Celtic 2-3 Rangers: A Special One

Sometimes after a defeat I don't know where to start, but this might be the first time I've felt that way after a victory. There's so much to unpack from the game that I'm unsure how to break it down.

I'll start with the line-up, there was far less rotation than I expected. Ridvan came in for Jefte who missed out due to "personal reasons", but aside from that the line-up was the same as Thursday. To me that felt like a misstep, It was a lot to ask of the players after a gruelling 120 minutes just 3 days earlier.

I was swiftly clamped by the beginning to the game, for the first 5 minutes Rangers played exactly as I'd expect from a big team approaching a tough away fixture. We went direct, were brave when Celtic had the ball, got some great territory by scrapping for loose balls on the touchline. And then to cap it off we scored a great set piece goal, I said it when watching the game but I thought Raskin's header was as perfect a flicked header as you could hope for. The movement from the team on the set piece was clever, presenting Raskin with a clear path and the soon-to-be Belgian international headed home brilliantly.

Raskin heads Rangers in front as Kasper Schmeichel assures his defence that the ball is going wide

The first half in general was reminiscent of another away victory at a Brendan Rodgers side, Chelsea against Liverpool at Anfield in 2014. Jose Mourinho was in the dugout for Chelsea that day, there were lots of similarities in approach, and even the build up to the game. There's plenty of examples of Walter Smith teams Barry played in getting similar away results but I want to talk about this one given the home manager was the same in both games.

Going into that game in 2014, Liverpool were free scoring and had just beat their title rivals Man City, it looked like Brendan Rodgers was going to win them their first league title in the Premier League era. They looked especially unbeatable at Anfield too, looking for revenge on the Chelsea team that had beaten them at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season. Mourinho was typically nonchalant about the stakes beforehand, his team had just played the first leg of a European semi-final, they had bigger fish to fry.

Mourinho realised that the key to beating a Rodgers team was to disrupt their rhythm. Especially at home, his teams rely on being able to build up waves and waves of attacks, recycling possession and looking to get the ball into the final third as quickly as possible. When opposition teams win the ball they struggle to get forward effectively and give the ball away most times.

Mourinho helping his team slow the game down at Anfield in 2014.

Mourinho's answer was to slow the game down at every opportunity, going direct with purpose when needed, but mainly looking to stop Liverpool getting any momentum going. That Rodgers team crumbled and lost 2-0 after the famous Gerrard slip. Looking back at the result it's incredible how rattled Rodgers is in his post-match interview.

Yesterday we saw that exact same game plan, Rangers took their time on throw ins, disrupted Celtics game with tactical fouls, looked to stop Celtic taking quick goal kicks and maintained good discipline when pressing. We actually let Celtic have the ball with their back 4 and keeper, confident that they would be unable to build anything without Callum MacGregor dropping in to pick up the ball. This approach paid dividends when Celtic continually presented us with the ball in their third and as a result they started trying to play "safe" passes which often amounts to square passes for a possession based team. I felt an inordinate amount of glee when the home crowd moaned their displeasure as Celtic players continually passed the buck. Arne Engels was asked to control the tempo of the game, but he spent the first half hiding behind Rangers players in the middle of the park.

Our second goal in the half was a thing of beauty, a goal coming from the result of a system and style of play? It will never catch on. Raskin spotted a gap in the Celtic defence, correctly predicted that Engels wouldn't be arsed about tracking his run, Tav picked him out brilliantly with a little clipped ball over the top. From there the Belgians clever knock down found Diomande who controlled with his left and finished with his right like a striker.

Diomande threatens the Celtic support with gun violence after firing Rangers 2 goals up.

Going into half time at 2-0 up was a great feeling but we were indebted to Butland and Sterling for it being that way. Butland's save from Hatate's curled effort at 1-0 was right out the top drawer, I'd accepted it was going in before the Englishman threw out a mighty right hand to tip it round the post. Maeda had a very quiet first half, but his glanced header was heading in before Dujon Sterling managed to flick it away from goal.

This kind of performance and score-line at Celtic Park was the stuff of dreams. I worried about how we would maintain those levels given Thursdays exertions.

Celtic made a change at half time in removing Kuhn who I hadn't realised was playing, and introducing Idah. Allowing them to have a consistent threat in the 18 yard box, rather than Maeda who is very keen on running the channels.

The change had a swift impact as Celtic moved the ball quickly from left to right and found Jota. Whose cross to the back post found Maeda arriving from his new position on the left to head past Butland. Losing the clean sheet like that was disappointing. But I actually felt like after that the boys got their heads screwed back on quickly.

We couldn't afford to press as high in the second half with the legs going, but we stemmed the momentum of their first goal well. Losing Balogun for Propper was a big blow. I thought that was one of the annoying things about the game, ideally Balogun could play 90 mins and we wouldn't need Propper, Jefte would have been available to come on for Yilmaz who was looking very tired. But the squad is what it is.

Propper's introduction caused us to drop an extra 5 yards, to cover for the glacially slow Dutchman. He wasn't as switched on as Balogun so when he stepped up on the left, it left a gap for Hatate to attack, Barron did his best to get back with the Japanese but McCowan's ball found the midfielder who finished really well to make it 2-2.

I, like many, expected that was probably it, at most we'd get a draw and more likely we'd lose it. The team really started to look leggy now, Yilmaz I'd mentioned but those in midfield were struggling too. I have to give lots of credit to the boys for digging in here.

When Igamane was introduced for Cerny it was really the perfect time for the Moroccan to find his shooting boots again. He duly obliged.

Jack Butland's long ball eluded Johnston, Igamane's eyes lit up as he saw a half-chance appear. He took control of the ball, cut inside, shrugging off a Celtic challenge, before absolutely smashing the ball into the top corner. I think Celtic could have had Peter Schmeichel in goal and he wouldn't have got near it, I'd even say they could have had both of them in net at the same time and it would have been the same result.

Elation + Despair x3

The release at the full time from the players and the staff was beautiful to see. The players and management team have produced some fantastic results in recent weeks. Hard work and grit has been in abundance and the team really typified that yesterday.

Barry pointing out the "character" of the team in the post-match is exactly what I'd expect. I mentioned the team showing some Barry-like traits in Istanbul, digging in and getting a winner at Celtic park when the odds are against you is very Barry-like.

Some signs that the bond between player and fan is coming back slowly but surely

The checklist for the interim appointment was quite simple; get some good feeling back in the team, check, have a clear style of play, check, and progress in Europe, check. There's a bit of time left to see if this good feeling can go beyond just a few weeks of good results (not to forget we've lost our only home league game in this spell). But I am happy to say that Barry and the management team have proven me wrong so far.

As for the incident with Vaclav Cerny and the Celtic supporters following the winner. I expect we will see him on trial in the Court of Human Rights soon enough, no one should be forced to wash if they don't want to!