But as much as Rangers will need to be tight at the back, at the other end, Kranjcar is the player capable of producing a moment of magic. The Ibrox side have struggled to regain last season’s panache after making 11 signings while the champions have made less changes but so far achieved better advances.
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“You learn the passion, you learn the media build-up in the week before”, the former Brentford manager said. Players who have been stand-outs before can freeze due to the occasion and the atmosphere created by the fans.
“We are approaching this game like we approach any other game”.
Martyn Waghorn and Josh Windass are both fully fit following hamstring injuries while Jason Holt could feature off the bench after an ankle problem.
The managers have their say……..
“Whoever we play at home, our objective is to win”.
“Every derby is different”.
Despite having followed Celtic since he was a child, Rodgers has no first hand experience of the loudest derby in football.
The two teams haven’t gone head to head in Scotland’s top flight since Rangers entered liquidation in 2012, but on Saturday, they’re set to renew one of the sporting world’s fiercest struggles.
“We are feeling good about ourselves and there was a real desire about us to dominate the ball and we have maybe lacked that wee bit of risk in the final third this season”. We were given no chance going into that game.
Stein accepts the Hoops will be favourites to win Saturday’s mouthwatering encounter and fears some of the Rangers players will not know what has hit them when they walk into a cauldron of noise at Parkhead. We have to go into what’s a good atmosphere, on a good playing surface, and deliver a performance.
“If we go there and we’re fearless and we get on the football and we move it quickly and do what we do well, we will be fine. But for us it’s all about we do, and if we can do that then we are more than confident we can get the right result”. I have been involved in a Swansea-Cardiff derby, which was very intense, I have been involved in the Liverpool-Everton derby, which were huge games, Liverpool-Manchester United were big games.
“We can’t control things away from here, we just look at Rangers and things are getting better and we are in a good place”. We are going into a local derby with 60,000 fans, 52,500 of which will be backing one side. But you would have to question whether they have improved since. Prediction: Celtic 3-1 Rangers.
We’re less than two months into the new campaign, so any talk of Saturday’s trip to Celtic being a “must-win” is nothing short of ridiculous. If the striker fails to make it then the Celtic forward line will be blunted.
‘It was probably tongue-in-cheek in his opinion but you don’t get tongue-in-cheek with Rangers and Celtic.
Question marks have been raised over the fitness of the 32-year-old midfielder, but he has shown glimpses of class already this season, including a stunning 25-yard strike in last week’s 7-0 friendly win over Linfield.
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Gary Bollan has started the season well with Forfar.
