{"id":335493,"date":"2026-03-08T14:41:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T14:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/335493\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T14:41:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T14:41:10","slug":"derek-fergusons-confession-gives-martin-oneills-celtic-perfect-blueprint-to-silence-ibrox-crowd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/335493\/","title":{"rendered":"Derek Ferguson’s confession gives Martin O’Neill’s Celtic perfect blueprint to silence Ibrox crowd"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Add as preferred source on Google <\/a> <\/p>\n

The blueprint for a Celtic victory against Rangers in the Scottish Cup quarter-final on Sunday has been laid out by the most unlikely of sources: former Gers midfielder Derek Ferguson.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on Celtic\u2019s<\/a> chaotic 2-2 draw at Rangers last time out, Ferguson<\/a> made a telling admission regarding the Ibrox crowd. <\/p>\n

After Danny Rohl\u2019s side went 2-0 up at the break, Celtic took hold of the Glasgow derby<\/a> in the second half, and Ferguson admitted it instantly made the home fans \u2018nervous\u2019 and \u2018quiet\u2019, and he explained the key reason behind it all. <\/p>\n

\u201cSee, when they did get possession of the ball, and they did start to play,\u201d said Ferguson. \u201cYou see how nervous and how quiet the Rangers fans got.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, how does Martin O\u2019Neill<\/a> approach matters the second time around? Will Celtic play a direct or a possession-based game? <\/p>\n

Do you agree with Martin\u2019s predicted XI for Ibrox? <\/p>\n

\"Martin'sMartin\u2019s predicted derby XI Celtic told to avoid going direct against Rangers at Ibrox in the Scottish Cup quarter-final<\/p>\n

Regardless of how you want to approach these types of games or how good you are, sometimes, you just can\u2019t stop Glasgow derby matches from being played at \u2018100 miles per hour.\u2019<\/p>\n

Speaking on Open Goal<\/a>, James McFadden insisted that Celtic simply can\u2019t go direct, and \u2018they need to play\u2019, unless Rangers \u2018play high\u2019, which would force the Hoops to go long. <\/p>\n

But that\u2019s when Ferguson confessed that, as Celtic started to get \u2018possession of the ball\u2019, with game-changer Reo Hatate<\/a> on the pitch, it made those wearing blue pretty \u2018nervous\u2019, which will be music to the 7,500 Celtic fans travelling for the Scottish Cup<\/a> tie. <\/p>\n

Paul Slane: \u201cDo you think Celtic will try to play, or do you think they will go more direct?\u201d<\/p>\n

James McFadden: \u201cThey need to play. They haven\u2019t got anybody. Unless Rangers play high, and they go in behind. I don\u2019t think they will play direct to Maeda, if it\u2019s him, to hold it up or to challenge in the air \u2013 I can\u2019t see it. They need to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Derek Ferguson: \u201cSee, when they did get possession of the ball, and they did start to play. You see how nervous and how quiet the Rangers fans got. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo, there is a wee bit of that as well. It was frantic in the first half. The noise, everything. It was 100 miles per hour, and it suited Rangers.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"LukePhoto by WM Sport Media\/Getty ImagesCeltic\u2019s first and second half passing stats against Rangers <\/p>\n

It was night and day between how Celtic performed in the opening 45 minutes and how they ended the game.<\/p>\n

Hopefully, the second half of Celtic turns up pretty much straight away, because if they do, then a semi-final Hampden ticket awaits. <\/p>\n

Nonetheless, this is how some of the passing stats read out against Rangers last time out, which perhaps indicates that the champions of Scotland<\/a> should look to control the match, rather than force the ball forward and play the occasion.<\/p>\n

Celtic\u2019s passes in the first half: 185Celtic\u2019s passes in the second half: 244Celtic\u2019s first-half possession: 51%Celtic\u2019s second-half possession: 58%Final third entries in the first half from Celtic: 19Final third entries in the second half from Celtic: 26Join Our Newsletter<\/p>\n

Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Add as preferred source on Google The blueprint for a Celtic victory against Rangers in the Scottish Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[154280,72896,42,65561,43,137588,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-335493","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-derek-ferguson","9":"tag-glasgow-derby","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-martin-oneill","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-scottish-cup","14":"tag-top-news","15":"tag-top-stories","16":"tag-topnews","17":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}