BACK WITH A BANG
Gerrard and Lennon set to resume hostilities as league action returns but just who holds the ace in their pack?
SOME crackpot blogger with an xG fixation has probably already worked it all out. Done the sums based on Rangers being two points clear at the top after eight games, allowed for a healthy margin of error — and laid their money down accordingly.
If football was just a numbers game, though, it wouldn’t be half as fascinating, frustrating or fantastically entertaining.
As the Ladbrokes Premiership resumes after the international break, Sportsmail looks beyond the mere statistics — and focuses on the very human factors that will dictate the course of events.
As a next logical staging post, we’ve leapt ahead to the final weekend before the winter shutdown.
By the time Celtic host Rangers on December 29, where might each team stand?
And who, among the talented, highly-motivated individuals involved, will have the biggest influence on each team ahead of an Old Firm clash already looming large on the horizon?
THE GAFFERS
IT all starts and ends with the managers, right? And there is no greater test of a coaching staff than a genuine title race; the biggest European ties or most demanding of domestic cup finals don’t even come close.
Every decision, every training session, every word and deed has an effect on what happens.
A mood needs to be created and maintained. Motivation must be provided. Technical and tactical problems solved.
In the 12 rounds of league fixtures to be covered between now and the big showdown at Celtic Park, neither Neil Lennon nor Steven Gerrard will be underworked.
Lennon has been over this course before. His experience as a title winner means he should — should — have the edge. There’s very little he hasn’t seen before.
The Celtic gaffer has a greater understanding of his squad than he did when guiding them over the finish line last season, too, having inherited a high-achieving but tired-looking team from Brendan Rodgers.
If it comes down to that extra five per cent, Lennon’s track record suggests that he’ll find it.
Gerrard remains, certainly in the eyes of his old pals down south, a relative novice.
But everyone in Scotland understands that one season at Rangers is probably equivalent to five at, say, a Derby County.
The Ibrox boss also knows more about his squad than he did a year ago. He’s had a full campaign to reshape the team in his own image.
They are beginning to look like everything you imagined a Steven Gerrard XI would be: full of energy, drive and daring. Boasting more than a little swagger.
The next few months are an important stage for a man tipped as a future Liverpool boss by no less a figure than Jurgen Klopp himself. He doesn’t look fazed by the enormity of the challenge.
THE LEADERS
JAMES TAvERNIER is captain of Rangers. veterans Allan McGregor and Steven Davis are always mentioned in despatches when it comes to on-field leadership.
But team-mates also regularly cite both Ryan Jack and Connor Goldson as key men both on the training ground and in matches.
Jack sets the tone in midfield, while Goldson — whether he’s been partnered by Nikola Katic, George Edmundson or Filip Helander — has displayed real strength in a central defence in a run of three straight Premiership clean sheets.
Across the city at Celtic, well, there’s a reason why everyone talks about Scott Brown.
Few have stamped their mark on Scottish football with quite the force of Brown, a rarity still capable of dragging his team through difficult situations and inspiring them to maintain standards.
If the Celtic skipper does, indeed, stand alone as a character, Callum McGregor has become the most important footballer in the champions’ ranks. Much rests on the shoulders of this pair.
POTENTIAL BANANA SKINS
HOwEvER much Hearts may have been struggling, Rangers’ visit to Tynecastle this coming Sunday will be a tempestuous encounter.
The same goes for their midweek trip to Pittodrie on the night of December 4, regardless of Aberdeen’s form; the fact that Gerrard appears to have buried the Dons hex hanging over him last season will be put to the test in the Granite City.
In the run-up to that trip to Celtic Park itself, meanwhile, the Light Blues face Motherwell at Fir Park on Sunday, December 15 — and Hibernian away the following Friday night.
Celtic’s run-in to the new year looks easier. On paper. Aberdeen away on October 27 will be tough, while a wednesday night in December is hardly the ideal time to be facing Hearts in Gorgie — something Lennon will face on the 18th.
OUT OF THE SHADOWS… HEROES EMERGE
IT’S not always the obvious stars who make the difference in the guts of a title battle. Quite often, in fact, it’s the ‘other guys’ who get the job done.
Surely fewer and fewer Celtic fans are overlooking the potential impact to be made by Kris Ajer — a player not without his detractors among the support base.
The central defender’s ability to break down opponents by driving into midfield could be key in a string of fixtures against teams digging in for, if not victory, then at least a plucky point.
For Rangers, the excitement levels surrounding Sheyi Ojo are entirely understandable.
The on-loan Liverpool winger hardly falls into the category of unsung hero or unknown kid.
But, in terms of influence on what happens over the coming months, the 22-year-old gamebreaker may exceed even the most optimistic expectations.
The beauty of football, of course, is that you could name half a dozen potential breakout talents from each side — and still not put your finger on the one guy who becomes the guy.
GOALS, GOALS, GOALS
JERMAIN DEFOE has been on fire, with nine goals in just seven Premiership appearances — only four of those as a starter.
Alfredo Morelos, with five from four starts, could stick one past two keepers in a five-a-side goal while being man-marked in a space the size of a phone box.
Oh, and Tavernier has started scoring again.
Celtic fans singing about how they ‘wanna be Edouard’,
meanwhile, know precisely how absolutely devastating the young Frenchman can be; he genuinely can create and convert chances from nothing.
The fact that Ryan Christie bangs ’em in from everywhere, hitting six league goals from seven starts, will also fill the Parkhead punters with confidence.
Christie’s suspension for that moment of madness at Livingston, though, might just be the opportunity needed for the oncetalismanic Tom Rogic — who is yet to play a meaningful role for Celtic this season.
STAYING IN EUROPE — A BLESSING OR A CURSE?
And you thought this was a Brexit-free zone… Celtic playing host to Serie A superstars Lazio next Thursday night, the final whistle sounding some 60something hours before they kick off against Aberdeen at Pittodrie, represents a pretty obvious challenge.
They’ve got an even tighter turnaround when they follow up the visit of Rennes with a 12noon kick-off against Ross County in dingwall on Sunday, december 1.
The Europa League will impact on both Scottish sides still in the competition. Some weeks will be better than others.
Rangers don’t face quite the same mileage on the weekends after their midweek adventures, although the fact that they face Livingston at the Tony Macaroni Arena after next month’s Porto game — and then head to Fir Park on the Sunday after hosting Young Boys — hardly represents an easy schedule.
KNOWN UNKNOWNS… AND UNKNOWN UNKNOWNS
INTO this category falls the crazy stuff that you half expect to derail a team in their absolute pomp — and the unbelievable twists that take everyone by surprise.
Between now and december 29, some of Europe’s biggest and richest clubs will be keeping an eye on Edouard, Morelos and virtually any Celtic or Rangers player who goes on a hot streak.
And, inevitably, we’ll hear about it. Whether said transfer targets are unsettled by the interest represents a test of man-management for both Gerrard and Lennon.
And the unknown unknowns? Long-term injuries. Including those sustained while bending over to pick up a child’s toy or pouring a cup of tea. Star players checking into rehab.
Just when either manager thinks they’ve got a grip on the situation, you can guarantee that something will come along to sideswipe all their best-laid plans.
And, in the dozen games before they meet again in head-to-head conflict, there is ample potential for more straightforward triumph and disaster.
Ultimately, it all comes not to something as sterile as possession statistics and pitch geography, but how these two men lead large, lively, occasionally disparate groups of young professionals through a minefield of sporting trials and tribulations.