Five things we learnt from Celtic v Rangers Old Firm game

Playing a high press is by definition a game of risk and reward, but there was nothing remotely unforeseeable about how Rangers’ system came apart at the seams after an encouraging start. Kyogo Furuhashi getting the run on the last defender to tuck home from deep in the box? Daizen Maeda pulling away from James Tavernier at the back post to end up in a central, scoring position? Blue-clad wide players — on this occasion Rabbi Matondo — failing to react to a quick interchange between an overlapping Celtic full back and the No8 on that side?
If the movie as a whole felt very familiar, those individual scenes — and Rangers’ brutally wooden acting within them — were a script as old as time. Furuhashi’s first effort was ruled out for the tightest of offsides against Nicolas Kühn, but when Paulo Bernardo and Alistair Johnston combined down the right minutes later, the outcome was inevitable.
The same could be said of the situation that next pitted Furuhashi against Jack Butland. The Japanese striker’s instincts and decision making were typically razor sharp as he sped on to Greg Taylor’s perceptive pass and stroked the ball towards, rather than directly into, the bottom corner. Again, not for the first time in this fixture or even this season, Butland was shown up low to his left, having inexplicably positioned himself a couple of strides to the right of centre.
Furuhashi’s anticipation and technical excellence are beyond reproach, but so many of Rangers’ senior players do not so much cover themselves in glory, but routinely find themselves fatally exposed in this fixture.
Taylor’s part in that second goal should not go unnoticed, not least at a time when the Celtic left back has been confronted by yet another contender to a throne on which he has perched precariously yet utterly reliably — in domestic terms at least — over the last five years. Barcelona have not loaned Alex Valle to the champions to sit on the bench, but all of Alexandro Bernabei, Boli Bolingoli and Diego Laxalt arrived for big money or from big clubs to considerable fanfare and couldn’t dislodge the incumbent.
Where Valle looks to have the physique and the skillset to fit Rodgers’ preferred profile for an attacking full back, Taylor’s ability to win possession — here he robbed Vaclav Cerny to start the move which led to the second — invert as an extra midfielder and pick a cutting forward pass mean he again will not go without a fight.
If the decisive contributions of Furuhashi and Maeda were a cut-and-paste job from previous derbies, Callum McGregor brought the same understated control and authority which have seen him run the show seemingly dozens of times against Rangers. The Celtic captain was as tenacious as he was elegant, by turns scampering back to snuff out incipient danger and bursting forward to dovetail with Furuhashi or the wide men.
Philippe Clement had responded dismissively when asked in his pre-match media session about the importance of the midfield contest, but the blunt truth is that so many of Rangers’ travails in the fixture can be traced back to their inability to get close to McGregor. It will be fascinating to see whether the arrival of Arne Engels encourages Rodgers to push his captain further up — either way, there is no sign of him running out of enthusiasm for putting Rangers midfielders in their place. A third left-foot long-range stunner in the opening weeks of the campaign was the icing on a typically substantial cake.
Engels, Celtic’s record signing, got the last half-hour, while Luke McCowan and Adam Idah came on for the final 14 minutes. Amid all the understandable attention on these new faces, the loudest cheer was reserved for the introduction of James Forrest. The veteran winger was making his 500th Celtic appearance and continues to more than justify his involvement, instantly affecting the game with those darts down or from the touchline.
Forrest’s first contribution was to set up a penalty shout as he offloaded a shot which the home support and players were convinced struck a Rangers hand, but any grumbling at the non-award was almost immediately overtaken by McGregor’s majestic sweep.