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By GARY KEOWN Published: 04: 37 AEDT, 4 January 2026 | Updated: 04: 44 AEDT, 4 January 2026 View comments What's that old saying about a Game of Two Halves again? Whatever it is, it most certainly applies to what panned out in Saturday’s Old Firm derby. At half-time, it was Rangers manager Danny Rohl facing all kinds of questions again after a chaotic, disjointed, appalling first 45 minutes that had resulted in his side going in 1-0 down at the break to a stunning goal from an inspired Yang Hyun-jun. By time up, though, it was embattled Celtic boss Wilfried Nancy back on the rack, bearing a haunted look and really having to find new ways to justify still being in a job after his sixth loss in eight games. While Yang returned to his normal self in a second-half collapse from the Parkhead side, it was the unlikely figure of Youssef Chermiti who showed his Jekyll and Hyde personality by springing into life with two well-taken goals ahead of the Mikey Moore strike that completed a remarkable 3-1 win for the visitors. Here, Daily Mail Sport takes a look at some of the big talking points from a hugely eventful afternoon that ended with an almost inevitable mass demonstration from furious home supporters in the Parkhead car park. TIME UP FOR WILFRIED NANCY – AND OTHERS Listen, Nancy landed in the middle of a civil war at Celtic. The whole place is a binfire. The squad he is being asked to work with is not up to the job and clearly doesn’t look like it’s going to pull its collective finger out for him. Chermiti was the star of the show as his two goals helped heap more pressure on Nancy Another defeat means the Frenchman has now lost six of his eight games in charge of Celtic The buck for a campaign in total freefall cannot stop solely with the Frenchman, but the fact remains that this cannot go on. Playing reasonably well in bits of games is not enough. Being absolutely unable to defend over the course of 90 minutes is totally unacceptable. Nancy came with a reputation for all-out attack and some high-risk policies, but no Celtic manager can survive when his side looks so spectacularly vulnerable as this. Particularly when interim boss Martin O’Neill was managing to grind out results — and seven wins out of eight — before his arrival with the same group. They were sitting pretty here at 1-0 at half-time here. Rangers had been abysmal. Yet, visiting manager Danny Rohl’s decision to replace Thelo Aasgaard with Mohamed Diomande, bolster the midfield and alter the press changed everything. Celtic were just a shambles after the break. All the tempo and momentum from the first period disappeared. They were all over the shop. Caught sleeping at a throw-in, they gifted Rangers a way back in when Chermiti scored from a Nico Raskin cutback. Chermiti’s second was even more cheaply conceded and there are so many things to talk about with regard to Rangers’ third as well. Nancy can’t keep rabbiting on about Celtic deserving more from games. They don’t deserve more. They keep cutting their own throats. They keep folding when the going gets tough. They still don’t look like they know what their new head coach wants and, perhaps more crucially, don’t look united behind him. The guy just doesn’t seem to understand what he’s taken on and it can only be a matter of time. If it isn’t this week, the visit to Tynecastle at the end of the month carries an ominous look. In the interim, though, can Celtic really afford to spend bombs in the window on what already has all the hallmarks of a doomed regime? Rohl, meanwhile, was left to celebrate after watching his side come from behind to beat their biggest rivals Nancy was passionate in defending himself during a pre-match press conference on Friday. At time-up on Saturday, he was taciturn and short. Slouching up the tunnel at the final whistle after shaking hands with Danny Rohl, he looked a beaten man. He is a beaten man. He’s toast. The guys who built this squad and have pushed this project must go too, though. Not just Nancy. Paul Tisdale, head of football operations, is now centre-stage, no matter how he prefers to stay in the shadows, and surely cannot survive. CEO Michael Nicholson’s time is up too. Demonstrations of the like witnessed outside the stadium at full-time yesterday have to bring results. Eventually. No matter how much major shareholder Dermot Desmond may like to dig his heels in. ROHL’S VITAL HALF-TIME EXCISION AND THE NEED FOR MORE SURGERY IN THE MARKET Fair play to Rangers’ German manager. Yes, it was as plain as the nose on your face that something had to change in the wake of a dreadful first half for the visitors, but his half-time rejigging of the team