Celtic "still best team in the country" - John Kennedy lights touchpaper for Rangers cup tie

Any Celtic manager – be they permanent or otherwise – can’t really speak from a position of strength when their team have been obliterated in a league campaign by Rangers.

John Kennedy shares a difference of opinion with Rangers manager Steven Gerrard during the 1-0 defeat away to the Ibrox men in January, which the now Celtic interim says Celtic dominated until Nir Bitton's red card around the hour mark. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

Yet, Parkhead interim John Kennedy doesn’t hestitate in seeking to do so. No matter that a gargantuan 20-point deficit between the clubs has the weeks-ago-crowned Ibrox champions chasing only the second unbeaten top flight season in 122 years.

With the 1-1 draw between the rivals in Glasgow’s east end three weeks ago following on from back-to-back victories for Rangers in the fixture, no-one has given Celtic an earthly of emerging triumphant from their Scottish Cup last-16 assignment at Ibrox on Saturday. Yet, for Kennedy, such an assessment overlooks what happened in late March, and how the meetings between the pair have played out. Most neutral observers would surely acknowledge that Celtic really ought to have won the past two derbies. Last month, and at Ibrox in January, they dominated for long spells; with more goal attempts, on-targets, possession and passes than their adversaries. That these numbers did translate into successes – Steven Gerrard’s side victors at home to a 10-men Celtic at new year by dint of an own goal in not having a single shot on target across the 90 minutes – said more about the Parkhead men’s shortcomings than the accomplishments of Rangers.

That is certainly in line with the conviction of Kennedy, ahead of the second of three derbies for which he will be in charge through taking the reins for the closing three months of the season. And, even if there has been a massive power shift in the Scottish game, the 37-year-old is willing to heap the pressure on himself and his players to turn up next weekend by maintaining he still backs his squad over any in the country.

Celtic's Mohamed Elyounoussi heads home in the derby draw in March - one of only five goals the club have scored under John Kennedy, despite having 96 goal attempts in the four games under him. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

‘Yeah, 100 per cent,” Kennedy said of that belief. “The last game and the 60 minutes at Ibrox [before Nir Bitton’s red card] we showed that [we can back our squad over any other]. At Celtic Park we were excellent and dominated. We should have won, albeit we didn’t. The next step is to go and win. To do that in a cup tie would be extra special, especially with how we want to finish the season. It’s a good tie for us. An exciting game for everyone and we will be very much fired up for it. In terms of our level of performance – how we can play and create – there was a lot of positives [last month]. We just have to be much more clinical at the top end and not be switching off at set-pay moments. That’s been the outcome of the [Rangers] games recently. We will be fully focused on that and we will try to build our performances. But I have full belief in the squad we have here, that on our day we are still the best team in the country.”

A bold statement, but Kennedy acknowledges that, as well as preventing a sorry season ending without silverware, the cup tie is an opportunity that must be grasped to make a statement ahead of next season. A campaign already being presented as one in which it will be impossible for an entirely reshaped Celtic squad – under a new manager that the club’s current negotiations are attempting to ensure is Eddie Howe – to overhaul a purring Rangers.

“That’s the reaction you have to have,” Kennedy said. “There was always going to come a point where we had a setback. It was a big one for us this season but the best always bounce back. It’s easy to give up and say ‘oh, we’ve had our time’. But I have said to the players it is very much about how we respond to that. Our level of performance against Rangers was good, I thought it sent a message that the gap is not as big as everybody thinks it is. But ultimately it does come down to results so we want to take that one step further. Then that sets us up in terms of changing the narrative rather than just looking at the league table alone. On our day we know that with more consistency and improvements we will still very much be up there and challenging and winning trophies.”

Celtic have to change the match pattern to prosper in the short-term. Across Kennedy’s four outings in charge, his team have had 96 goal attempts yet netted only five times. Moreover, the past five times they have been breached in derby encounters have all been the results of set-pieces.

Alfredo Morelos' headed equaliser in the last meeting between the teams three weeks ago made for the fifth straight goal of the Ibrox men in the derby to be the product of a set-piece. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

“Sometimes you go through periods in terms of your confidence in front of goal,” the interim manager said. ‘You might not be as clinical as you can be. But that will come and I can see it coming. What we have done is really consolidate and been really solid and well organised in terms of big chances from open play; we haven’t really given up anything in the last four games. There have [only] been a couple of half chances. In terms of territory we are dominating and keeping the other team away from goal, our possession and control is good, the creation of opportunities is good. It’s just about adding that final bit which is also the hardest. Once you get into a bit of rhythm and flow, you find that it can change very quickly."

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