Rangers vs Celtic League cup final preview: Turning point?

Afternoon everyone, welcome to the match preview for the first cup final since I started this blog. I had a look back through some relevant posts before starting to write this one. It's nice to have a timeline of my emotions throughout the season.

I had a read of the Old Firm write up after that hideous performance ended in a 3-0 defeat. You can tell there's a bit of confusion about where I thought we could go, and honestly it took a long time to see any kind of direction in this team.

As recently as the Motherwell semi-final at Hampden I was very firm that there were no green shoots of hope to be seen in the performance and result. I was clear that introducing Danilo was a positive change and we should see more of him, that's taken a long time to materialise but we have looked a little bit more threatening with him and Igamane upfront.

If we are being honest, I don't think anyone is taking too much from our recent results and performances. Rangers as a club are about winning trophies, and to win trophies you have to beat Celtic in games that matter. Clement hasn't done that yet, despite winning this trophy last season.

Rangers have scored goals, won games convincingly and looked genuinely competitive against a better side in the last few games. We have to see that today to have a chance to get a result. Before I get into some more detailed analysis I'm happy to go on record that with a good performance and victory today, I'd go back to backing Philippe Clement in the short term. A landmark victory in a cup final should be the perfect springboard to really start the season and maybe look at clawing back the gap to Celtic (although I believe it's unsurmountable even if we turn up like 70s Brazil going forward).

But let's not get ahead of ourselves eh. The fact is that this squad is severely limited and nowhere near the quality of Celtic's. As much as we should be playing our own game today, we have to worry about what Celtic will be bringing to the table.

It's hard to know how we will set up, our 442 has been a success when playing inferior teams, but we've seen how effective a well structured 4231 can be against superior teams in Europe.

If we went for the 442 with Hagi off the left and Danilo coming in up-top, I'd be concerned about Hagi's athleticism and the amount of ground he would need to cover out of possession. I'd have similar concerns with Bajrami out wide too. For that reason I'd maybe lean towards Thursday's approach with Ridvan in front of Jefte, especially if we are going to lose a body in midfield and start Danilo.

The positive of the 442 is that it would force both of Celtic's central defenders to step out and engage our forwards. Carter-Vickers has normally found it very easy with just Dessers to deal with and can be aggressive and take risks knowing there's a defender on the cover. I think with Igamane and Danilo to deal with, and Igamane's propensity to drop into the half space on the left, it gives both centre backs a real headache about where to go. This could cause issues for Celtic in midfield too as one of their deeper players would need to drop into wide to cover off that forward passing option.

If we chose to line-up in the 4231, I'd like to see Hagi over Bajrami as the number 10. Neither of them are athletes in the same way some players in that role can be, but we need to carry a threat going forward or Celtic will just overrun us easily. Hagi is extremely intelligent in his movement and is capable of finding weak points in what is a well structured Celtic midfield. On the basis of recent form he also edges Bajrami in terms of his impact on games.

The biggest decision facing the manager is without a doubt at right back. Tavernier has looked rejuvenated since his restoration to the starting line up, he dealt with multiple threats on Thursday comfortably. But we know Celtic are very good at forcing Tav to play deeper than he likes by constantly going to Maeda early. As a result the manager might opt for Dujon Sterling, he's less dynamic on the ball than Tavernier, but far more athletic and physically robust. Sterling wouldn't be aiming to get up the pitch as much as Tav anyway, so he would have no problem focussing on dealing with Celtic's threat down that side.

The key to that right hand side battle is probably Vaclav Cerny, there's no doubt he's been our best forward player this season. He likes to 'cheat' by staying high and wide when we don't have the ball and it was really effective at causing Spurs problems on Thursday. Rodgers isn't a manager who changes his approach to deal with opposing threats, I think that should play to our advantage. As much as Maeda is a phenomenal athlete and can cause problems on his own, Greg Taylor has an incredibly high starting position to support him and facilitate his constant runs in possession. If Cerny stays high up the pitch as we've seen he's happy to do, there will be space there to be attacked when we have the ball, and that will give Taylor something to think about. What I don't want to see, is Cerny tracking Taylor tightly and letting himself be pulled back alongside Tavernier/Sterling.

Defensively I'm more worried about the lack of John Souttar, he's been a real rock in recent weeks and we've not seen alot of Balogun and Propper as a partnership. Propper also looked especially shaky in the first Old Firm of the season, it took him about 5 mins before he started launching it down the line whenever he had the ball.

In midfield it will be a battle and Raskin loves to battle. I think we should be looking at turning Celtic's midfield and making them worry about how we can move the ball, so Diomande has to start over Barron for me.

In all this excitement I've forgotten Igamane went off injured on Thursday. Let's cross all our fingers and burn incense etc to try and help him get fit.

It's a big one today, safe journey to those attending and hopefully Rangers can provide some festive joy for a change.