2022-09-03: Celtic 4-0 TheRangers, SP

Match Pictures | Matches: 2022 – 2023

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Trivia

• KO: 12:30; Saturday Sky TV; league match day 6
• First meeting between the two sides this season.
• Celtic go 5pts in front with far superior goal difference, +17 advantage over Sevco. 38 games undefeated in the league.
• Today was Celtic’s 25th clean sheet in 44 Scottish Premiership games under Ange Postecoglou, five in six games so far this season, they’re scoring on average four goals a game and barely conceding at the other end, frightening start to the season.
• Nick Walsh, who works at a school with Sevco youth players, appointed as referee! His performance today was very questionable at times, and how 1-2 Sevco players did NOT get sent off is very concerning.
• Kyogo & Starfelt injured in the match and likely out for Tuesday and following games.
• Both sides play in the Champions League group stages next week.
• UEFA slap Sevco on finance watchlist with 18 other clubs – how Ibrox men can escape sanctions. Sevco have been put on a UEFA financial watchlist and told to comply fully with club licensing rules.
• Argentinan vice-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, one of Latin America’s best-known politicians, has escaped an assassination attempt after a man pointed a loaded gun at her head which failed to fire!
• Reports:
  • Transfer Window shut
  • Recruited players for problem positions from last season. Got rid of players who weren’t a fit for the managers system. Added depth to every area of the team. Kept our best players
  • Ex Celt Marian Shved joins Shakhtar whom Celtic are to face in the Champions league
  • Dylan Reid to Celtic is off for the second time this summer with the young St Mirren player staying put!
• Transfers:
  • Liam Shaw has joined English League One side Morecambe FC on loan.
  • Mikey Johnston moved on loan to Vitoria (Portugal) but also had his Celtic contract extended by a year.
  • Oliver Abildgaard loaned in for a season from Rubin Kazan (Russia).
  • In:
    Daizen Maeda (loan to permanent, Yokoham F.M), Jota (loan to permanent, Benfica), Cameron Carter-Vickers (loan to permanent, Tottenham), Moritz Jenz (loan with option to buy, Lorient), Benjamin Siegrist (Dundee United), Aaron Mooy (SH Port), Alexandro Bernabei (Lanus), Sead Haksabanovic (Rubin Kazan), Oliver Abildgaard (Rubin Kazan).
  • Out:
    Mikey Johnston (Vitoria, loan) Christopher Jullien (Montpellier), Albian Ajeti (Sturm Graz, loan with option), Nir Bitton (Maccabi Tel Aviv), Ewan Henderson (Hibs), Tom Rogic (N/A), Kerr McInroy (Kilmarnock), Brody Paterson (Hartlepool United), Ross Doohan (Tranmere Rovers), Jonathan Afolabi (Bohemian), Luca Connell (Barnsley), Boli Bolingoli (KV Mechelen), Karamoko Dembele (Stade Brestois), Ozase Uhroghide (Oostende, loan with option), Liam Scales (Aberdeen, loan), Adam Montgomery (St Johnstone, loan), Vasilis Barkas (Utrecht, loan), Ismaila Soro (Arouca, loan with option), Johnny Kenny (Queen’s Park, loan), Owen Moffat (Blackpool), Ben Wylie (Airdrie, loan), Liam Shaw (Morecambe, loan), Ethan Mitchell (Annan Athletic).

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Summary

“To play the kind of football we want, if you rely on a certain core of players eventually they will break down. Now we are in a position where we don’t need to do that. I can rotate the team and make sure that we’ve got everyone in really good condition.”
Ange Postecoglou

Journo Tom English before the match: “Celtic have been cruising… But [Sevco] are a seriously resilient team.”

Ange on the big Glasgow derby: “Yeah I absolute love them”

Misc: Best part of Jota’s goal just now isn’t his first touch or the gorgeous finish. The real moment of wonder is how he changes the cadence of his run after that first touch, to ensure he can strike the ball with his right and create the angle for the finish

Cautious Dave of KDS:

We absolutely blitzed them!

At KO I was very confident that we were winning today. One minute in and I was much less confident when it was clear that Kyogo had to come off.
I know a lot of people would’ve started GG in any case but the fact that Ange had decided to go with Kyogo and what he brings but then having to change it so early had me spooked. I wasn’t at the game but felt a lot in the ground felt similar as the atmosphere seemed to dip a bit.

