There are parallels to be drawn between that day in November, seven years ago, and this, the latest test of the resolve of McLeish’s players. Jonathan Gould, Stephane Mahe, Marc Reiper, Regi Blinker and Henrik Larsson joined me as Old Firm debutants, and Rangers are likely to have as many venturing into the unknown at Parkhead. Jean-Alain Boumsong, Gregory Vignal, Alex Rae, Dragan Mladenovic, Nacho Novo and Dado Prso are about to find out that nothing can prepare you for your first Old Firm match. For Celtic, only Juninho and Henri Camara have not been there before and both of Martin O’Neill’s new signings are likely to begin the game on the substitutes’ bench.
We had a week of relentless build-up to the first derby of season 1997/98. This time, Rangers’ minds will have been focused on the Champions League and the defeat by CSKA Moscow may yet be a factor today. The pressure and expectation to win these games is unique, in some ways it outdoes anything the players at the biggest clubs in the world are under. When it goes wrong for you in that environment, particularly away from home, it is very hard to recover.
After what happened at Ibrox on Wednesday night, the Rangers players need to get some confidence, they need to hit a run of results. What they don’t need is an Old Firm game at Parkhead. McLeish is about to find out a lot about his players. They are happy to take the money, happy to take the four-year deals, but can they take the pressure that goes along with all of that? They are out of the Champions League, the club has lost a lot of money, everyone is down. Can they deliver when the heat is on? Comparing the two probable line-ups, it is impossible not to favour Celtic. But there is more to winning an Old Firm match than that. The battle for the midfield will be crucial, and that comes down to the two managers as well as the players. In the build up to the game, McLeish and O’Neill will be trying to second guess each other. Will they go for width? Will they sit someone in front of the defence? Will they use the hole behind the strikers? The most important decisions, though, will be made after kick off.
It’s easy for a manager to pick a formation and then say that his players didn’t perform when things went wrong, but it is down to them to see where the problems are after 10 minutes and to react accordingly. When Scotland played England in the second leg of the Euro 2000 playoff at Wembley in 1999, Craig Brown suspected that this was something the then England manager, Kevin Keegan, did not always do. Craig was expected to play his usual 3-5-2, but pushed Neil McCann up in a
4-3-3. Keegan did not change his side to cope with that and it was a McCann cross that gave Don Hutchison the goal that wasn’t quite enough to take us to the finals.
Advertisement
It is crucial to have players on the field who understand the need for change and can carry out the manager’s instructions. The key man for O’Neill here is Neil Lennon. He is the voice of the manager once the players cross the line and O’Neill trusts him absolutely. Lennon is an excellent player, but even if he was not, his value as an organiser would merit a starting spot.
I’m not sure if Alex McLeish has someone he can rely on like that at the moment. What he does have is a man who can match the drive that Lennon gives the Celtic midfield. The first clash between Lennon and Alex Rae is highly anticipated, but they may not meet that often during the match. Lennon plays the game in his head, working out where the play is moving and being in the right place at the right time to mop things up. Rae is more dynamic, although at 34 he does not get from box to box as much as he once did. But the two players will not have been lying awake last night thinking about that first tackle. After attracting controversy in recent weeks, both will want to stay out of the referee’s way today.
Lennon has Old Firm experience and he does not have 60,000 fans on his case, as Rae will at Parkhead. He must keep his head and focus on his role. Rangers cannot afford to be without him in the big games and in a team with so many new faces and a shortage of leaders, his experience and influence is vital. McLeish has addressed the lack of fight at either end of the park which hamstrung his side last season, but if he cannot get the best out of his limited resources in midfield then his strikers will be starved of service and his defence will have little protection.
The first 50-50 between these two will not win or lose the game. A rash decision to go flying in when the odds are against them could prove much more decisive.