It was a generous gift to give at this festive time of year.
But, like all good presents, Saturday’s barnstormer of an Old Firm derby does require some fairly serious unpacking. First and foremost, Celtic’s 2-1 win should at least allow a bit of perspective to prevail at one end of Glasgow and, by opening up an eight point lead at the top of the table, it will most certainly provide Brendan Rodgers with some badly needed breathing space at a critical moment in his first season back in charge.
It was only a couple of weeks ago, after all, that the most entitled element at the core of this club was threatening to turn full scale against the manager, while posturing mutinously towards the directors box at the same time. Sack the board. Sack the boss. In the furious aftermath of that home defeat to Hearts on December 16 they would have chased Hoopy the Huddle Hound down London Road so utterly consumed had they become with a sense of eye popping panic at the very thought of failing to win a 13th title in 14 years.
So Saturday’s blood and thunder victory over the nearest and dearest will at least have added a bit of calm to the situation and maybe even provided a moment to pause and reflect on the ridiculous nature of this overreaction. Over the course of more than 100 minutes of almighty derby day mayhem, Rodgers seized back control of this season’s title race and, as a result, Rangers have been left to lick their wounds and reassess where they might be heading under the management of Philippe Clement.
The Belgian has settled very impressively into the position since taking over from Michael Beale but the bottom line is that he and his players came up short when it mattered most of all at the weekend and this latest painful defeat will have relit the fire under some long running concerns. Put it this way, if Clement had at least one proper striker at his disposal then Rangers would have made it home safely back across the river Clyde with their own title ambitions unharmed and maybe even significantly enhanced.
Instead he had to make do with Cyriel Dessers – a player with an unfortunate habit for taking five clumsy touches when only one good one is required. Dessers has been left to carry the load of leading Clement’s attack but – try as he undoubtedly does – Saturday provided yet more proof that he is simply not equipped for the task. When his team needed him to hold the ball up and bring others into play, way too often he could not.
And, yet more damning, on the numerous occasions when he was given a sight at Celtic’s goal he froze like a rabbit in the headlights. Let’s be blunt, Cyriel is a serial offender in that particular department which is precisely why Clement cannot hope to put up a title fight from here on in without beefing up his attacking options this month. The arrival on loan of Wolves striker Fabio Silva might improve things for the short term at least. But Clement should also be asking his board to pick up the phone to Hearts and, at the very least, ask how much would be required to secure the services of Lawrence Shankland.
While Silva comes with a huge £35m price tag and a bundle of unfulfilled promise, Shankland is tried, tested and a prolific operator in the SPFL.
And Clement can’t afford to cross his fingers and hope for the best while waiting to discover if Silva might suddenly come of age here in Scotland after being farmed out previously to clubs in Belgium and Holland. It could be, of course, that Rangers don’t have the funds required to tempt Hearts into doing business. But it’s a discussion which should be taking place nonetheless.
Because what any manager needs in situations like these is the comfort of knowing without doubt that he has players in his team who can be relied upon to deliver at key moments. That’s why Rodgers spoke in such gushing terms about the performance of his captain, Callum McGregor, after Saturday’s skirmish in the east end. McGregor was the best player on the pitch over the entire course of the contest. But, for the ten or fifteen minutes before Celtic’s opening goal, he was the one who grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and refused to let go.
During that period McGregor raised his game to a level which no-one in a Rangers shirt could match and most certainly not Todd Cantwell, who was charged directly with the task of keeping him in check. Cantwell had started brightly and carried a creative threat going forward during a rattling first 15 minutes but when McGregor really got motoring in the middle of the pitch the Englishman was left choking on his fumes. He simply did not recover.
That will also come as a concern for Clement because Cantwell is arguably the single most talented player in his squad. But the manager doesn’t have the time or the room to carry any passengers from this point forward. Of course – and quite shrewdly – the Rangers boss deflected attention away from his team’s own deficiencies at the weekend by jabbing an accusatory finger in the direction of match referee Nick Walsh and VAR operator Willie Collum.
Clement insisted afterwards that his side should have been given a penalty in the first half after a blatant handball by Alistair Johnston. But he was wrong. Somehow, despite themselves, the officials managed to reach the right decision by not awarding the spot kick. But it was how they arrived at that point that fails just about every conceivable smell test. Broadcasters Sky and BBC Radio Scotland were informed directly from Clydesdale House that the penalty was not awarded because Johnston’s arm movement was not considered to be ‘unnatural’. Whatever that is supposed to mean.
To then produce a screen grab – midway through the second half – showing that Abdallah Sima was offside seconds earlier, sniffed very much like a hastily arranged and wholly unconvincing retrospective cover up. It was ironic that Neil Lennon was watching from Sky’s studio because the former Celtic boss might have a mental flashback to the furore caused by the words ‘Dougie Dougie’ on that fateful afternoon at Tannadice when his players were denied a penalty of their own.
Regrettably, this does have a nasty whiff of Dougie Dougie II about it even though the decision was ultimately correct. And, as Dougie McDonald discovered all those years ago, such controversies don’t tend to go away by themselves.
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