But what a response from the players. They adjusted seamlessly and blew that bunch of cloggers off the park.

Their game plan was definitely based around Lundstram running about and bullying our midfield but boy did our players step up. Robbing the ball from him at every turn. The floof was absolutely shell shocked and no amount of staring was going to change that.

I’m absolutely delighted with what Ange is doing. He obviously saw their game plan from the last two times we played them and decided to counter act it. So much for GVB having Ange’s number.

This result is as big as the 6-2 all those years ago.

Jotahavefaith of KDS:

@etims: We battered them and yet we didn’t play our very best and there’s another gear still to come. Just let that sink in

@celticrumours · 13h Watching the game back. Walsh had a poor game as ref. Avoided a number of yellow cards for rangers players. Goldson could also have seen red for the elbow into the face of jota.

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Teams

Celtic

Formation 4-3-3

• 1 Hart
• 88 Juranovic
• 20 Carter-Vickers Booked at 44mins
• 4 StarfeltBooked at 55mins Substituted for Jenz at 57′minutes
• 3 Taylor
• 33 O’Riley Substituted for Turnbull at 72′minutes
• 42 McGregor
• 41 Hatate Substituted for Mooy at 73′minutes
• 11 Abada Substituted for Maeda at 73′minutes
• 8 Furuhashi Substituted for Giakoumakis at 5′minutesBooked at 90mins
• 17 Neves Filipe

Substitutes

• 6Jenz
• 7Giakoumakis
• 9Haksabanovic
• 13Mooy
• 14Turnbull
• 31Siegrist
• 38Maeda
• 49Forrest
• 56Ralston

Goals:

• Abada (8′ minutes, 40′ minutes), 
• Neves Filipe (32′ minutes), 
• Turnbull (78′ minutes)

Assists:

• O’Riley (32′ minutes, 40′ minutes)

Rangers

Formation 4-2-3-1

• 33McLaughlin
• 2Tavernier
• 6GoldsonBooked at 90mins
• 19Sands
• 31BarisicBooked at 19mins
• 10Davis
• 4Lundstram
• Substituted forJackat 78′minutes
• 71TillmanBooked at 34mins
• Substituted forArfieldat 60′minutes
• 18Kamara
• Substituted forWrightat 45′minutes
• 14Kent
• Substituted forSakalaat 78′minutes
• 9Colak

• Substituted forMorelosat 60′minutes

Substitutes

• 1McGregor
• 3Yilmaz
• 8Jack
• 20Morelos
• 23Wright
• 30Sakala
• 37Arfield
• 38King
• 44Devine

 

Goals:
Assists:

Ref:Nick Walsh
Att: 60000

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Articles

• Match Report (see below)

Pictures

• Match Pictures

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Match Links

• Prior
• Match
• Post
• MoTM

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Stats

Possession

Home45%

Away55%

Shots

Home15

Away11

Shots on Target

Home6

Away2

Corners

Home3

Away4

Fouls

Home12

Away11

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Articles

Celtic thrash Rangers in Old Firm derby to extend lead at the top

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/sep/03/celtic-rangers-scottish-premiership-match-reportImages
Ewan Murray at Celtic Park
@mrewanmurray
Sat 3 Sep 2022 14.30 BST
Last modified on Sat 3 Sep 2022 16.07 BST

The most galling thing for Rangers is that a five point and 17 goal advantage as held over them by Celtic in the Scottish Premiership does not look at all inappropriate. Ange Postecoglou’s team mauled their city rivals in the season’s first Old Firm game.

No wonder, then, that the Australian offered a post-match battle cry in respect of Tuesday’s Champions League visit of Real Madrid to Glasgow. “Let’s go down swinging,” said Postecoglou. Celtic, so high on confidence, will not alter approach against illustrious opposition.
Celtic 4-0 Rangers: Scottish Premiership – as it happened
Read more

Celtic’s preparation for a clash with the European champions could hardly have been better. They have cracked home 17 goals in three games. That lead over Rangers, even so early in the season, already looks unassailable. Not that Postecoglou subscribes to that particular train of thought.

“The league table is not important,” he said. “What is important is how we play. If we keep playing like that, we will be hard to stop. But five points does not get you anything right now.”

