One of the biggest rivalries in world football was on show on the 29th of December, The Old Firm. This was a tale of the two giants of Scottish football. Celtic have absolutely dominated Rangers in the recent past, with their last defeat coming more than six years ago. A novice manager in his debut season against a manager of great experience; his old boss. The leader against their closest challenger. Scotland stopped to watch this one.
The game finished with Steven Gerrard’s men on top, with the only goal of the game coming from Ryan Jack on the half hour-mark.
Lineups
Rangers (4-2-3-1): McGregor; Tavernier, Worrall, Goldson, Halliday; McCrorie, Jack; Candeias, Arfield, Kent; Morelos
Celtic (4-2-3-1): Gordon; Lusting, Boyata, Benkovic, McGregor; Brown, Ntcham; Forrest, Christie, Sinclair; Johnston
Rangers’ high and aggressive pressure
One of the main components of Rangers’ victory was their ability to press high up the pitch, not allowing Celtic any comfort in their play. Steven Gerrard did not let Celtic have any comfortable possession, even at the back, and instructed his players to constantly harass Celtic on the ball. One of the pressing triggers was the ball back to Craig Gordon, which pushed the Rangers team up and allowed them to defend man to man with Celtic’s center-backs as well as in midfield.
Subsequently, the full-backs were left as the free men, forcing them to hit longer passes. This gave the players time to recover into their position if the press was beaten. An important part of the pressure was Scott Arfield’s man marking of Scott Brown, a key member in Celtic’s playing out from the back.
This acted as a signal for the other two midfielders to push up onto their rivals in the middle and not let them turn. Rangers were very proactive with their pressing and regularly followed through when Celtic played the ball backward, closing the outside, forcing them inside.
By following through and pressing the receiver so quickly and aggressively, Rangers were able to cut the playing angle for the Celtic player immediately, making it difficult to play forwards comfortably to a free man. This constant pressure stopped Celtic from settling into a rhythm and forced multiple mistakes in possession, especially from Boyata who had a very shaky game in possession despite usually possessing plenty of composure on the ball.
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