BARRY FERGUSON has been ridiculed since the full time whistle on Saturday at Celtic Park. The former Ibrox player wrote a ridiculously biased piece on Friday claiming Giovanni van Bronckhorst had Ange Postecoglou sussed ahead of the derby.
The pundit’s assessment coming less than a week after Celtic best a fellow SPFL team 9-0 and then went to Dingwall, made nine changes and won the game 4-1.
It was a wild statement not based in reality, but wishful thinking.
Ferguson has admitted he’s been getting a tough time from Celtic fans because of what he wrote in the Daily Record, and rightly so. He’s also honest enough to admit he’s hurting big time after the comprehensive defeat.
However, he’s doubled down on Gio having the Celtic manager sussed, and we just can’t let him get away with that.
He told the Daily Record: “There’s no point trying to sugarcoat it.
“Celtic fans have been giving me a roasting ever since Saturday lunchtime all because I wrote last week Giovanni van Bronckhorst has got Ange Postecoglou sussed.
“They seem to think I would have been hurting when the Aussie wiped the floor with my old team with a 4-0 win. And they’d be absolutely spot on. Hurting? You better believe it.
“He looked totally shell shocked by what he witnessed and I can’t say I blame him. Look, I stand by what I said in the build up to the match.
“Gio knew exactly how Celtic were going to go about their business on Saturday. And he knew how to set up his team to play against it.
“But what is the manager supposed to do when his players take it in turns to switch off at key moments? Once was bad enough. But three times in the space of the first 45 minutes?
“That’s completely unacceptable and it’s why Rangers ended up on the wrong end of a really sore defeat. Look, credit where it is due. Celtic are on a different level right now in terms of their energy levels and attacking play.
“They came at Rangers from all angles and they thoroughly deserved the victory because they were by far the better side on the day.
“In fact, I’d go as far to say that they are now clear, red hot favourites to win the title this season because no-one else can live with them at this moment in time. And that’s also painful for me to admit.”
Barry’s theory that Gio knows how Ange plays and set up accordingly, throwing the players under the bus for the loss is fundamentally flawed.
I’m sure Ange Postecoglou knows how to set up against Real Madrid on Tuesday night, but it’s still going to be an uphill battle to get a result for the Scottish Champions.
Due to Celtic being well coached and having an array of top talent in their team, you can know how a manager and team is going to play, but if you can’t stop what’s coming — you have nobody sussed.
We all say silly things when we’re hurting, Barry.
