Celtic are increasing the gap between themselves and the Rangers now. Their 2-0 defeat against St Mirren had allow the Ibrox club to sneak back in and make it a two-point race. Since then, Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side have drawn against Livingston and then lost to St Johnstone, meaning that the Hoops are now seven points ahead of them in the Premiership table.
It is safe to say that that is not what the Rangers would have hoped for coming into the season, to be seven points behind Celtic with just two games to go to the World Cup break. Ange Postecoglou’s side are guaranteed to go into it as table toppers.
The biggest worry for Van Bronckhorst right now is the fact that the fans seem to have given up on him. There has been audible booing at games and ‘GVB Out’ has trended on Twitter a number of times this season. The Dutchman seems to be quickly running out of ideas and under the pressure.
Ally McCoist seems to be concerned that the gap is going to get even bigger rather than smaller. As reported by Glasgow Live, the Rangers legend told listeners on talkSPORT:
"“We lost [Calvin] Bassey for great money – £22million – to Ajax. [Joe] Aribo’s away to Southampton, [Nathan] Patterson away to Everton These were definitely excellent players but also had a physicality about them. It’s quite simple; they’ve not been replaced to the standard of football has been nothing like as good as it was last season.“But the problem Rangers have got now is that they’re seven points behind Celtic. In typical Celtic fashion – and that’s a compliment – lost a goal to make it 2-2 round about the 89th minute and still found time to score two goals because they’ve got something about them. There’s a general concern and a real worry from the fans that the gap is going to get bigger, rather than smaller.”"
McCoist shares biggest Celtic fear as Rangers fall seven points behind
Celtic cannot rest on their laurels because things can change very quickly in football. They proved it themselves last season by turning the title race around and winning by a four-point gap at the end of the campaign.
Thus, instead of seeing what is going on at Ibrox, the Hoops must be focussed on themselves and continue piling up as many points as they can.
Their own form has been questionable at times. You would not expect them to need two late goals to defeat bottom placed Dundee United 4-2. Yet, the most important thing is that they have managed to find a way even when struggling. That is an incredible quality to have.