When the team was first announced there were sighs as it was indeed confirmed that Crosas had indeed been dropped, further to that it would appear that we were to start with a lone striker and Gary Caldwell was to start in midfield!
As we made our way to the game, there were many around us who were lamenting the fact that Caldwell was to play in midfield and furthermore why were we weakening our side by playing Glenn Loovens in defence? How wrong could they be!
There were even more shocks to be had as it was revealed that Aiden McGeady would be deployed as a striker! Just what was Gordon Strachan thinking? Surely we needed a big striker to play against Weir et al?
What Strachan did was managed to combat the aggressive aspect of Rangers play whilst not negating our own attacking style. By playing Paul Hartley on the right of midfield we were able to stop Steve Davis playing, and McGeady could go wide to ensure that we still had an attacking threat on the right should play dictate that.
Playing Caldwell in midfield is never a popular move, more so because this weakens the defence rather than it being a question of his midfielding abilities but this was a masterstroke by Strachan. Not only did Heid have a great game in the centre of the park Glenn Loovens was a contender for man of the match for his commanding aerial display. This also gave Scott Brown carte blanche to maraud wherever he wanted on the pitch, which resulted in a lot of our best play. It was great to see the look of bemusement on Elbows McCulloch's face as the sole reason he was on the pitch [to mark JVH] was rendered pointless Gordon Strachans team selection.
And the final link in the chain was the utilisation of Aiden as a striker. What this allowed was a direct runner at the Rangers antiquated rear guard whilst allowing him to roam all over the oppositions half always offering himself as an outball, which was particularly effective when we were counter attacking and was displayed when Broadfoot brought him down in the second half.
So could this formation be the answer to our problems in games against Rangers? Too often we have tried to play them at their own game and failed so could this be the way forward? Only time will tell but one thing is for sure, Gordon Strachan deserves a lot of credit for the victory on Sunday.
Well done Gordon! I applaud you.
Yours in Celtic
Clydebuilt