THE sight of Liel Abada wheeling away in celebration having scored at the back post was a tableau of February’s Old Firm disaster for Rangers. Copy and paste seven months on, their Parkhead nightmare was replayed.

A first-half onslaught saw the hosts attack and press relentlessly, communicating intensity with every action. When Rangers saw an opportunity to complain to Nick Walsh at restarts, Celtic saw an opportunity to score. A quick throw-in led to the opener, a quick free-kick added another before the origin point of Abada’s first goal provided the third. All the while Rangers stood arms aloft and minds disengaged. Late in the game, Jon McLaughlin assisted David Turnbull himself as he conceded a fourth.

“We prepared for these moments that they were able to be dangerous in and we weren’t ready,” Giovanni van Bronckhorst told Sky Sports after the game.

“I think it was a repeat of the last game we played in February with a quickly taken throw-in and a free kick. We knew that was one of their strengths and both times we weren’t ready and conceded the goals.”

Rangers were “prepared” but not “ready” and before they knew it, a 3-0 lead had been established.

Van Bronckhorst learned from the defeat inflicted by Ange Postecoglou early in the year, winning once, losing once and drawing the other encounter that followed last season with a revamped game plan. He set his team up in a similar fashion today and while Celtic looked far more attuned in every attack and dangerous in each transition, this match was decided by basics.

The home side played with great focus, quality and intensity. According to their manager, they didn’t give Rangers “a moments rest”.

Question marks will hang over the goalkeeping for every goal. The full-time xG tally of 1.57 to 0.5 solidifies the claim that McLaughlin ought to have done a whole lot better but that tells only part of the story and doesn’t capture the game’s one-sided reality. Rangers never had any control.

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The only time they enjoyed sustained possession and pinned back their opponents came after the opener. Aside from Borna Barisic crosses, attacks generally broke down without end product. James Sands pushed up out of defence onto Matt O’Reilly at points, mirroring the Calvin Bassey man-marking tactic van Bronckhorst favoured in these matches last year, but Rangers were unable to pin in their hosts at goal-kicks and play the game in the areas where they wanted.

By the time Antonio Colak and Malik Tillman were replaced on the hour, none of the seven signings made this summer were on the field. The 37-year-old Steven Davis and 34-year-old Scott Arfield were in midfield, there was no answer on the right wing just like last season.

Some of the reasoning for that is circumstantial. Tom Lawrence’s omission through injury was a major blow this week, Colak has found the net with great regularity when supplied so far and Tillman has impressed in Europe, particularly given his lack of first-team football prior to this season.

Van Bronckhorst said “we did our business early in the window” when quizzed on Friday about his team’s transfer activity and stated he was “more than happy with the squad”. Whether or not there was an ability to make further additions is a question only those inside the club have the answer to. Based on the Old Firm’s latest head-to-head and the five-point lead already established it’s hard to make the case that further additions were not required. 

Of course, transfer windows need more time than two days past closure to determine success. Rabbi Matondo, Ridvan Yilmaz, Ben Davies and John Souttar could all well enjoy successful careers at Ibrox. Nevertheless, gaps in midfield and on the right that many felt needed addressed this summer remain.

Old Firm humiliations were supposed to have been consigned to the pre-Steven Gerrard era but have twice reared their head this year.

Rangers prepared themselves for the inevitable storm they would weather today but failed to deliver. Before they knew it, February’s disaster was playing out all over again.