Rangers as a team failed to deliver v Celtic – Brian Laudrup
Brian Laudrup believes that the biggest reason why Rangers suffered a thrashing defeat against Celtic was the difference in mentality.
The Gers suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat against the Hoops in the first Old Firm Derby of the 2022-23 campaign, slipping to five points behind the top spot in the Scottish Premiership.
In a column for Scottish Daily Mail print edition [6 September, page 74], Laudrup stated that he could not believe what he was watching in the match where the home side was just too hot to handle.
“I couldn’t believe what I was watching,” he wrote. “Turning away from the nightmare on the television, I had to check the calendar and make sure it wasn’t February 2 again.
“At least when Rangers lost 3-0 back then, they might and I only say might have had the slightest bit of an excuse from Celtic’s 100mph approach being relatively new. Obviously, that doesn’t apply now.
“How could the players not learn their lesson? I just don’t get it. You can talk about signings and tactics and everything else. These are all valid debates.
“But a good part of the debacle witnessed at the weekend was down to something much simpler. Mentality. Doing the basics of actually concentrating in a derby game when your focus should be at its sharpest.
“Everything was also much too slow and there was no creativity. It was really concerning to see. You can’t just single out one or two people here. The whole Rangers group failed to deliver.”
Day to forget
Rangers started their campaign hoping to reclaim the Premiership title after coming second in the previous campaign, where they finished as the runners-up in the Europa League and also won the Scottish Cup.
However, the result on Saturday has left the Gers five points behind their fiercest rivals and it is already looking extremely difficult for the side to claim the top spot in the league table.
That result also showed that there is a gulf between the sides, despite Rangers making big strides in the previous campaigns.
It is now the responsibility of Giovanni van Bronckhorst to ensure that his players will be able to forget that result and focus on the matches ahead where they are set to begin their campaign in Europe’s elite club competition for the first time in more than a decade.
They take on Ajax on Wednesday night and another horror show could see them get thumped again, which would certainly see some fans turn on the boss.
In other Rangers news, Michael Stewart got stuck into one player after what he did in the past week