John Souttar offside goalSNS

John Souttar's header was ruled offside after a VAR check

At a glance

  • John Souttar thumps header into the Celtic net, only for VAR to rule it offside

  • Celtic finish first half with an xG of 0.00

  • Starting debuts for Rangers' Miovski and Balikwisha for Celtic fail to herald goals for either side

Kheredine Idessane
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter at Ibrox

Rangers' winless Scottish Premiership start to the season continued in a spirited but goalless Old Firm stalemate with blunt Celtic.

This was a nervy, error-strewn derby between two sides who failed to produce any genuine moments of quality, with howls of home frustration greeting a video assistant referee (VAR) decision to rule out John Souttar's first-half header for the hosts.

What the match lacked in panache it made up for in energy and endeavour. How Ibrox screamed for an early penalty when visiting defender Liam Scales appeared to barge into Rangers' debut boy Bojan Miovski. The only nonchalant figure in the ground, referee Don Roberston, was unmoved.

While the majority of the pressure pre-match was on under-fire Rangers head coach Russell Martin, it was another flat, limp, toothless first 45 from Brendan Rodgers' Celtic who couldn't even register a shot, never mind a shot on target.

The home side avoided the silly mistakes that have scarred some of their performances so far this season, and that was enough to contain their toothless opponents.

Not making a mistake is a fairly low bar, but Rangers are taking baby steps at the moment under new ownership and new management.

Sensing the Rangers fans were close to their pain threshold given the winless start to the league season, manager Martin was perhaps more pragmatic and risk-averse against his city rivals.

However, it means after four games his side sit in sixth, six points behind Celtic.

Slow & steady for Rangers as Celtic show drop off in quality - analysis

After three Premiership matches without a win and humiliation at the hands of Brugge in Europe, Rangers knew they had to improve and duly delivered.

Committed, energetic, and organised, this was not the high-risk, high-reward football Martin one day wants to have as the norm. It was solid, unspectacular but enabled a struggling team to have a platform in the game.

Baby steps, if you will, given some of the holes in the side that other teams have exposed so far under the former Southampton boss' tenure.

That they were easily able to contain the defending champions will come as some comfort.

What information do we collect from this quiz?

This was a concerning performance from a Celtic point of view. Flat, uninspiring and completely toothless.

What has happened to the fast-flowing attacking football, the energy, the constant goal threats?

They were nowhere to be seen at Ibrox, just as they went missing for 210 minutes against Kairat Almaty.

New signings Benjamin Nygren and Michel-Ange Balikwisha saw plenty of the ball but weren't able to do anything with it. Daizen Maeda looks completely unrecognisable from last season's runaway Player of the Year. Reo Hatate looks a shadow of himself as well, misplacing passes and having little impact on the game.

There will be no panic, given the transfer window is still open and Celtic are still unbeaten in the Premiership. There will, however, be concern about the speed and scale of their drop-off in quality this season.

What they said

Rangers head coach Russell Martin told BBC Scotland: "I'm disappointed we didn't win because I felt we were good for large parts. I'm really proud of the players' level of fight, desire, aggression, all things we questioned inside and outside of the building.

"That was a big focus today to really fight and show some togetherness and spirit and aggression - and there was so much of that. We couldn't find the composure at times.

"It's an important clean sheet, an important point. We're six points off top, which is frustrating for us, but it gives us something to hunt."

Martin reacts to Celtic stalemate

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers told BBC Scotland: "I didn't think it was a good game at all. Positive for us, we've defended well in the main at the start of the season, been very resolute.

"We didn't have any shots on goal against us. But our offensive game is nowhere near the level I'd like it to be at. It was a game that lacked quality.

"We've lost players that connected the game for us. When you go through a spell of games you're not scoring, it can affect the other guys and they don't quite make the forward pass and they make the safe pass.

"That creativity has come out the team and we need to find those connections again. I'm very confident we will improve. We have to. That's not the Celtic way of playing."

Rodgers says Celtic 'have to improve'

What next for the teams?

Rangers host Hearts on 13 September (15:00 BST), while Celtic go to Rugby Park to take on Kilmarnock the following day (15:00).

Where next?

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