What Celtic will receive, and rightly, are plaudits. They swaggered to victory without their star striker, Kyogo Furuhashi, after the Japanese suffered a shoulder injury inside five minutes. Postecoglou stated it was too early to know whether Kyogo will recover in time to face Madrid.
David Turnbull celebrates scoring Celtic’s fourth goal against Rangers. Photograph: Steve Welsh/PA

Rangers could not handle the appetite, organisation and slickness of their hosts. Not that Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s shellshocked team did not play a part in their own downfall. Goal number one arrived after Rangers slept at a quick Jota thrown in. Following a Matt O’Riley flick to Liel Abada, the ball was in the net. Jon McLaughlin, the Rangers goalkeeper, should have done far better with Abada’s shot when on the spin.

Rangers did rally for a brief first half period. Antonio Colak should have equalised but instead failed to connect properly with a Borna Barisic cross.

Celtic duly showed their old foes the art of ruthlessness. Again, speed of thought was key. This time a quick free-kick left Rangers flat footed. O’Riley played in Jota, who dinked a wonderful finish over the advancing McLaughlin. Number three arrived before the break, Abada slamming through McLaughlin’s legs after reacting quickest to a loose ball.

Van Bronckhorst called upon Alfredo Morelos with half an hour to play as Rangers looked to even snatch consolation. Yet the Colombian striker, who was left out of Rangers’ squad for the recent Champions League tie at PSV Eindhoven because of concerns over his attitude, looks way short of match fitness. The Morelos issue is just one of umpteen facing Van Bronckhorst. McLaughlin lacks the presence and talent to be a first choice Rangers goalkeeper.

Ridvan Yilmaz, a left back signed amid much fanfare from Besiktas, is not deemed ready to start fixtures such as these. Barisic plays where Yilmaz was supposed to; the Croatian’s defence shortcomings were seized upon by Celtic. Van Bronckhorst has proven himself a highly capable manager in European competition but, in the Scottish top flight, Celtic have raced well ahead.

Celtic’s fourth goal summed up a horrid Rangers afternoon. McLaughlin passed the ball straight to the substitute David Turnbull, who returned the ball with interest. A 4-0 victory pointed towards foregone conclusion in respect of this season’s championship.

Van Bronckhorst was left searching for answers. “There are still a lot of games to be played, plus three games against Celtic,” said the Dutchman. “We have to move on and get stronger and make sure the moments we had today can never happen again, no matter who we play. Everyone needs to reflect in what they did well and what they
did wrong, same for me.”

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Celtic’s Ange Postecoglou dishes out barbs after his team’s Rangers battering: ‘Maybe if I was German, Dutch or Spanish, people might look at me differently’

Celtic’s Ange Postecoglou was in the mood to dish out the barbs after his team handed out a 4-0 battering to rivals Rangers.
By Andrew Smith
Saturday, 3rd September 2022, 4:12 pm
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/celtics-ange-postecoglou-dishes-out-barbs-after-his-teams-rangers-battering-maybe-if-i-was-german-dutch-or-spanish-people-might-look-at-me-differently-3830315
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A thunderous win that has set up his team to play their high pressing, high energy game against Real Madrid in Tuesday night’s Champions League opener.

Clearly irked as he had not let on pre-match by comments from Barry Ferguson that Giovanni van Bronckhorst had him “sussed” because the 57-year-old only had Plan A while the Dutchman had Plans A to D, Postecoglou had a jab when it was put to him he had earned the right to deploy his attacking approach against the Champions League holders.

“What a great opportunity to play our football,” he said of the encounter in which, he offered up smiling, his team would “be tested”. “If we’re not successful, fair enough. But let’s go down swinging rather than deferring to someone because they’re a good team. Our supporters want us to take the game to Real Madrid and see where it takes us. Let’s have a crack anyway. Maybe if I was German, Dutch or Spanish, people might look at me differently as a manager in terms of tactics. Apparently I’ve got one simple approach, a plan A. But we’ll just stick to that.”

Postecoglou had early taken issue with the notion that the derby was his team’s first real challenge of a faultless six-game season. “People have been dismissive because they thought the opposition we’ve had so far weren’t up to it. We were brilliant last week [in the 9-0 at Tannadice] but people spoke about how poor Dundee United were.That suits us because it ignores our part in it. It will be the same today. We’ll just keep doing what we’re doing. A five point [lead] doesn’t get you anything right now – that was shown last year. But if we keep improving and playing like that? We’ll be hard to stop. We were ready for this game but it was a step up in intensity levels. Rangers are a good team, no-one has said they aren’t.

