What Rangers must do to beat Celtic in the Old Firm

With three wins from three, including a last-gasp 2-1 victory at Kilmarnock in their opener, Rangers are only separated from top spot by Celtic’s better goal difference. They will firmly believe they can move up a position with a win over their rivals on Sunday.

What’s new?

This time last season, Gerrard deployed a 4-3-3 system that was highly functional and led to a more organised Rangers side. However, he eventually brought in a 4-2-3-1 that saw Scott Arfield playing behind Morelos – a system that worked wonders in their first derby win of 2018/19, where the Canadian international marked Scott Brown out of the game.

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A lot has changed since then, however. Towards the end of last term, Gerrard implemented a 4-3-2-1 shape that essentially saw Rangers play without proper wingers, with attacking width provided almost solely by the advancing full-backs. The change helped Rangers to finish the season on a high note, and they have generally stuck by this system at the start of the current campaign.

Tactically, then, Gerrard seems to have a good idea of what his preferred shape is. The only major change has been the increased quality and quantity of personnel. Aribo had added flair and strength to central midfield, while Jones has helped to fill a Ryan Kent-sized void in attacking midfield with his pace and skill. The permanent signature of Steven Davis was also key, with the Northern Irishman providing acute positional awareness and exceptional passing to the team’s build-up.

Who is Rangers’ key man?

Morelos divided opinion last season, but perhaps the narrative should have focused more on the fact that – in spite of all his indiscipline and suspensions – he was the top scorer in the Premiership with 18 league goals.

As well as his finishing touch, the 23-year-old was crucial to Rangers in every phase of play. Defensively, his intensity and mobility helped Gerrard’s men press aggressively from the front. Offensively, his movement, hold-up and link play caused opponents endless problems.

Jermain Defoe has brought competition for places up front, but there’s no doubt that when fit and available Morelos is Rangers’ starting striker. And, with nine goals and three assists in 10 all-competition outings this term so far, he is primed and ready to exploit an unsettled Celtic back line on Sunday.

What are Rangers’ strengths?

At times last season Rangers struggled to break down compact defensive blocks, but they are better placed to do this in their new 4-3-2-1 shape. With the full-backs advancing down the flanks, they can get plenty of options between the lines, with Morelos regularly joined in these areas by two attacking midfielders. This, coupled with Connor Goldson’s increasing assuredness playing out from the back, means Gerrard’s side are more capable than before at breaking down deep defences.

They are also nicely varied in the ways they can attack. While they prefer to build out through short passing exchanges between the central defenders and the central midfield trio, they can also switch out to the high and wide full-backs or play forward more directly for the channel runs of Morelos. Then, once in the final third, they have an array of different options to utilise.

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It’s clear that this summer’s transfer window was all about adding creativity to the squad. Six of the nine new faces are classed as wingers or attacking midfielders – Jones, Aribo, Sheyi Ojo, Jake Hastie, Greg Stewart and Brandon Barker – while Andy King and George Edmundson should add more quality to their build-up play from deep.

With good crossing coming from Tavernier and Borna Barisic, an improved roster of dribblers and playmakers, and the 4-3-2-1 shape allowing for better combination play through the centre, Rangers are a highly effective attacking force. On top of that, they remain an exceptionally well-drilled defensive side, with their narrow 4-3-3 without the ball enabling them to press teams into submission.

What are Rangers’ weaknesses?

The narrowness of Rangers’ front three when defending is part of what makes them such an effective pressing unit, but it can leave the full-backs isolated. If the opposition choose to play around rather than through the Rangers block, they can get into good 1v1 or 2v1 situations against the likes of Tavernier and Barisic. The latter may specifically be targeted by Celtic this weekend, as he yet to fully convince since moving to Scotland one year ago.

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The full-back areas are also a concern for Rangers when in defensive transition. As they generally like both players to push forward and give width, this can leave space on the outside of Rangers’ centre-backs when the ball is lost. Teams like Celtic, with pacey, skilful forwards, will look to exploit these spaces on the break.

Finally, while Rangers’ build-up has improved considerably in the last year or so, there remain teething problems in terms of structure, decision-making and personnel.

Sometimes they end up with too many players in front of the opposition defence, with all three central midfielders holding hands with the two centre-backs. There are also occasional risky sideways passes played across the midfield three, which could act as obvious triggers for opposition pressing. And it’s worth noting that Nikola Katic, who is likely to start alongside Goldson this weekend, is not 100% comfortable on the ball.

How can Rangers beat Celtic?

The most obvious area of weakness for Celtic right now is in their back line. With Mikael Lustig, Dedryck Boyata and Kieran Tierney all moved on, and Fraser Forster having recently arrived as their new first-choice goalkeeper, the champions’ defence is not as familiar and organised as it was in previous seasons. Rangers would be wise to test this quickly and as often as possible, perhaps through long balls in the channels for Morelos to chase and potentially bully one of Celtic’s new recruits.

Another aspect of Celtic’s defending that Rangers should look to exploit is the gaps in their midfield line. Against Motherwell, Celtic were played through fairly consistently in the first half, and with Rangers getting lots of options between the lines, penetrating this way is a viable option to progress the ball and get into good attacking positions.

When pressing, Rangers may also want to target the right-hand side of Celtic’s build-up. Christopher Jullien hasn’t yet settled and against Hearts he was caught out with some of his passes out to the right-back, Kristoffer Ajer. With Jones likely to start on the left of Rangers’ front three, his pace should be used to close down this pass and try to intercept the ball to then kick-start quick counters from high up the pitch.