Alan Hutton: No Celtic player gets into Rangers XI on current form

Standfirst

• Alan Hutton says no Celtic player would currently make Derek McInnes’ Rangers XI.
• Celtic enter the international break on three straight defeats: twice to Rangers and once to Ferencvaros, after a busy summer of transfer business and a Champions League playoff exit to LASK.
• Rangers made 14 signings last summer, and Hutton now rates McInnes’ rebuild “about seven out of ten”.

Rangers and Celtic: how the form shifted

Celtic go into the international break on the back of three straight defeats, and Alan Hutton does not think a single one of their players would get into Rangers’ current side. Two of those losses came against Rangers themselves, either side of a Europa League defeat to Ferencvaros.

The Alan Hutton Rangers Celtic verdict, delivered in an interview with the Daily Record, has become the story of the week. Celtic brought in six new arrivals over the summer: Camillo Duran, Kasper Hogh, Mika Baur, Haïssem Hassan, Joel van den Berg and Jordan Lotomba. Rangers, by contrast, signed 14 players under McInnes, including Dan Neil, Olwethu Makhanya, Minsu Kim and James Penrice, as set out in our full report on Hutton’s comments.

Kasper Hogh, a club record £11m signing, has gone seven games without a goal. Celtic’s struggles have shown up in the biggest fixtures too: they were knocked out of the Champions League playoff round by Austrian side LASK, then beaten by Ferencvaros in the Europa League, before losing to Rangers again in the league.

Rangers’ derby win featured Ryan Naderi scoring at Celtic Park. The full back has been a regular under McInnes despite Naderi’s international clearance delay holding up his Czech Republic debut.

The expert angle: no Celtic players make McInnes’ XI

The Alan Hutton Rangers Celtic case rests on more than one poor week for Celtic. Hutton was clear about his reasoning: “To be totally honest and only going on form at this moment in time, I would say no Celtic players get into the Rangers XI. If you’d asked me this question a month ago, it would have been a lot different, because Celtic started the season well, Rangers didn’t.”

He pointed to Celtic’s form in the games that matter most. “There will be a worry at Celtic after the previous two games,” Hutton said. “If you look at Celtic as a whole, the bigger games that they’ve played in, the likes of LASK, Ferencvaros, the double against Rangers, they haven’t been to standard.”

Rangers did not hit the ground running under McInnes, given the scale of the summer turnover, but Hutton believes the mood has changed. He singled out Kim Min-su, Makhanya and Penrice as players finding form, and noted that Shankland was scoring goals before injury interrupted his season. “I’d probably rate it round about seven out of ten,” Hutton said. “I think there are still players within the squad that need a little bit more time to adapt to a new culture, a new environment, the expectations of the team. But overall, I’d say about seven, it’s starting to come good now. We’re actually seeing Derek McInnes’ side.”

What happens next for McInnes and Celtic

Celtic have the international break to regroup before domestic action resumes. Hutton believes the balance of power has shifted for now: “Over whatever amount of years, Celtic have been miles in front. So they haven’t really had to worry so much about Rangers, but this is probably a moment in time where going into the international break, they’re probably a little bit fearful.”

He does not expect that to last long, given Celtic’s history. “Having said that, they’ve been through the course multiple times, have won so many trophies, they’ll feel that they can still claw back, but I think there will be a small amount of trepidation moving forward at this moment in time,” Hutton said. “He wouldn’t say it out in public, but Derek McInnes would have absolutely loved it after what happened to Hearts last season. I know that for sure.”

For Rangers, the derby double feeds into a League Cup run already at the semi-final stage against Aberdeen, with the winner facing one of the two Edinburgh clubs. “So to then back the league after the cup and win away at Celtic, it’s very sweet for him, I’m sure,” Hutton said of McInnes.

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