Dermot Gallagher reacts to controversy in Celtic v Rangers match live on Sky Sports
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher believes that VAR got their offside decision right for Celtic’s first goal in the Old Firm derby.
Rangers received yet another heavy loss from arch-rivals Celtic on Sunday [1 September] which sent the Gers down to fourth in the Scottish Premiership.
However, within the first 10 minutes of the game it felt as if Philippe Clement’s men had it in them to perhaps triumph – that was until Kyogo Furuhashi bagged his first goal that was fortunately ruled as offside.
Gallagher shared his verdict on the offside call in the eventual 3-0 loss for the Gers and stated that although the ruling was “tight,” it was the correct call from VAR.
“This is where you need VAR isn’t it. You can understand the system not spotting this in real-time at the speed it goes at,” Gallagher said live on Sky Sports News (2 September, 11:34am).
“There’s no way he could look at that and go ‘yeah I’m convinced that’s offside’ but when you see it and freeze frame it, you can see how tight it is, it’s just off.
“What I would also say about this game is that I thought the referee was absolutely brilliant, he just let it flow and play out, he didn’t get sucked into anything it’s just a marvellous refereeing performance.”
Aside from the first offside call, there was also a call for handball on Rangers stalwart John Souttar which Gallagher rubbished and stated that although it did hit the defender on the arm, it was in a natural position and there was nothing the Scotsman could do about it.
Rangers need to step up their game to challenge for the title
Rangers have perhaps had one of their worst starts to a season in recent times and currently lie fourth in the table.
The likes of Dundee United and Aberdeen are both ahead of Clement’s men, which has no doubt come as quite a shock to fans.
Robin Propper and Connor Barron were handed their first tastes of an Old Firm derby on 1 September and both failed to play to the standards expected of them.
In fact, the Gers’ loss meant that Derek Ferguson’s worst nightmare had come to life after he stated he wasn’t sure whether Barron would be able to handle the occasion.
As aforementioned, there is still plenty of time for Clement to turn the tides and perhaps even make his way to the top of the Scottish Premiership.
Despite it still being early days in the campaign, fans will no doubt want to see an improvement in performance from their team after the international break which is exactly what Clement should be trying to instil into his team.
Here’s hoping that we see a new-look Rangers when they face 3rd-placed Dundee United on 15 September.
In other Rangers news, Ally McCoist has shared what Rangers need to improve their performance.
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