“They’re in the Champions League and beat good teams to get there.But we were ready for them. People have said this is our first real test but we’ve played good football to be ready for this. Now we’ll get ready for Tuesday night. They [Mardrid] are an unbelievable team with outstanding pedigree. They’re champions of Europe but we’ll go out there and test ourselves. There’s no reason why we can’t play with that intensity and trouble Real. We don’t need motivation to raise our game. If you go to Ross County and score four [as we did in the Premier Sports Cup win in midweek], you need to be motivated or you slip up. To score nine last week and break a record, you need to be motivated. We were motivated today and we’ll be motivated on Tuesday night. We don’t need to change our approach to measure ourselves against the best.”

How pendulum has swung firmly back to Celtic – asphyxiated Rangers, the muscle men, the assistmeister and Ange Postecoglou

At so early a stage of the cinch Premiership campaign, a pasting even as comprehensive as that which Celtic administered to a run-ragged Rangers tends to carry health warnings.
By Andrew Smith
Saturday, 3rd September 2022, 2:22 pm
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/how-pendulum-has-swung-firmly-back-to-celtic-asphyxiated-rangers-the-muscle-men-the-assistmeister-and-ange-postecoglou-3830274

There are still 32 games remaining … anything can happen in the next nine months … a five-point gap is hardly insurmountable with three more league derbies to come between bitter rivals to come. Yet, anyone who witnessed the 4-0 evisceration by Ange Postecoglou’s men over their Ibrox adversaries knows that any caveats don’t cut it. The simply don’t.

Celtic, now 38 straight top flight outings unbeaten, are in a league of their own in the cinch Premiership right now and it is fanciful to believe that Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men will seriously threaten them for the title. Instead, the question now being begged – almost ridiculously, when you think about it – is whether Celtic might be capable of presenting problems for Real Madrid when European football’s glitterati come calling to Celtic Park on Tuesday for the clubs’ Champions League opener.

It wasn’t up for debate that Postecoglou had fashioned a team imbued with priceless pace, poise and penetration long before their latest derby demolition. But it was the power play to adorn their artistry – which oozed from two-goal Liel Abada, scorer Jota and assistmeister Matt O’Riley – that left Rangers asphyxiated from the opening exchanges. Van Bronckhorst’s Plans A to D had been cited as the means to put the manacles on opponents they had physically hustled out of their stride in recent confrontations. But Postecoglou’s mere Plan A now patently encompasses an awe-inducing aggressive intent. An element that completes the set for facets with which they are currently operating on a different plain to Rangers. Celtic are hardly a squad of muscle men but now appear to possess the physical strength to stand up to more imposing opponents, as their ancient adversaries have traditionally tended to be.

Indeed on that front, just one interaction said everything about what was to unfold – even after the home team straight away lost their most transformative performer, Kyogo Furuhashi, forced off with a shoulder minutes after being felled by John Lundstram in the opening seconds. The opener that then ensued in the eighth minute was the result of Rangers’ enforcer essentially being sacked by the burling, on-rushing Jota to concede a throw-in the Portuguese took in a flash. Sent towards O’Riley, the playmaker’s outstretched foot allowed him to flick the ball across goal, where Abada was there to pounce. Rangers keeper Jon McLaughlin got a full hand on the Israeli’s far-from-clean hit but could not prevent it dribbling over the line at his left-hand post. It was to be the beginning of a wretched afternoon for McLaughlin, guilty of an excruciating error in passing the ball straight to David Turnbull to allow the midfielder to knock it straight back passed him for Celtic’s 78th minute fourth.

This was not an encounter in which a keeper’s calamities were the difference between two teams, though. Postecoglou’s men were sharper, sleeker and stronger in all departments. Alarming for Rangers ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League opener away to Ajax, they were cut to ribbons by their hosts’ one-touch alacrity in a manner that wasn’t a whole heap different from how Celtic dismantled Dundee United in their record 9-0 win the week before.

