‘Walloped’ – Graeme Souness and Simon Jordan react to Rangers Old Firm defeat v Celtic
Graeme Souness believes it was “sad” that Rangers got “walloped” by Celtic in the Old Firm derby on Saturday, speaking live on talkSPORT.
The light blues were battered by their fierce rivals in a poor performance, and will quickly look to move their minds to the Champions League clash with Ajax on Wednesday evening instead.
But reacting to the result and performance Simon Jordan told talkSPORT [5 September] that the two clubs are in different places right now with Celtic stronger, while Souness was “surprised” by the result.
“There’s a lot for Giovanni van Bronckhorst to prove,” Jordan said. “He’s done very well in Europe but not so well domestically.
“They did exactly to them as they did to them in a previous game at Parkhead except they added an extra goal to it and kept going in the second half.
“Celtic are just in a slightly different place at this moment in time. They’ve got a stronger manager and domestically Rangers are short. There is a difference.
“You get better opportunities in European football to do certain things. I said they would get a doing. I didn’t say it would be nip and tuck. I said they would get a doing and a doing is what they got.”
Souness added to that, admitting he was “sad” for his former club.
“I’m slightly surprised,” Souness said. “I fancied them. They’ve had some fabulous results away from home, albeit in European football. But more importantly the manager has played in that game and knows how difficult it is to play in those games.
“The last thing you would hear from a manager and staff as a player going out the door – not just in the Old Firm but up and down the country – is ‘make sure you start right’.
“And if ever there’s a game you have to start right it’s Rangers going to Parkhead. They come after you and are down your throat from minute one.
“You have to stand up to that and deal with it and hopefully get through it. They went there last season and were 3-0 down in no time and got walloped again. It’s sad for Rangers.”
Shocking
There were absolutely zero positives to take from the game at the weekend and having to listen to Jordan gloat that he was right about us being on the wrong side of a hiding makes things even worse.
But what Souness said really hit home. It simply felt sad to watch that this team didn’t seem to understand the importance of the game to the fans.
There was no urgency or sense of pride in the performance as they let Celtic run rampant and take liberties on the ball, and there needs to be a big improvement on the performance come Wednesday day or they could be on the end of another hiding.
Van Bronckhorst has been battered twice at their ground now and it’s something he must address going forward because it immediately puts the team at a disadvantage in the title race, but now heads can’t drop and we must go again.
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