Passing check of nerve will likely be key in Scottish Premiership title race
- Celtic and Rangers are separated by simply two factors within the Scottish Premiership
- Both groups misplaced on the weekend because the season heads into its last 9 matches
- Manchester City v Man United is a derby in identify solely, we all know the winner – it is like an F1-style procession – Listen to the It’s All Kicking Off podcast
As two males who’ve been over the course and distance extra occasions than they might care to say, Graeme Souness and Neil Lennon know what it takes to triumph in a title race.
Both as gamers and as managers on both facet of the Old Firm divide, they perceive the pressures and calls for that include the job.
For the 2 Old Firm icons, there comes some extent within the season the place potential will solely take you thus far – and it could appear that juncture has now been reached.
This previous weekend noticed Rangers and Celtic each lose within the league for the primary time since 2018. With simply 9 video games left to play, it’s now squeaky bum time.
As the house straight comes sharply into focus, the flexibility to go on and win a league title turns into a query of willpower as a lot as anything to get it over the road.
Celtic and Rangers are separated by simply two factors on the prime of the Scottish Premiership
But the arch-rivals each misplaced on the identical weekend within the league for the primary time in six years
Despite the plain variations when it comes to their allegiance, Souness and Lennon are united by their perception that the title race will in the end come all the way down to bottle and holding your nerve.
On a weekend which noticed Rangers lose 2-1 at residence to Motherwell and Celtic lose 2-0 away at Tynecastle, Souness mentioned: ‘It is just about not letting it affect you.
‘Every game, and it is the oldest cliché in football, one game at a time. That has been and gone. There is nothing you can do about that. That result has gone.
‘Fortunately, the result on Sunday went for them [Rangers]. So it’s as was, should you like. It may be very a lot recreation on.
‘What I found when I was here, we could be second in the league and playing the best football, better than Celtic.
‘But because we had lost an Old Firm game or had drawn a couple of games, all the focus and criticism was on us for being second and the team that’s first sails off into the sundown, every thing is fabulous.
‘And vice versa – if we had been first and they had been second. It’s the way you cope with it. And Rangers have handled it. Now it’s Celtic’s flip to cope with it.
‘I don’t wish to be doing Mr Rodgers’ crew speak for him, however it’s how they cope with it.
‘You have to be a big player to play for the Old Firm. You have to have big b*****ks.
‘But there is still a lot of football, both will drop points. There are nine games left and there will be another disaster for someone – if not for both of them – between now and the end of the season.’
On the opposite facet of town, Brendan Rodgers and Celtic are coming to phrases with a dangerous defeat at Tynecastle on Sunday afternoon.
A recreation filled with VAR and refereeing controversies, Celtic in the end blew the possibility to leapfrog Rangers and reclaim prime spot.
They stay two factors adrift of their rivals, however Lennon insists that any notion of the reigning champions being written off must be used as gas and motivation.
‘It does come down to bottle, yes,’ mentioned Lennon. ‘I would love to be involved in it. I have been involved in many as a player and as a manager and it is just brilliant.
‘I think the pivotal games will be when they play each other.
‘Rangers have got the Europa League, which is great for them and I’d slightly be in it than not. But I perceive once more the place Brendan was coming from after the Motherwell recreation, they have to write down their very own story.
‘If people are writing them off, that’s a great factor for me. You use that as a gas, you employ that as a motivation.’
Despite slipping up on the weekend, it’s Rangers who maintain nonetheless the benefit due to Philippe Clement engineering a revival in current months.
Since taking the job again in October, he has revitalised Rangers and overhauled Celtic on the prime of the desk.
Souness was concerned within the recruitment and interview course of when the membership had been trying to find a successor to Michael Beale.
The Ibrox legend insists he has been extremely impressed with what Clement has achieved in a comparatively brief house of time thus far.
‘When I was talking to him [Clement] in the interview, I said to him: “This job is like nothing else”,’ mentioned Souness.
‘I am Scottish, I had been to Ibrox maybe eight times when I was a kid, I had played for Scotland, I had played for big football clubs.
‘But nothing in that prepared me for being manager of Rangers. It is unique job which brings unique challenges.
Rangers icon Graeme Souness said it will come down to who deals with setbacks better, while he also insisted players must have ‘big b*****ks’ to deal with the pressure of the title race
Former Celtic player and boss Neil Lennon claimed it would come down to the Old Firm derbies
‘It must be the same for Celtic managers. You are expected to win every game. I have had that at Galatasaray, Benfica and Liverpool. I have lived with that.
‘But it was a shock to me. Drawing a game can be a bit of a disaster in some people’s eyes.
‘I defined that to him. I mentioned: “If you get it right, it will be the best job you have ever had. On the downside, if it doesn’t go well, you might be looking at it as the worst job”.
‘There is no finishing second in May and saying: “We have had a good season”. That is not a good season in the eyes of the supporters. I got that pretty quickly.’
Graeme Souness and Neil Lennon had been selling Viaplay’s stay and unique protection of Celtic v Livingston and Hibernian v Rangers on Sunday. Viaplay is out there to stream from viaplay.com or by way of your TV supplier on Sky, Virgin TV and Amazon Prime as an add-on subscription.
