Scottish Premiership 2021/22: How Celtic dominated Rangers again with their positional structure – tactical analysis

Last Sunday, we had another Old Firm Derby as Celtic faced Rangers for the fifth time this season  and they should be very familiar with each other now. It is almost like an “end game” for Giovanni van Bronckhorst because his side sit second in the table with a six-point margin to the top  his side should have given everything to fight for the win. However, the drama script did not offer any surprising elements as we saw Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic dominate in this fixture again.

This tactical analysis will give a careful look at their positional system and explains how they made Rangers suffer.

Lineups

Celtic played with a 4-1-2-3 formation as usual, which was the exact same eleven that beat Ross County one week ago. Postecoglou had a clear preference in the midfield trio now as that was formed by Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate, and Matt O’Riley. He was willing to start the more experienced players such as James McCarthy and Tom Rogic on the bench.

Rangers had their worries on Thursday as they had to face RB Leipzig again in the UEFA Europa League semi-final, but as we have explained the situation, they could not give up this game because it was unacceptable to hand Celtic the trophy like this. But van Bronckhorst still had to make some changes as some players could not play three days a game, so the likes of Ryan Jack, Glen Camara, and Scott Wright did not start the game, but that should be a lineup being well-prepared for the derby as well.

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