A month ago, Derek McInnes was fielding awkward questions about his Rangers side losing its identity.
Now he has done something no Ibrox manager has managed since Graeme Souness – won his first two Old Firm derbies in charge.
Rangers have beaten Celtic twice inside eight days, and the manner of both wins has changed the conversation around Ibrox entirely.
A 3-0 League Cup victory at home was followed by a 1-0 win at Celtic Park, and McInnes has gone from a manager under pressure to one delivering the club’s most significant derby run in decades.
Former Rangers midfielder Andy Halliday, speaking on BBC Scotland’s Sportsound, put the turnaround in blunt terms.
“Take it back a month when Derek McInnes was under real pressure,” he said, recalling the mood among supporters before the winning run began.
Derek McInnes Silences Early Doubts With Historic Derby Double
Halliday went further, echoing what many were saying at the time. “It doesn’t look like a Derek McInnes team,” he said, describing the criticism that followed some early-season displays. Two derby wins later, that argument has been comprehensively answered.
It is worth remembering how quickly that mood shifted. Just weeks ago, McInnes was being asked to justify his methods after a run of unconvincing results. Supporters wanted evidence that his ideas could work at the highest level of the Scottish game, and two Old Firm wins in the space of a week have gone a long way to providing it.
Midfield Overhaul Delivers Back-to-Back Glasgow Victories
The League Cup win at Ibrox the previous Sunday set the tone, with Rangers running out 3-0 winners in a performance that suggested a genuine shift in approach. Eight days on, McInnes had to solve a different puzzle at Celtic Park, where his side needed to show they could back up the initial performance in front of their own fans.
Ryan Naderi provided the answer, scoring the only goal of the game to secure a 1-0 win at Parkhead. It should have been three or four.
Full details of the winning moment are covered in our report on Naderi’s decisive winner at Parkhead, with the team info available in the confirmed derby lineups.
Naderi’s importance was heightened by the absence of Lawrence Shankland and Youssef Chermiti.
The January signing from German third-tier side Hansa Rostock stepped up when Rangers needed a solution in attack, and his goal proved decisive in the tightest of contests.
This was a breakthrough performance from Naderi.
McInnes explained the tactical thinking behind the win, pointing to a deliberate decision to match Celtic’s numbers in the middle of the park. “Celtic filled the midfield. We filled it with even more bodies, we just made sure we weren’t going to get overrun in there,” he said after the match.
That approach relied heavily on his central pairing standing firm against a Celtic side accustomed to dominating possession in Glasgow derbies.
McInnes was quick to credit that effort afterwards. “My midfield were terrific again,” he said, praising the platform they gave Rangers to see out a tight, tense contest at Parkhead.
The only disappointment was that the margin of victory wasn’t greater.
Rangers deserved it. In contrast, Celtic had one shot on target.
The willingness to sacrifice attacking freedom for defensive control marked a clear departure from earlier in the season, when Rangers had at times been overrun in central areas. Packing the midfield rather than chasing an open, expansive game showed a manager prepared to adapt his principles to the occasion rather than stick rigidly to a preferred style.
Statistical Dominance and the Souness Precedent
The scale of what McInnes has achieved becomes clearer when placed alongside Rangers’ managerial history.
No man in the Ibrox dugout has won his opening two Old Firm derbies since Souness did it decades ago, and McInnes now sits in that company.
The win at Celtic Park was also Rangers’ sixth consecutive victory in all competitions, a run that began before the League Cup derby and has continued without interruption.
Six straight wins against a backdrop of derby pressure is a rare feat for any manager at either Glasgow club.
Our detailed breakdown of the numbers behind both wins is available in our analysis of the derby double, while the original match coverage and post-match comments can be found via BBC Sport coverage.
Beating Celtic once can be put down to a good day.
Beating them twice in a week, with a reshaped midfield and a squad missing two key forwards, points to something structural in how McInnes has organised his team.
The consistency behind the results, rather than the results in isolation, is what has convinced supporters this run is not a fluke.
Comments.
Loading comments…