RANGERS ROOKIES WILL BE TARGETED
WHEN Derek Ferguson was thrust into an Old Firm debut at 17, he was astonished to hear Celtic rival Tommy Burns nursing his nerves through the most daunting occasion of his young Rangers career with nuggets of encouragement as they waged midfield battle.
David Bates and Myles Beerman can expect no such favours today, according to Ferguson, because Celtic will ruthlessly target the Ibrox rookies as the Rangers weak spots at Hampden. Bates and Beerman have earned fast-track promotions to the first team from Pedro Caixinha during a defensive injury crisis.
Three clean sheets in a row against Kilmarnock, Aberdeen and Partick Thistle have been achieved with 18-year-old Beerman deputising for captain Lee Wallace on the left and ex-Raith Rovers centre-half Bates playing in the middle.
A William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic presents a new challenge entirely and Ferguson is in no doubt that Brendan Rodgers will send his men out to expose the inexperience in the opposition defensive ranks.
Ferguson said: ‘Of course Celtic will be looking at two kids in the Rangers defence and wanting to take advantage of that. Big time. Brendan Rodgers is going to try to target them. (Moussa) Dembele on Bates, certainly.
‘They are going to use the inexperience, see how they are. These boys will make mistakes but, you’ve got to say so far they’ve stepped up to the mark. I hope they are excited about the prospect of playing against Celtic in a semi-final.
‘The boys have done pretty well, certainly Beerman. Bates, in that position, you are maybe looking for a wee bit more experience. I admire Caixinha not being scared and throwing the two of them in.
‘The young guys have a job to do but look on the other side and would you target them early doors? Of course you would.’
Ferguson survived his inauguration in the fixture, a 1-1 draw in December 1984 when Davie Cooper cancelled out a Brian McClair strike.
‘I was 17, excited, angry — I had all these emotions going through me because of the build-up,’ he recalled. ‘When I ran out that day, I thought there was going to be hatred between the players. But Tommy Burns was brilliant with me, actually coaching me through that game.
‘People don’t believe that. As I was keeping the ball and he kept praising me — well done, doing well, don’t get caught on the ball. I thought: “Is this a wind-up?” But, no. I came away from that game sitting and thinking how it was totally different to what I thought it was going to be like. I know this sounds daft but the young lads can’t think about the occasion too much. Don’t go out there and fear. Go out and embrace it.’
Bates and Beerman have been eased through their sudden exposure to the pressures of winning precious Premiership points by Caixinha giving more of a nod to pragmatism in his Rangers tactics compared to the days of abandon under Mark Warburton.
‘The Achilles heel of Rangers is they’ve been poor at the back, not just this season but at times in the Championship, too,’ said Ferguson.
‘Sometimes it’s not what you do with the ball, it’s what you do without the ball. And I don’t think they worked hard enough off the ball under Warburton when they tried to play this open, expansive game.
‘They’re playing a different type of football now. Fair play to those young boys who’ve come into that system, fitted in. Caixinha is obviously trying to find out as much about Scottish football, our culture, as he can.
‘Sometimes you are playing against better players so you’ve got to hurt yourself physically, run yourself into the ground. They showed that in the last Old Firm game. I was scared going to that game because I thought Rangers were going to get turned over.
‘But I saw a side to Rangers which they didn’t have with Warburton. Sometimes when you come up against certain opposition that are just as good as you or a wee bit better than you, you’ve got to change the way you play.
‘Fair play to Graeme Murty. Caixinha was there, sitting down to my left. He obviously saw that and realised they do have that bit in their locker. And they better produce that on Sunday if they’re going to have any hope of winning.’
While Ferguson (below) is sceptical of the Rangers defence holding out against the class in Celtic’s middle-to-front provision, he is no great fan of the rearguard available to Rodgers. Apart from Kieran Tierney, he believes they can be ‘got at’.
He has faith in Kenny Miller doing that damage or Emerson Hyndman and Jon Toral providing the killer ball to undo the Celtic defence. However, the BBC radio pundit has little regard for the combustible Joe Garner’s claims to feature prominently in the Rangers attack. ‘It’s not a day for Joe Garner,’ said Ferguson. ‘Timebomb. Maybe if you are keeping it tight, you could bring him on for the last 20 minutes. I was going to say half an hour but he could get himself sent off. Actually, he could get himself sent off in a minute.’
Don’t go out there and fear. Go out and embrace it