Davie Hay: Scoreline may have been closer, but gap between Celtic and Rangers as big as ever

The pattern of play and the superiority of Celtic was very similar to the way it has been in the last three or four matches between the teams, with the only difference being that the ball was hitting the woodwork more often than it was hitting the net.

Rangers may point to the scoreline and suggest that is evidence that the gap between the sides is closing, but it really wasn’t all that far away from being another thumping. It really could have been four or five, and that would have been a fairer reflection on the match as a whole.

Credit has to go to the Celtic players, but also to Brendan Rodgers in particular. There had been an air of negativity around the club for the past month, some of it justified, some of it perceived, but that should be blown away now.

There had been the John McGinn saga, the Dedryck Boyata fallout and then the Moussa Dembele fiasco, losing the striker at the last minute without having a replacement.

The Celtic manager got his team right and set them up well, and despite the sideshow around Dembele that was playing out, he made sure that his players were fully focused on the game.

I was a little surprised by how negative Rangers were. I can only remember a couple of forays forward really and very few opportunities for the visitors.

They have come to Celtic Park and played to what their strengths have been so far in their Europa League campaign, trying to defend well. A lot of their early success in that competition has come from what Allan McGregor and their centre-halves have been doing, but you can’t come to a venue like that and just sit in, because eventually you are going to be picked off.

You have to offer something going the other way, and Rangers weren’t able to do that often enough.

The way that Steven Gerrard set up his side shows that Celtic still hold that fear factor. Domestically, they have always come up with the answers when questions have been asked of them, and that was very much the case on Sunday.

Where the game was won was in the middle of the park, with that axis of Scott Brown, Olivier Ntcham, Callum McGregor and Tom Rogic dominating for Celtic.

Those four players play such a huge part in taking control of the game, and that is exactly how it played out. Rangers just didn’t have an answer for them in that area at all, and it is a vital battleground in an Old Firm game.

I’m not one to pick out individuals too often when the team performance has been so good, but Ntcham looks an incredible talent and is becoming such a key figure for Celtic in the midfield.

Yes, he can blow hot and cold at times, but that can happen when you set the bar at a certain level. Any time you dip under that, even if you aren’t playing badly, then the perception can be that you are having an off-day.

Those are becoming fewer and farther between though, and he looks as if he has really settled into his role there now and he performs it with such skill and style.

On a separate note, I feel that the departure of Dembele may leave the door open a little for Ryan Christie, who did really well when he came on against Suduva, and he has done well domestically in the past in Scotland.

You could argue that for a large spell of last season he was the most impressive player in the league outside of Celtic, and he could go on to make an impact with his parent club.

All in all, the result can go a long way to sweeping away the dark clouds that had gathered around the club.

If you look on the bright side, then they are looking good in the league, have dominated Rangers and beaten them again, they have options at the back now with the arrival of Filip Benkovic and while they would always prefer to be in the Champions League, the Europa League draw provides a real chance of progression to the knockout stages.

It’s amazing what a convincing win over your rivals can do for your outlook.