Postecoglou’s team passed up a series of opportunities before they made it 2-0 on the half hour mark with a strike of sheer class from the unstoppable Jota. And again, the thinking and acting time of the home players left Rangers looking comatose. A quick free-kick from Callum McGregor to O’Riley allowed the latter to pick out a puncturing run down the left channel from Jota. His first touch to control the pass was divine, and then his deft scoop over McLaughlin heavenly.

The hell being then inflicted on van Bronckhorst’s team appeared as if it could end up with the full circles for them. Especially when, in a carbon copy of their 3-0 filleting at Celtic Park in February that proved pivotal in the Ibrox side losing their grip on the title, they were picked off a third time before the interval. The defensive disarray of the visitors was inescapable as a Greg Taylor low cross in from the left was missed by a posse of blue shirts as O’Riley made inadvertent contact. That led to the ball travelling to the back post where Abada was lurking on his own and so able to drill through McLaughlin’s legs.

Rangers offered token resistance in a more mundane second period but the feeling persisted that they were a blunt instrument in any attempts to breach Celtic’s defences, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Joe Hart, in particular masters of their domain.

The swinging of the pendulum in the Glasgow rivals struggle for supremacy has been propelled to a full right angle in favour of Celtic by the presence of Postecoglou in Glasgow’s east end and the player purchasing and redefining of the club’s playing style across his almost 15 months in charge. Consider this. Exactly one year ago, Rangers were fresh from an invincible title success achieved by a monstrous 25 point margin and had just extended their hex over Celtic with a sixth derby win across seven-game unbeaten sequence in the pair’s hostilities. It feels like a different age. Perhaps because it is inarguable we are now in an altogether different one.

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BBC

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/62697650
By Thomas DuncanBBC Scotland

Last updated on

2 hours ago2 hours ago.From the section Scottish Premiership
Celtic’s Jota (left) scores their side’s second goal of the game during the cinch Premiership match at Celtic park, Glasgow.
Jota’s sublime dinked finish put Celtic 2-0 in front

Celtic laid down an ominous marker in the Scottish Premiership title race as they dismantled rivals Rangers with a scintillating first-half display.

The defending champions were sharper all over the pitch, with Liel Abada forcing home following a quick throw-in, before a swift free-kick ended with Jota dinking over Jon McLaughlin.

Abada made it 3-0 before the break after Rangers once again switched off at a throw-in, before their horror was compounded by McLaughlin passing to David Turnbull, who added a fourth.

The emphatic victory moves Ange Postecoglou’s team five points clear of Rangers at the top of the league after just six games, with both sides in Champions League action against Real Madrid and Ajax respectively in midweek.

‘Voracious Celtic look unstoppable in win’
Celtic ‘will be hard to stop’, says Postecoglou
Reaction & as it happened

Celtic have started the season in fine form, having hit nine against Dundee United last week, before putting four past Ross County on Wednesday in the League Cup despite making nine changes.

And they shrugged off the loss of star striker Kyogo Furuhashi after only three minutes at a rocking Celtic Park to run rings around Rangers in the first 45 minutes.

Firstly, when a quick throw caught Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side off guard, Abada made a trademark dart from the back post to side-foot in O’Riley’s cross after just eight minutes, with McLaughlin’s hand not strong enough to stop the ball.

It was alert play from the champions, and Rangers failed to learn their lesson as a quick free-kick allowed the outstanding O’Riley to whip a ball in behind for Jota, who sublimely dinked McLaughlin to strengthen Celtic’s advantage.

But the home side were far from finished in the opening period.

After McLaughlin denied Jota from close range, another quickly-taken throw-in allowed Greg Taylor to cross, and Abada turned home his side’s third goal after O’Riley flicked it into his path.

Rangers were left utterly shellshocked and, although Borna Barisic provided a series of excellent crosses which Antonio Colak ought to have scored at least one from, they were miles off the pace.

Celtic dropped their intensity and accuracy in the final third slightly after the break, but were never troubled by Rangers, and McLaughlin presented a gift to Turnbull to roll into the net and seal a significant win.
Player of the match – Matt O’Riley
Borna Barisic and Matt O’Riley
O’Riley set up two goals and made 19 passes in the final third, creating four chances. He was the heartbeat of Celtic’s team.
Celtic outclass passive Rangers – analysis

This was a near carbon copy of the 3-0 win for Celtic in February, when they scored all three before the break in an all-action display.

