Published Date: 01 September 2008
By Glenn Gibbons
at Celtic Park
THE humiliation of Kaunas – and possibly any other 'sins' of the past that still rankle – would be swept away on a tide of forgiveness yesterday as Walter Smith regained his messianic status among Rangers supporters who, as recently as two weeks ago, would not have believed it possible to have achieved such a comprehensive victory at Celtic Park.
Despite the second-half ordering-off of his striker, Daniel Cousin – to be followed a minute later by that of the Celtic substitute, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink – even Smith himself may have wondered about the beneficent providence who arranged for all the elements of his recent work to come together in one match and dispel doubts about the wisdom of some of his actions.
Kenny Miller, the perennially maligned non-scoring striker, returned to the home of his former club and scored a double, while Pedro Mendes, the Portuguese midfielder acquired from Portsmouth in the wake of the European calamity, gave a performance that made his manager appear a genius, capped by the extraordinary goal early in the second half that put Rangers beyond the reach of the struggling champions.
Cousin had given the visitors the lead, an advantage that lasted just two minutes before Georgios Samaras equalised for Celtic. As Gordon Strachan said afterwards, he "couldn't see that second half coming". In truth, nobody could, as Miller restored Rangers' lead and Mendes, just five minutes later, made it 3-1. The dreadful error from the home goalkeeper, Artur Boruc, that allowed Miller to complete his double was almost incidental, as was Shunsuke Nakamura's free kick in injury time that was deflected past Allan McGregor.
While Rangers' victory, taking them back to the top of the Premier League, was the result of the players' efforts, this was a performance that was unquestionably founded on Smith's tactical soundness. Mutual tentativeness is often a feature of the first in the Old Firm series and it tends to be even more pronounced when the fixture arrives this early in the schedule.
There was also, on this occasion, the matter of Smith trying to accommodate newcomers to the fixture without causing too much disruption through nerves. The Rangers manager decided that two debutants – Mendes and Madjid Bougherra – would be sufficient.
But, if Smith's 4-4-2 suggested an ambition to match Celtic in aggressiveness, it became clear that there was an emphatically cautious, but cunning, element to the strategy. Steven Davis on the right and Charlie Adam on the other flank of the midfield four spent much of the time operating as assistants to the full-backs, Kirk Broadfoot and Sasa Papac. It was obviously a deliberate doubling-up on Aiden McGeady and Shunsuke Nakamura, two famously dangerous raiders.
The result was a generally balanced conflict in the first half, during which Celtic passed more time in their opponents' half than vice versa, but presenting a threat as infrequently as the visitors. Indeed, neither side gave any indication that they were capable of producing the breathtaking two-minute passage that brought those first-half goals. They were the more welcome for their seeming improbability.
Cousin, who had been most notable for his physical battle with Gary Caldwell, showed exceptional quickness of thought and action to give Rangers the lead with his first sniff of room in which to work. What made his goal the more meritorious was that the space he had found was far out on the right, as opposed to the middle of the penalty area.
The striker skipped past Mark Wilson, made for the dead ball line and, as Stephen McManus charged in to try to block his route and Kenny Miller peeled off in anticipation of the cut-back, Cousin squeezed the low shot between Boruc and his near post and into the far wall of the net. If the Celtic goalkeeper appeared culpable in not covering the opening, it is not difficult to suppose that he would have been distracted by Miller, lurking unmarked on the six-yard line.
The equaliser from Samaras could be called just, since neither side, at that stage, deserved to be ahead. It was, however, some uncertain defending from Sasa Papac and David Weir, preceded by a mistake by Davis, which gave the towering Greek the opportunity. Davis initially allowed Mendes's pass to run straight to Scott Brown, who supplied McGeady. When the latter's low cross arrived, the ball initially ran under Weir's foot and was then knocked straight to Samaras by Papac. The Celtic striker slipped it past McGregor right-footed from only five yards.
The impression of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object suggested that whichever of the fierce rival could establish an advantage after the interval would prove difficult to overtake. That Rangers should do so and then double the margin five minutes later would prove utterly conclusive.
Miller sent his right-foot volley into the ground and past Boruc from a chip by Kevin Thomson on the left, vindicating the hunch, expressed by many, that this would be the match in which he would break his duck. But Mendes would give an exhibition of powerful, crisp shooting when he took a headed clearance from Davis's corner kick on the left and hit a 30-yard drive that hurtled far to the right of Boruc.
The Polish goalkeeper's mind seemed to be elsewhere when he stooped to gather a low cross from Broadfoot on the right, as he suddenly dropped it at the feet of Miller. The Scotland forward had only to roll the ball into the unprotected net from six yards.
Cousin's second yellow card came from an elbow challenge on McManus – he had been cautioned earlier for persistent fouling – and he would be followed a minute later by Vennegoor of Hesselink, who, having replaced Samaras, reacted to a challenge from Broadfoot by attempting, and failing, to kick the full-back. All of this made Nakamura's late free kick an irrelevance on a day when Celtic simply lacked the imagination with which to counter Rangers' disciplined adherence to their game plan.
