Rangers 1-0 Celtic: 'Familiar Old Firm outcome as predictions falter'
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Filip Helander, second left, scored yet another Old Firm set-piece goal for Rangers to decide the derby
The best-laid predictions toppled like nine pins for much of the day, the expected exuberance of Celtic's attack and the forecasted vulnerability of Rangers' defence being turned on its head.
One by one, the things we thought might happen at Ibrox did not.
Kyogo Furuhashi, Celtic's devilish imp with goals coming out of his ears, was supposed to tear Leon Balogun, Rangers makeshift right-back, to shreds. Balogun was terrific.
Ryan Kent, Rangers' danger man, was supposed to torment Anthony Ralston. It never happened. Ralston was excellent once again.
The smart money had Celtic's relentless attackers scoring at least once. They drew a blank. Conventional wisdom had it that at least one of Kent, Alfredo Morelos or Kemar Roofe would take advantage of the anxious heart of the visiting defence. They, too, came up short.
Not many things went the way many had thought, but the decisive moment had a familiarity about it, a weary flashback for the Celtic supporters.
In these games last season, Rangers scored four goals when getting on the end of deliveries into the box, a Connor Goldson header from a James Tavernier free-kick, a Callum McGregor own goal off a corner, a Morelos finish from another corner and a Roofe goal from a cross.
For all the things that have changed at Celtic in the summer, the winner here was a throwback to the dog days of last season when a ball in their airspace at the back caused them untold grief.
It's also a second defeat in four league games. The boom or bust continues - two 6-0 victories and two losses by a single goal. They've shipped 12 goals in 11 games in all competitions.
'Nothing decided, but huge day for Rangers'
The irony was that before Borna Barisic swung in that corner for Filip Helander to nut home, the Croatian's radar was badly off. He put crosses too low, too high and wildly into the stand, he put a free-kick tamely into a wall.
It just takes one moment, though. One piece of accuracy, one piece of hesitancy, one piece of barrelling belligerence from a defender-cum-attacker who wanted nothing more in those seconds than to get his head on a ball and put it in the net.
The fact Celtic made his life easier was just a reminder that, for all the progress Ange Postecoglou feels he has made, he still has a way to go in the rebuilding of this team.
Nothing is determined this early in the season, but this was a huge day for Rangers.
Covid denied them their manager, Steven Gerrard; their captain, Tavernier; and their top two goalkeepers, Allan McGregor and Jon McLaughlin. And yet they found a way of winning what was a fine derby.
They did it against a backdrop of doubt. The narrative that they struggle to carry the burden of expectation when playing in front of their own people had taken hold in places (Celtic places mostly), but this will have stalled that chat - or killed it stone dead.
Rangers have had some wobbles of late, but this was a return to sterner stuff. A win, clean sheet and a move up the table. In their last seven derbies, they've won six and have drawn one, they've scored 13 goals and conceded just three.
Gerrard made no secret of his view that his team have been struggling to find themselves this season. In his absence, this was the victory he'd been waiting for.
'Celtic left to rue Kyogo's peripheral role'
Kyogo Furuhashi made a difference when moved into a central role
It was toe-to-toe stuff all day. There weren't buckets of chances but there was an amount of intrigue.
In going with a front three of Kyogo, Odsonne Edouard and Liel Abada, the Celtic manager ramped up his reputation as a man who likes to target an opponent's jugular before they have a chance to strike at his solar plexus.
Kyogo off the left was a mistake, though, and one Postecoglou conceded afterwards. He's been wonderfully effective through the middle in his early games but starting out wide to make way for Edouard, he was a diminished force. Virtually the second he was put through the middle, with 20 minutes to go, he started causing trouble.
The excellent, and third-choice Robby McCrorie denied him once and then twice. Late in the game, Kyogo shot when he should have passed - Ryan Christie was howling for the ball like a banshee in the night - and then when he went again soon after, the Japanese passed when he should have shot.
If Celtic can draw any comfort, it's that there was very little in the game, that they had chances they didn't convert.
Edouard had one opportunity and he missed it. A veritable sitter too. It would have put them ahead. It might have changed the entire day. It could have seen Ibrox turn in on its team and the whole atmosphere turn stressful and angry.
Coulda, woulda. Edouard let them off the hook. Postecoglou will ponder a few things after this. He'll want to get the Edouard situation sorted once and for all. For too long, Celtic have lived with speculation about the Frenchman moving on. Window after window, supposed suitor after supposed suitor. But in Glasgow he remains.
As a Celtic player he looks like the light of other days, a guy who needs to leave in order to get himself going again.
For the individual and the Celtic collective this speculation needs to stop. Get as much money for him as possible and get on with life with Kyogo and Edouard's heir-apparent, Georgios Giakoumakis, scorer of 26 goals in 31 games for a VVV Venlo side that finished 17th of 18 in the Eredivisie last season.
There will be activity at Celtic right until the transfer deadline on Tuesday. Postecoglou is not the type to curl up in a ball and bemoan this defeat, but its lessons won't be lost on him.
Another experienced central defender is needed, another wide player, another striker. Will he experiment with Kyogo on the flank again? Opposing teams in Scotland would love if he did.
Gerrard will be thrilled his spell in isolation has seen them progress into the group stages of the Europa League before making a 2000-mile return journey from Armenia to beat Celtic. Gary McAllister has been the steadiest of hands.
A lousy week off the pitch could scarcely have gone any better on it.
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