Into the Bears Lair

As the Of game looms close, I think it’s only befitting that we take a look at the form of both teams going into this one and try and gauge the importance of this fixture.

As it’s a home game for them, we should start with Rangers first.

Not losing Jelavic was a bonus for them, as was the signing of a few players. They have strengthened and not having a game midweek should, on paper, benefit them.

Their form going into this game has been sluggish at best. Although, defensively they’ve still been enough for most SPL teams. They are playing at home and hungry to get a win for McCoist in his first OF game as manager.

As for Celtic, well I think you can rip up the continental fatigue theory straight away. In most games I’ve watched, the team returning from Europe, then playing a game of this magnitude, usually perform better. If it was a lesser SPL side, then I would be more worried about our level of performance.

Celtic’s midfield is better. While Davis is a good player, I feel Kayal, Ki, Ledley and Brown are better than anybody else in their team. For that reason I would prefer we played four in the middle and two up top.

If Hooper gets a couple of chances, he’ll put at least one away. He started sharply enough last night, but struggles when he’s not got a partner beside him.

Sammy can run at defenders well and win loads of headers, but his link up play and positioning is simply atrocious. Keeping this in mind, I’d play Hooper and Bangura up front if Stokes is still injured.

I’m looking forward to this one. For the first time in quite some time we are the settled team and Rangers are the team with the new faces bedding in.

This isn’t a league title game, but it’s a cracker to judge where both teams are in terms of improvement on last season.

Hail, Hail