Rangers' Tactical Masterclass in Old Firm Victory
Rangers’ Old Firm statement was exactly the kind of performance many expected to see as soon as Derek McInnes walked through the door: organised, snarling, and ruthless when the attacking four were turned loose.
At first glance, the teamsheet hinted at trouble. It looked like a 4-4-2, the sort of shape that usually gets swamped in an Old Firm midfield. You could almost script the concern: outnumbered in the centre, chasing shadows, Celtic pulling strings.
McInnes had something else in mind.
On the pitch, it was anything but a flat 4-4-2. James Penrice became the key to the whole plan. Out of possession, he tucked into the middle of the park, plugging gaps and helping Rangers match Celtic’s numbers. When Rangers had the ball, he drifted wider, underlapping and overlapping Djeidi Gassama, giving the visitors a constant problem down that flank.
That tactical tweak allowed Rangers to enjoy the best of both worlds: solidity without the ball, width and aggression with it.
Behind them, the back three set the tone. They bullied Celtic’s forwards from first whistle to last, turning physical duels into a mismatch and reducing the champions to a single shot on target – a tame effort Ivor Pandur could have dealt with in his sleep.
Olwethu Makhanya, in particular, looked every inch the Rolls-Royce defender. Calm on the ball, dominant in the air, sharp across the ground – all the tools required to thrive in Scottish football, and he showed most of them in one afternoon.
In midfield, Rangers found the engine room they have been crying out for. Penrice backed up his tactical discipline with relentless running. Nico Raskin mirrored that energy and added quality, reminding everyone exactly why he has forced his way into the Belgium squad. Dan Neil then put a stamp on the occasion. He dictated the tempo, took care of the ball, and chose his moments to surge forward. Two goals were the reward for a commanding display that knitted everything together.
Out wide, Gassama and Kim Min-su did an unfashionable but vital job. They might not have produced a stream of inch-perfect crosses or highlight-reel moments in the final third, yet their direct running pinned Celtic’s full-backs deep. That territorial pressure meant Celtic rarely escaped their own half in any sort of comfort. Every time they tried to step out, one of Rangers’ wide men was already driving at them again.
Up front, Kevin Kelsy set the tone early. He passed up a very good chance, the kind that can linger in a striker’s mind. It didn’t rattle him. His all-round play remained excellent: he linked with Ryan Naderi, occupied both centre-backs and, crucially, kept Cameron Carter-Vickers pinned in areas he did not want to defend. When his big moment came, he finished it superbly, a clinical strike that reflected the authority of his performance rather than the earlier miss.
Naderi’s work off the ball complemented Kelsy’s presence. The pair gave Rangers a genuine partnership, not just two names on a teamsheet, and their movement helped stretch Celtic in ways they struggled to contain.
McInnes called the display a reference point, and he is absolutely right. Performances like this have to become a standard, not a one-off. The real test arrives immediately: a trip to Celtic Park on Sunday, where the game will carry a very different rhythm and a very different kind of pressure.
The task is simple, even if the occasion never is. Rangers need another result. Even at this early stage, slipping eight points behind cannot be brushed off as a minor setback. The margin for error is already thin.
Yet this win changes the mood. Five domestic victories in a row, a cup semi-final on the horizon, and now an Old Firm performance that finally looks like a blueprint rather than a promise.
Given where Rangers were after Jablonec, they would have grabbed this position with both hands. The question now is whether this was a surge for the cameras, or the day McInnes’ Rangers truly arrived.
