram at times.
As well as these two, Svensson continues to improve, with another fine display to add to his Ibrox resume, and Clement showed his quality in this game when it mattered. However, last but not least was the stellar show from Hutton. Usually derided by the fans, he controlled McGeady gamely, and produced maybe his best performance for seasons.
1-1 it finished though, and nothing was really learned in the grand scheme of things. Rangers, yes, they are improving, and Le Guen masters the SPL ever more, and Celtic remain the team to catch.
Did we not already know this before kick off?
The visit of Celtic at Ibrox was being heralded as ‘make or break’ for the men in blue. Already a humiliating 16 points behind their arch-rivals, the threat of an extension being added to that deficit loomed menacingly on the horizon. 16 is bad, but 19 would be beyond embarrassing, especially given the fact the season had not yet reached Yuletide. Nor even Christmas.
Going into this game, however, was an untimely public spat between the two most powerful staff affecting the team; the manager, Paul Le Guen, and the captain, Barry Ferguson. Having received word of the boss’s dismissive derision of the significance of the captain’s role, citing its lowly status back in his native France, the captain angrily responded categorically objecting to such comment and stating his abject disappointment at such a stance from his manager. Furthermore, adding fuel to the fire was his backhanded claim that Le Guen was lying, as his response to the Frenchman’s claim that the two of them had previously cleared this issue up between them was outright denial that such a meeting or conversation had ever occurred.
The reporting of this incident seemed to confirm, indirectly, strong and mounting speculation of rift between them; speculation dating back some months. This was the first time it had been so publicly exposed, however, and a split in the ranks would have been just what the doctor ordered for Sunday’s visitors Celtic.
Enter the Ibrox showdown, however, and five major changes had been made for the team; Clement, Sionko, Ferguson, Adam and Prso all started, with Buffel once again making do with a place on the bench. Likewise Sebo who must have been wondering if he would ever catch a break in Glasgow.
The game was played at a pretty harsh pace, with blood and thunder football in evidence. Rangers by and large controlled the flow of the first half, but were gutted when Graveson volleyed Celtic ahead. The second half was generally the same pattern, with chance after chance for the blues, but their inability to take them, until a break was caught when Hemdani fired one and saw it deflect off Graveson to sail nicely into the back of the net.
A word must go to two players who excelled; Ferguson was simply brilliant, and truly is back to his best, and is even perhaps surpassing it. His current form is the closest in Scotland to a genuinely world class player. And Boruc; the controversial Celtic keeper produced another of his wonderful displays to deny Rangers again and again – shades of Goram at times.
As well as these two, Svensson continues to improve, with another fine display to add to his Ibrox resume, and Clement showed his quality in this game when it mattered. However, last but not least was the stellar show from Hutton. Usually derided by the fans, he controlled McGeady gamely, and produced maybe his best performance for seasons.
1-1 it finished though, and nothing was really learned in the grand scheme of things. Rangers, yes, they are improving, and Le Guen masters the SPL ever more, and Celtic remain the team to catch.
Did we not already know this before kick off?
posted by RangersMedia @ 1:37 AM
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