Match Report: Rangers 4 - 2 Celtic

In my match preview I urged caution about the strength of confidence in our chances to go to Ibrox and sweep Rangers aside, collecting three points in the process. It was a tough day. Rangers surged to a convincing victory after a shambolic second half from the team in green and white. It leaves Celtic four points from the top of the table and if current form continues Rangers' lead will be stretched to seven when they play their postponed game against Kilmarnock (so they could face Chelsea) a week on Tuesday. Celtic would have a game in hand but it's a depressing situation to be in before October.

Both teams started the game anxiously and it was only through a Kelvin Wilson clearance error that Steven Naismith found himself completely unmarked in the box to fire a sweet shot past Fraser Forster into the top left hand corner of the net.

Celtic picked up the pace and Scott Brown started to put his foot on the ball and push the whole team further up the pitch. Prior to this every hooped man was sitting far too deep and allowing Rangers to pressurise their box too easily. The equaliser came for Celtic when Brown played a clever reverse ball, completely bamboozling everyone apart from Gary Hooper; he broke free from his opposition, took control of the ball and slipped a smart finish past Allan McGregor who must have thought he'd had his angles completely covered.

Growing into the game, Celtic began to pass the ball with more urgency and accuracy. It was Scott Brown again who made space for Ki Sung-Yeung to square the ball to Badr El Kaddouri who struck a powerful low shot towards the Rangers goal; instead of putting his body behind it, Allan McGregor let it slip through his gloves and through his legs to send the Broomloan Stand into delirium. The half-time whistle came with Celtic very much in control of proceedings; while fortunate to be ahead, the team looked comfortable.

Rangers emerged from the break in a typically fired up fashion. A series of chances then followed for the Govan side; Steven Davis crashed a volley off the crossbar and Kyle Lafferty had a goal disallowed after he was wrongly judged to be offside. Celtic were nowhere. It was no surprise when Nikica Jelavic was found unmarked in the box from a corner; the Croatian powered a header into the ground and the ball bounced above El Kaddouri into the net.

The men in blue now looked the more likely to take the lead; Lafferty squandered two clear chances. The only bright spot from a Celtic point of view came when Glenn Loovens came so very close to regaining the lead when his glancing header defied physics by bouncing off the inside of the post without going in. Shortly after this the Celtic defence failed to deal with Gregg Wylde's ball into the box and after two blocked attempts Lafferty nutmegged Forster. Rangers had taken the lead after all their huffing and puffing.

As Rangers took complete control of the game Charlie Mulgrew got himself sent off after a yellow card in each half for crunching tackles on Steven Naismith and Steven Davis. Celtic pushed forward and by this point had Mohamed Bangura, Anthony Stokes and James Forrest on the pitch but the lack of cutting edge in the final third remained. Naismith's second of the game in the dying seconds was a formality of a game long lost; the Rangers player exploited a lack of defenders at the back to fire home from a Steven Davis lob.

Questions will be asked of Neil Lennon now. His team selection was another head scratcher. Too often Lennon changes his winning team to stop Rangers instead of letting his trusted players flourish against the rival team. Anthony Stokes again didn't feature; he hasn't started against Rangers at Ibrox since his signing from Hibs. James Forrest was left out after his best performance in a Celtic jersey against Motherwell; the young Celt would surely have given Gregg Wylde a run for his money. Charlie Mulgrew started in midfield with Glenn Loovens replacing him in central defence. Joe Ledley was left on the bench for the duration. Lennon's team looked completely unmotivated in the second half with the manager even commenting after the game that some appeared to believe the game was already won. Scott Brown was left on the pitch limping for 10-15 key minutes before he was replaced by James Forrest. It's all rather worrying.

Regardless of Neil Lennon's decisions on the day I feel the team had enough about them to see out the game after being in a winning position at half time. The problems at Celtic run deeper than team selections and the fans should be more worried that our defence can't seem to track a man at a corner or clear tame balls into the box without it going straight to an opponent. It seems in an age of over analysed, over thought football that we can't even do the basics correctly. I had highlighted Ki Sung-Yeung as a key player in my match preview but the South Korean disappointed me greatly, he was simply missing. Ki has fantastic technical ability but you need more than that in games like these, you need more than that to be considered a good Celtic player. It's my belief that Rangers won today because of player error and because of the deficiencies in the Celtic team rather than playing their way to victory. I said in my match preview "Whether Celtic take victory or not is entirely down to the the players and no-one else, it's yet another measurement of how good these players together actually are right now." Well to put it plainly, they aren't very good.

It hurts... it will hurt all week. While it might seem small consolation, strong performances and results against Ross County & Inverness Caledonian Thistle are now even more essential. It's still very early in the season and nothing was decided today. Celtic mustn't let a bad feeling linger, they must bounce back. I will be more worried if they don't because it would mean something is amiss at Celtic beyond a lack of all conquering ability. Some of the knee jerk reaction to a result and performance like this is to be expected and the questions of Neil Lennon and his team will remain. The next few weeks will be some of the hardest for Lennon as Celtic manager... on the pitch at least. Rangers now have breathing space but Celtic must focus, stay postive and take advantage of any slip up across the city. It is those moments that decide where the league title heads over the course of a season.