Old Firm Analysis

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Smith continues Celtic's hoodoo:

 

Clinical finishing from one Rangers' forward as his partner provided the assist. Yes Kenny Miller was in ruthless form as Kris Boyd turned provider. With that kind of madness it could only be an Old Firm weekend.

 

With victory in today’s opening Old Firm encounter of the season, Walter Smith extended his impressive record over Celtic to 25 wins in 46 encounters, with just 11 defeats. It is the third time in four years we’ve won the first Old Firm clash of the season and hopefully it is a good omen as last year we went on to secure a League and Cup double. Smith’s overall record against our greatest rivals of 54% has been improved by a record of 7 wins from 11 fixtures since he returned to take over the club in 2007.

 

If Celtic fans, players and management were tired of seeing him in the dugout first time around they will be literally sick at the sight of him now. Walter Smith does not have far to look to seek his doubters but no one can deny he holds the Indian sign over the beasts from the east.

 

At the beginning of the weekend few would have been confident of Rangers taking three points. Key players were struggling to make the game due to injury or illness with concerns over two-goal hero Kenny Miller, defensive rock Madjid Bougherra, utility man Lee McCulloch and several others including Kevin Thomson. An already small squad was being stretched to breaking point. Factor in the resounding defeat at the hands of Sevilla, a run of 3 goalless draws in the league and the fact that we had dropped 4 points behind Celtic and few would have been predicting a Gers victory.

 

With us already trailing Celtic by 4 points, defeat was not an option. Although we fell 7 points behind Strachan’s side on two occasions last year making up such a gap at this early stage in the season might have proven too much and would allow Celtic to play with a freedom and lack of pressure.

 

The pressure was firmly on Walter Smith. After a poor start to the league season with silly points dropped and a turgid defensive outlook too many games, the online community were already short on patience for the manager. Had we succumbed to a defeat this weekend the dissatisfaction amongst fans would have been at an all time high in Smith’s second tenure.

 

With the squad depleted by injury and influenza, there were difficult decisions to be made and the manager needed to be brave. There are many who decry Walter for holding back the progress and introduction of youth players. Whilst the introduction of Andrew Little was largely influenced by lack of options in the squad, we must praise Smith for being brave enough to throw the young Ulsterman into the fiery cauldron of an Old Firm game for his first start in club football. With Bougherra and McCulloch unavailable due to suffering from flu and with Broadfoot still missing through injury, Papac was pulled inside one as Steven Smith filled the vacant left back role.

 

Miller retained his place in the starting line up despite recent poor form and was to repay his manager in spades. Boyd returned to the starting line up beside Miller as Smith showed an attacking intent in his line up and formation.

 

Not only did the highly-successful manager have to deal with a squad ravaged by injuries and sickness, but in the first half disaster struck as first Little had to be removed from the field of play, struggling with a hamstring injury and replace by Nacho Novo, but a concussed Kris Boyd was replaced by long-term absentee Kyle Lafferty, gaining his first appearance of the season. It was a cruel blow for young Little who has had a while to wait for his first competitive start. Kris Boyd too will be disappointed not to have finished the match and it will not be the way in which Smith would have wanted to re-introduce the lanky Lafferty.

 

Even in spite of the difficulties under which Smith had to operate, poor form, injuries and sickness and early substitutions, the wily old manager was able to mastermind yet another thrilling victory. Kenny Miller took advantage of calamitous defending and goal keeping to notch a double in the first Old Firm game of the new season, as he did last year when Daniel Cousin battered Celtic into submission. Another parallel to last year and hopefully a good omen for the season ahead.

 

After Miller had given us an early two goal cushion, Celtic inevitably came into the game and enjoyed a greater share of possession as they pressed to gain a foothold in the game. The usual tired and predictable accusations about the way we earned our victory were aired on the various Celtic propaganda shows on radio. For all the talk of negative or defensive football, the penalty aside, Celtic hardly threatened and did not create any chances of note from open play. Rangers on the over hand scored two from Miller and Novo should have sealed the points with one of the best moves of the game when he failed to loft the ball over the outrushing goalkeeper.

 

They may have enjoyed a marginally greater share of the play, but whilst Rangers had real incisiveness and bite to their attacking play Celtic were pathetically toothless. Miller’s two goal salvo merely allowed us to sit in and defend the points and Celtic were clueless to break us down. With Rangers streaking into an early lead Celtic resorted to dirty tactics and whenever they got near our box their forwards dropped quicker than a cheap whore’s underwear. Their submarine impressions carried little favour from the referee though and we defended stoutly to secure a deserved victory.

 

Even when events are conspiring against Smith, time and again he comes up trumps and sends Celtic home defeated. Smith has already seen off a long list of Celtic managers from Tommy Burns to Gordon Strachan and few would bet against him ending Tony Mowbray’s connection with the club.