Celtic were nowhere near their best against the Rangers, although one could point out that they most probably deserved a penalty on the day that they were not given. At the end of the day though, the Hoops came out of Ibrox with a 2-2 draw and with their 9-point lead intact. A result that most people would have taken going into the match. And now, Michael Beale finds himself with an even bigger mountain to climb.
Beale must have thought that his Rangers side were on their way to victory after they had overturned Celtic’s 1-0 lead and gone ahead 2-1 themselves. But Kyogo Furuhashi came to the rescue late on, to salvage a point for the Hoops.
Recently, Beale had also claimed that he felt that the Rangers would have won the Premiership last season, if he and Steven Gerrard had stayed on instead of leaving for Aston Villa in the middle of the campaign.
As reported by The Scotsman, Ange Postecoglou said regarding the matter:
"“It doesn’t really worry me. I’m not focused on last year, I’m focused on this year. Last year’s story is written. There is a trophy that is in our cabinet. I’m just worried about this year, that’s all I’m focused on.“I don’t talk about last year with our team or within these walls. If people ask me about last year that story has already been written, the answers are there. My focus is on this year, what we are going to do now and for the rest of this season. That’s all I care about.”"
Celtic boss responds to Beale’s bizarre claim about last season’s title race
Many had felt that the momentum had already started to shift by the time Gerrard, and Beale, had left the Rangers last season, even though the Ibrox club were ahead at that point of time.
Yes, one has to admit that the Rangers have improved since the arrival of Beale as manager but then, one can attribute that to a new manager bounce. It will be interesting to see how long that carries on for.
Conceding a late equaliser against Celtic would have been a major blow to their morale, after a victory had seemed pretty much in sight.
As a result, Celtic continue to lead the league table by nine points, after 20 games have been played. Let’s see how things go on from here.