Rangers reaction: Bad idea for Celtic Park trip rightly dismissed and the player who got Clement death stare
Three takaways from Rangers’ 6-0 win over Ross County
Rangers warmed up for next weekend’s derby with Celtic with a 6-0 thrashing of Ross County. Rabbi Matondo and Cyriel Dessers each scored twice, with Tom Lawrence and Danilo also weighing in. Here are three things that arose from the match:
Double park the bus
Philippe Clement was bullish afterwards about Rangers’ chances of winning at Parkhead and vowed there was no prospect of his team going there and trying to shut up shop. Which is maybe just as well. Rangers have only shut out Celtic twice in the previous 22 derby games played in Glasgow’s east end, a record that stretches back almost 15 years. Rangers’ last clean sheet at Celtic Park came in October 2020, a match played behind closed doors. The last time Celtic didn’t score in a home derby in front of their fans was a goalless draw back in December 2017. Little wonder that Clement has already dismissed the idea of parking the bus at Parkhead. As a strategy there isn’t much to commend it.
Too close for comfort
Clement cut a content and relaxed figure after the comprehensive mauling of County but that wasn’t the case towards the end of the first half. After conceding a free kick deep into his own half, visiting defender George Harmon quickly booted the ball away to help buy him and his beleaguered teammates a bit of time to regroup. His clearance, though, sailed perilously close to Clement, almost striking the Belgian on the head. It was difficult to deduce whether the death stare Clement gave Harmon afterwards was for putting him in danger or for preventing Rangers from taking a quick free kick. Either way it was no surprise to see the player quickly scamper out of earshot.
Scrum on down
There are TV sets perched on almost every desk in the Hampden press box, something that has proved very handy over the years for catching replays during televised Scotland games or cup finals. Rangers’ league games at the national stadium haven’t been broadcast live but old habits die hard. One colleague started to take a note of the County formation shown on screen prior to kick-off only to realise something was afoot when he worked down his list and counted 13 players. The TV had been showing the lineups ahead of a rugby league match.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.