'Intimidated' Rangers couldn't cope with Old Firm occasion says Sky Sports pundit

James McFadden believes the scale of Rangers’ Old Firm defeat is rooted in their mentality and began at the weekend with the 3-3 draw in Dingwall.

A late equaliser for Ross County saw Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s team drop points in the Highlands and gave Celtic a chance to go top of the cinch Premiership on Wednesday night – which they took.

McFadden says the magnitude of the match and the seven-point swing since the winter break was too much for some of the visitors to Celtic Park – and admitted he’d have concerns if he was a Rangers fan watching their defence of the league title.

McFadden, in the Sky Sports studio with Kris Boyd and Stilian Petrov, said: “The warning signs were there in the draw against Ross County.

Celtic's Giorgios Giakoumakis outjumps Calvin Bassey of Rangers in the box. (Picture: John Devlin)

“I think they were intimidated tonight, I really do, I think there were players who didn’t cope with the occasion of the game.

“We spoke about how important the game was – Rangers have gone from a place of comfort where if they’d won the game at the weekend, no matter what happens here they’re still top of the league. They didn’t.

"So they’re coming in and if they lose Celtic now go ahead of them and they couldn’t cope with that.

“Ryan Jack made a difference when he came on because he’s got that mentality, that steel that can deal with that, but too many in a Rangers jersey didn’t and that would worry me if I was a Rangers fan looking to enjoy the end of this season.”

Former Scotland international and Sky Sports pundit James McFadden. (Photo by Mark Scates / SNS Group)

A first-half double from Reo Hatate and another from Liel Abada gave Celtic the victory.

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