Celtic, according to Sky Sports analyst Davie Provan, have a “much stronger” roster than Rangers.
On the surface, he has a point, with Celtic eight points better off in the Scottish Premiership after playing one additional game.
However, it must be remembered that the Gers are only playing catch-up due to having a – let’s face it – a poor manager in charge at the start of the season.
Since Michael Beale was replaced with the impressive Philippe Clement, the Light Blues have been flying.
Indeed, since Beale was axed, Rangers have won five out of five in the league by an aggregate scoreline of 16-1.
Celtic, over the same period, have won four out of five – still good form, in fairness, but not as good as Rangers’.
Clement has made use of his full squad, with many previous fringe players stepping up after underperforming under Beale.
Just look at the 2-0 win at Livingston last time out, when Clement was able to bring on Danilo, Todd Cantwell, Ridvan Yilmaz, Jose Cifuentes and Sam Lammers.
All of which brings into question the comments made by Provan, via Football Scotland [19 November], at the weekend.
“When I look at the Celtic squad I see some players of high quality. I feel the squad is much stronger than what Rangers have,” he said.
The only way Rangers can ultimately prove Provan wrong is by keeping pace with, and then eventually overtaking, fierce rivals Celtic.
Clement has already gone a long way to disproving that claim, which he may even use as additional motivation ahead of the next Old Firm derby.
Rangers may find themselves off the title pace, but a corner has been turned over the past month thanks to Clement and his squad depth.