Since then, though, Postecoglou’s style has become even more refined. Celtic look more comfortable playing out from the back, and their one-touch play and intensity going forward is overwhelming for teams in Scotland.

Jota and O’Riley were such a handful for Rangers, but to a man the team were outstanding, including off the ball as they pestered their opponents at every opportunity.

They have now scored 25 goals in six games while conceding one. It really looks ominous for the rest of the league.

Rangers are naturally meant to be the exception to the rule, the team that can lay down the challenge to Celtic. They fell well short on this occasion.

The midfield three of Steven Davis, Glen Kamara and John Lundstram looked pedestrian in comparison, and too many of their key men did not turn up. Their defending has not been convincing at times this season, and this time it was brutally punished.

The only silver lining is that Rangers learned from their 3-0 defeat last season, and improved in the following three derbies.

Van Bronckhorst will need a similar turnaround, but five points already feels like a significant gap against a Celtic team now unbeaten in 38 Premiership games.
‘We’ve been getting better every week’ – reaction
Celtic outstanding from start to finish – Postecoglou

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou: “The boys were outstanding from start to finish. We know what this game means to our supporters. We’ve given them another memorable day and the players deserve all the credit for that.

“You can win games in many ways, but our form has been outstanding and we’ve been getting better every week. If we keep going like that, we’re going to be hard to stop.”

Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst: “We knew the threat they had with quick throw-ins and free-kicks. We were exposed twice, which gave two goals away. That’s very disappointing. We weren’t prepared enough.

“The longer the nil is on the scoreboard, the more you can grow in the game. Today, that wasn’t the case. Everyone needs to reflect in what they did well and what they did wrong, same for me.”

Celtic 4-0 Rangers: Champions ‘will be hard to stop’ if run continues – Ange Postecoglou

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/62781223
1 hour ago1 hour ago.From the section Celtic
Celtic outstanding from start to finish – Postecoglou

Manager Ange Postecoglou says his Celtic side will be “hard to stop” if they continue their current run of relentless free-scoring form.

The Scottish Premiership champions roared to a 4-0 derby success over Rangers, stretching their winning start to the league season to six games.

The only negatives clouding the victory were injuries to Kyogo Furuhashi (shoulder) and Carl Starfelt (knee).

“It’s a bit of blow,” Postecoglou said. “Kyogo has been in brilliant form.”

The early injury to Japan forward Kyogo, who has six goals in his opening six games this term, did not derail the hosts’ attacking flow as they raced into a three-goal first-half lead.

Celtic overwhelm Rangers to lay down title marker
‘Voracious Celtic look unstoppable in win’

Liel Abada netted either side of a delicate Jota finish, before David Turnbull capitalised on a Jon McLaughlin error to seal a scintillating win at a rocking Celtic Park.

“It was a big game, we knew that,” Postecoglou told BBC Sportsound. “The boys were outstanding from start to finish.

“We know what this game means to our supporters. We’ve given them another memorable day and the players deserve all the credit for that.”

The victory means Postecoglou’s side have not tasted defeat in the Premiership in 38 games, with their last league loss coming 12 months ago at Livingston.

The Parkhead club have continued the imperious form that was key in reclaiming the Scottish top flight last term, by scoring 25 goals in their opening six league games.

The Celtic boss was coy, however, in being drawn on the fact his side now sit five points clear at the summit.

“What’s more important to me is how we’re playing,” the Australian said. “That’s a better indicator. You can win games in many ways, but our form has been outstanding.

“We’ve been getting better every week. If we keep going like that, we’re going to be hard to stop.”

Unstoppable Celtic blow Rangers to kingdom come’ with 4-0 Old Firm victory
By Tom EnglishBBC Scotland

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/62780832

1 hour ago1 hour ago.From the section Scottish Premiership
Celtic’s Kyogo Furuhashi slips celebrating his side’s 4-0 win

The day started with Kyogo Furuhashi forced off with a shoulder injury and ended with the brilliant striker slipping on the pitch as he celebrated with his team-mates.

Between those two moments – and how Celtic will pray for his recovery before Real Madrid on Tuesday – it was a thunderous day for Ange Postecoglou and his team. They were, in a word, unstoppable. Even without their Japanese talisman, they blew Rangers to kingdom come.

