CELTIC MUST GO ALL GUNS BLAZING INTO OLD FIRM CLASH
STORM Bella may have provided a backdrop of freezing temperatures and torrential rain, but there was no doubt the heat was on Celtic as they kicked off against Hamilton on Boxing Day.
With Rangers beating Hibs earlier in the day, Neil Lennon’s men sat 19 points behind their rivals at the start of play in Lanarkshire — with absolutely no margin for error.
But Celtic rose to the challenge. Despite the horrendous weather, the dodgy plastic pitch, and the f act they were under huge pressure, they actually delivered one of their best performances of the season.
There was a fluency to their play which has so often been missing over recent months. They looked confident, slick in their passing and movement, and players were trying things off the cuff.
In particular, the link-up play between Odsonne Edouard and Leigh Griffiths l ooked really sharp, with both strikers getting on the scoresheet.
There were flashes of what we saw from them in the second half of last season, when the pair of them were tearing teams apart.
That’s as good as Edouard has looked in a Celtic jersey in a long time. Griffiths, meanwhile, now has three goals in the space of a week after finding the net against Hearts, Ross County and Hamilton.
For me, it’s now a certainty that they will start together against Rangers at Ibrox this weekend. They are finding form at just the right moment.
Given the problems Celtic have had at the back this season, I don’t see them keeping a clean sheet against Rangers.
Their best form of defence will be to go on the attack. Even against a Rangers team with a miserly defence, their best chance of getting a result will be to try and go at it all guns blazing.
They need to be brave. Why? Because they simply have no alternative. A draw is no use whatsoever to Celtic. This is a game they simply must win if they are to resurrect their title challenge.
At the home of their greatest rivals, Celtic will know it’s win or bust when they travel to fortress Ibrox next Saturday at lunchtime.
I fully expect Edouard and
Griffiths to play together up front. So the real question is how Celtic will shape up defensively.
More specifically, how will the rest of the team be put together in order to accommodate two strikers?
Celtic tried the 3-5-2 earlier in the season without really having any great success. I feel it’s a system which, a lot of the time, tries to mask the shortcomings of the three centre-backs.
If the manager doesn’t quite fancy any of them as a pairing, it just provides that little bit of extra cover to have an extra body in there.
I don’t see Lennon going back to that. I expect he will stick with the 4-4-2 midfield diamond that we have seen over the past couple of games. The team has looked nice and balanced.
I expect Kris Ajer will be partnered in central defence by Christopher Jullien, if he’s fit, with Shane Duffy being the one to miss out.
I can’t envisage Celtic going to Ibrox for the biggest game of the season without Scott Brown in the team, so I expect the skipper to come back in and anchor the midfield.
So you’ll then have David Turnbull and Callum McGregor, with either Ryan Christie or Ismaila Soro battling for the final place i n midfield. I expect Christie will get the nod.
The midfield battle will be absolutely vital because that’s the one area above all others where Rangers have absolutely bossed it over the past few Old Firm games.
Celtic didn’t lay a glove on them when the teams met at Parkhead back in October. If that happens again, it will kill the dream of ten in a row once and for all.
It’s also i mport a n t to acknowledge that both teams have potentially tricky fixtures beforehand on Wednesday.
Rangers f ace St Mirren in Paisley, where they lost in the Betfred Cup a couple of weeks ago. Celtic face Dundee United in Glasgow, after only winning 1-0 via a late Albian Ajeti goal at Tannadice in August.
It’s a must-win game for Celtic, so I’ve heard it suggested that Rangers might look to play it almost as a European game and play largely on the counter.
They’ve perfected that system in the Europa League over the past couple of seasons, but I don’t see them playing it cagey like that.
I believe Steven Gerrard will want his players to make a statement. They will see it as an opportunity to bury their rivals once and for all this season and put the final nail in the coffin.
They will want to rub Celtic’s nose in it and kill off any lingering chance of a title race. For Lennon and his players, they need to relish that challenge and defy the odds.