Barry Ferguson has urged his team to ensure that their “dirty” side of the game is ready for Sunday’s match against Celtic.
When his team fell 3-0 in September, Ferguson, the interim head coach, was among the few Rangers supporters inside Celtic Park. He is now committed to making sure it doesn’t happen again.
Both meetings since have seen much improved displays from Rangers. They triumphed 3-0 at Ibrox at the beginning of the season and forced Celtic to penalties in the Premier Sports Cup final. However, they are still 16 points behind in the Premiership going into the most recent match.
Ferguson, the temporary head coach, stated, “I was at the previous game and it was too easy for me.” Celtic had it too easy that day. You can’t play well all the time. However, you must make it difficult for your opponent if you are not playing well.
And moving ahead, that is something we must do. In just two and a half weeks, I’ve witnessed enough for them to begin paying attention to what we have to say. Being a good or nice football squad isn’t the only thing that matters. That’s not the case.
“Sometimes you need to roll your sleeves up and do the dirty side of the game. Additionally, that is something that we need to improve on, and I am working on it with the team.
“It is something that the players completely understand how we need to approach every game we play, not just this one on Sunday.”
Despite his team playing 120 minutes against Fenerbahce on Thursday before winning on penalties to go to the Europa League quarterfinals, Ferguson anticipates having every player available to play. Additionally, he praised Danilo’s and Vaclav Cerny’s attitudes following the commotion surrounding his withdrew substitute prior to the second extra-time period.
The Brazilian striker was greeted by the home crowd when he took the field after the substitution was announced over the public address system, but by the time the game resumed, Cerny, Rangers’ most dangerous player of the evening, was back on. Ferguson was pleased with both players’ responses after Danilo thumped the dugout to vent his fury.
He remarked of Cerny: “I assumed he had cramped and disappeared.” I was informed that this was the situation. I had saw him getting clearly rubbed merely on the pitch. And I told him about it. And his “no, I’m not coming off” attitude.
For me, Vac, he’s been a really scary player. He scored one of the penalties, so it was the perfect choice and he was ready to go.
But pay attention, there was an instance where a player wasn’t pleased. That’s how I want my guys to be. That’s a small amount of rage. That is what I must observe. If you’re not playing, don’t be pleased. However, that is simply the nature of football.
“You see how it is; there was anarchy back then. The last fifteen minutes of extra time are about to begin. Listen, though, he made it through that and clearly scored a penalty.