Playing Celtic in their pomp must feel like that amusement arcade game where you whack one frog on the head only for another to pop up, whack that one out of the road and another one appears. It’s an endless and futile exercise, a joyless pursuit, which summed up Rangers’ day at an electrified Celtic Park.

Rangers must have thought that they were on a winner when Furuhashi had to leave the fray inside a few minutes. The ultimate dangerman gone. The scorer of 26 goals in 38 games out of the game.

Celtic overwhelm Rangers to lay down title marker
Celtic ‘will be hard to stop’, says Postecoglou
Reaction & as it happened

No sooner had he exited, though, than Liel Abada started to torment them, then Jota, then Abada again, with the man tying it altogether as conductor-in-chief, Matt O’Riley. In that sensational first half, Rangers didn’t know where to look when Celtic came at them.

O’Riley is such a mature, classy and influential operator that we need to remind ourselves that he’s only 21. Celtic got for him washers. To call him value would be the understatement of the century.

The headlines on the back of this searing victory, laced with pace and huge entertainment, will be all about Abada – now 21 goals in 60 games with a dozen assists to boot – and Jota – 17 in 45 with 18 assists – and as good as they were, O’Riley was their equal, a key figure in the first three goals.
‘Voracious Celtic were loaded with menace’

You could be here all day cataloguing the differences between the sides in the first 45. Celtic had an intensity that Rangers couldn’t match. They had a speed of thought, a speed of movement, a ruthlessness that was way too much for the visitors.

We thought it would be a long time before we saw the kind of dominance Celtic had over Rangers in the February game, but here it was again, with bells on. Three goals in one half then, three in one half now. And Kyogo has played a total of five injury-interrupted minutes in those two.

Despite the blow of losing their deadliest finisher, Celtic didn’t bat an eyelid. Three minutes after he went off, they went ahead.

Ryan Kent got challenged in possession, then complained to referee Nick Walsh as the ball went into touch. Kent turned his back to the play to appeal for a foul or a throw-in. A very bad idea.

As he remonstrated, Celtic got busy. A quick throw-in from Jota, a quick delivery from O’Riley, a quick strike from Abada. Jon McLaughlin looked on forlornly as his best efforts to keep it out were just not good enough.
Celtic outstanding from start to finish – Postecoglou

Celtic were voracious, full of running and intent, loaded with menace. Time and again the eye was drawn to Giovanni van Bronckhorst on the touchline, turning away from the action as his side gave up yards of space to Celtic’s marauders, showing his angst at the way his team was being exposed down the flanks.

He would have done a world of work on how to stop Jota and Abada but, at times, it was as if his players had no concept of the danger they posed.
‘Abada’s wonderous return defies theory’

O’Riley’s ball to Jota for the second was sumptuous – taking out centre-backs James Sands and Connor Goldson – and Jota’s finish did it justice. One touch to tee it up, another to dink it over McLaughlin. Lethal.

Celtic Park went berserk, the decibel level ratcheting ever higher when two became three before the break.

Again it was Celtic reacting quicker than Rangers. The gulf that existed in quality was matched by the chasm in mindset. Jota had just tested McLaughlin but that scare didn’t make Rangers alert to the threat they were in once more. Seconds later, after another quick throw in, Greg Taylor drilled one across the penalty area, O’Riley touched it on and Abada knocked it in.

Abada is still only 20. He defies the theory that young players from abroad can struggle to adapt to the pressure of life at Celtic. Thirty-three goals and assists combined in 60 games is a wondrous return for a relative kid in a new team, a new league and a new country.

That’s five goals in two games for Abada. Kent, signed for £7m and considered one of Rangers’ go-to attackers, has scored three in his past 50.

You wondered at the break whether Celtic would have the energy to keep piling on the misery. Earlier in the year they declared at three. Here, they made it four – a gift from McLaughlin to David Turnbull, a sure sign that the goalkeeper’s head had gone.

The pass to Turnbull was a symbol of the job Celtic did on Rangers on the day. The visitors weren’t just beaten, they were routed. The last blast of Walsh’s whistle was a mercy to them.

The gap at top is five points. Painfully early in the season, for sure. A long way to go, no doubt about it.

The last thing Rangers would want is a game of catch-up with Postecoglou’s side, though. This was as empathic and as impressive as any Old Firm victory for an awfully long time.

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