changed everything. Thelo Aasgaard shouldn’t have started. Maybe a couple of goals in recent times pulled the wool over Rohl’s eyes, but we have surely seen enough of the Norwegian by now to ascertain that he’s not quite cut out for this sort of stuff. Mohamed Diomande hasn’t been any great shakes this term either, but he came on and contributed well as Rangers appeared to go to a different kind of midfield three and altered the press. It is fair to say that it changed the game entirely. Yet, that doesn’t mean Rohl doesn’t have serious work to do in the market both in January and the summer. The defence needs a total overhaul. James Tavernier was left on the bench against Celtic and there’s been enough this season to suggest that should probably be a permanent arrangement. Dujon Sterling could be a suitable replacement at right-back if he stays fit, but Tavernier’s set-piece deliveries were missed at Parkhead. Connor Barron didn’t cut the mustard on that score. A set-play specialist would be useful along with someone capable of really pulling the strings in midfield. Manny Fernandez was lamentable at Yang Hyun-jun’s opener and is not a defender. Rohl needs at least one centre-back and a left-back, with a move for James Penrice of AEK Athens looking like a sensible option. More quality and composure in attacking areas is needed too. Although one man has given him some food for thought at the head of the frontline. .. Chermiti watches on as he beats Kasper Schmeichel to put Rangers 2-1 ahead CHAMPION CHERMITI Two goals and a brilliant second-half performance from the Portuguese have got that £8million Kevin Thelwell paid for him looking like a bargain all of a sudden. Yes, we are being a little tongue-in-cheek there, to say the least, but the 21-year-old stepped up to the plate here big time. One opportunist finish and a clinical eye when left one-on-one actually made you start to think this big fella might have something. For as long as former sporting director Thelwell remained at Ibrox, he and his protege would always be conjoined in a death spiral. Thelwell allowing old club Everton to get back some of the £13m they spent to lure him from Sporting Lisbon was always going to be seen by fans to carry a bad smell. Chermiti was always going to be marked by his association with the Englishman. Now Thelwell has gone, though, this maybe signals an opportunity for Chermiti to start afresh. Nothing changes opinions like big goals in big games. There’s a long way to go, but let’s see if this is the start of a redemption arc. WHAT WAS TRUSTY PLAYING AT? THERE are so many wider questions to be asked about the Celtic playing squad. How do you get to a situation where Johnny Kenny is your only realistic option at centre-forward? Why are guys like Daizen Maeda and Yang Hyun-jun still being banked upon when they were packed and ready to leave in the summer? And could Reo Hatate look any less interested? However, for all the evident issues within the football department, there really isn’t much you can do about guys having the most almighty brainfarts on the field. And Auston Trusty most definitely had one of those. No matter how many times you watch it, there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to his decision to let Chermiti move into the area from the left flank at 1-1 and give him all the time and space he needed to put the ball behind Kasper Schmeichel and put Rangers on the road to victory. It is starting to become clear why former manager Brendan Rodgers (is his name still allowed to be mentioned within the confines of Parkhead? ) appeared to go right off him towards the end of his time. The Danish goalkeeper was left found wanting in getting down to save Moore's effort which put Rangers out of sight KASPER SCHMEICHEL IS LOOKING OLD THAT newspaper columnist in Denmark who got himself into hot water for likening Kasper Schmeichel to a ‘child with polio’ at the end of last season was probably to be found standing on his front step at time-up, bellowing to the world: ‘Told you soooooooo……. ’ The Celtic goalkeeper is having a bad, bad season. Getting beaten from the halfway line by Kenny Mc Lean in that World Cup qualifier might not even make the top five in terms of costly misjudgements in 2025-26. The Parkhead outfit’s goose was cooked here when Schmeichel let the ball go right under him from Moore’s angled shot to make it 3-1 with 19 minutes to play. He was just so slow in getting down. Schmeichel’s Parkhead predecessor Joe Hart proved that there’s a knack in getting out at the right time. Aged 39 and with an excellent career behind him, Schmeichel might just have missed the boat on that one.
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