Certain things stood out. At half-time, Rangers were not just ahead thanks to Naderi’s goal, they were winning battles all over the pitch, just as they had done last Sunday.
They were winning aerial duels by 67.6% to 32.4%, they had eight shots to Celtic’s one, six on target to Celtic’s zero.
Camilo Duran had eight touches of the ball, Kevin Kelsy had 13 and Naderi 23. All the individual match-ups were more or less Rangers victories.
Even when Celtic’s club record-signing Kasper Hogh came on, not a lot changed. Rangers had more chances in the second half.
Hogh got no service again, but he’s beginning to look like a player so devoid of belief that even if service did come his way there’s no guarantee that he’d execute the way he did so often for Bodo-Glimt.
When your star striker can’t get a start and when your leader, Callum McGregor, is getting over-run, then you have problems, too many for O’Neill to solve.
McInnes was right about the three points thing, but the momentum in Glasgow is his now. The energy, the clarity, the optimism is blue and not green. The power has switched with breakneck speed and, of course, it could switch back again if Celtic get their act together.
There are massive questions now, though. More than O’Neill would have ever faced in the city before.
Rangers look, at the moment, like a club that knows where it wants to go. Celtic, by contrast, look lost in a haze of confusion and uncertainty.
