AS anticipation builds ahead of this season’s third Old Firm derby, Rangers supporters will approach the tie with an element of trepidation.
A 3-0 defeat at Parkhead in February saw Ange Postecoglou’s high-risk, high-reward tactics overpower and overwhelm Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side in the opening 45 minutes. Celtic’s wide overloads and regular rotations were made to look unstoppable given Rangers’ perplexingly open approach, whose rigidity only further enabled the fluidity and freedom they faced.
And while that encounter offers a tactical blueprint of how not to play against Celtic’s system, another recent Old Firm game provides a useful tactical template; the B team’s win by the same scoreline at Ibrox last weekend.
The reason for comparison is not personnel but system focused. As well as developing individuals, a B team should model the first team’s style, to best prepare youth players for the step up to first-team football.
“We’re the B team at the club and we have to try and make sure we use as much of that information as what the first team do as we possibly can,” David McCallum said when quizzed recently on this detail by the Rangers Review.
It’s the same across the city. Celtic’s B team adopts the inverted full-backs, high and wide wingers and adventurous No.8s seen at first-team level, an approach that’s worked well domestically and come unstuck on the continent.
Over the last few months, the B team at Ibrox has undergone a similar period of adaptation as the style and system evolves following managerial change. Van Bronckhorst is a more tactically flexible and reactive coach than Postecoglou, and that filters down to the B team.
McCallum added: “You’ll have seen the first team in different moments have changed and tweaked in different games dependent on the level of opposition so we would, very much, do the same as well.”
READ MORE: How Rangers' B team dominated Celtic with pressing platform
His side played with confidence and dominated every phase of the Ibrox Old Firm, helped by their tactical plan. Van Bronckhorst’s philosophy is more pragmatic than dogmatic and as McCallum references, lends itself to changes and tweaks depending on the opposition.
To counteract their opponent’s game plan outlined above, Rangers used a ball-orientated scheme to trap and guide the visitors into areas of the pitch they could press aggressively. Rather than a man-orientated pressing scheme, ball-orientation sees a team crowd the area in which possession is held, even if that leaves players unmarked and free on the opposite side of the pitch.
“We wanted to direct the game into areas of the pitch where we felt we could get more bodies than them,” McCallum said. “We could get contact and not only get close to people but get contact with the ball.”
The narrow and compact shape, overloading to either side with a midfielder jumping out to close down the full-back while the winger stayed high, was Gerrard’s off-ball set-up throughout his tenure at Ibrox.
“We wanted to guide them into the sides," McCallum said. "I felt that was the area of the pitch where we could get joy and off the back of that because of where the front line pressure was coming from when we regained the ball we had bodies high up the pitch to go and play.”
This came to fruition seconds into the game when Ross McCausland opened the scoring.
As Celtic play backwards from kick-off, you can see Rangers’ midfield three and front three is tight and compact, moving with the ball. Play moves to the left-back, MacKenzie, exactly where wanted to 'guide' their opponent.
Look how compact they are, with Alex Lowry and Robbie Fraser, both playing on the left, near the middle of the pitch. As McCallum said post-match, Rangers were trying to get more bodies around the ball than their opponents.
Tony Weston drops to cover passes into the defensive midfielder, Adam Devine at right-back is tight to prevent a straight ball to the winger and Cole McKinnon has jumped out from midfield to press, allowing McCausland to occupy the passing lane MacKenzie opts for and steal the ball.
The pass backwards may have been short, but Rangers guided their opponents into the area they wanted to play in and knew with a left-footed left-back unlikely to try a right-footed switch of play, they would have the opportunity to regain possession in a dangerous area.
They dictated where the game was played and capitalised aggressively in moments.
The game plan was a reflection of van Bronckhorst’s style, flexible and conditioned on the opposition. Ever since the manager told the press his side had prepared two systems to face Dundee United back in December, given he was unsure how they’d set up, it has been clear that his tactical decisions are influenced by the opposition.
Postecoglou is wedded to his principles and always approaches games in a positive, aggressive fashion; as witnessed, for better and worse, in Europe this year.
On Sunday, the approach used by the Dutchman and his coaching staff needs to exploit these certainties. They know Celtic will throw men forward and if pressurised aggressively, that can present opportune moments. Furthermore, if they get tight to wingers, favour an industrious midfield and press with conviction there will be the opportunity to win the ball in high areas.
To quote McCallum, Rangers ought to guide Celtic into the sides, close off the pitch and win the ball back with bodies high up the pitch to exploit their system.
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