GIVEN the crash, bang, wallop nature of Rangers and Celtic encounters, it’s hardly surprising that some players lose the head quicker than one of Henry VIII’s wives.
In the psychological battlegrounds of this mind-mangling arena, it’s all about managing the emotions. Arthur Numan reckons Scott Brown will be angling for a wind up in this weekend’s Old Firm clash and is hoping Rangers’s new recruits don’t take the bait.
A raft of Pedro Caixinha’s summer signings will be getting a first taste of the fevered contest with city rivals Celtic at Ibrox on Saturday and Numan insists the key for the men in blue will be to keep a lid on the temperament, particularly the Latin ones, in the heat of the battle.
“Celtic have Scott Brown in midfield and he’s an experienced player who knows exactly what to do against Rangers so it’s important for the Rangers players to keep calm and stay focused,” said the Dutchman.
“They must not take the bait and get involved, especially the Latin American players who tend to have that passion. They have this ‘go for it’ attitude and a winning mentality which is sometimes missing in Holland, for example.
“But they will need to control it. Brown has the same winning mentality – just like Barry Ferguson and Neil Lennon in my day – and you need that in your team. He has the passion and he can fire up the opposition.
“The most important thing is that they don’t lose their mind. I remember in the last game Myles Beerman conceded a penalty early on. He was maybe too focused and that can lead to mistakes and cost you the game. Rangers will have a lot of Old Firm debutants, a bit like my first derby.”
Numan certainly savoured his encounters with old foes Celtic during his five-year stint in Govan even if his debut in this barnstorming Glasgow gathering was a 5-1 reversal.
Caixinha’s last outing against Celtic was also a damaging 5-1 trouncing in the league last season and the Rangers manager remains under intense scrutiny ahead of this testing tussle.
Despite bringing in a battalion of players who may not yet fully understand the frenzied rivalry, Numan insists that Caixinha won’t have to say much in the dressing room to rally his troops.
He added: “Sometimes you don’t need to give a team talk in these games because you know all about the opposition.
“You know who you are going to play against. I knew I was facing Sutton, Hartson and Larsson so you don’t need a team talk – it’s about how you play yourself.
“It will be a difficult game for Rangers but they have to focus on their own game and not think about Celtic.
“The 5-1 defeat at Ibrox in April means they are focused on getting a result but most importantly they must believe in themselves.
“A lot of the players are new so they won’t know what it means to be involved in an Old Firm game.”
It’s 56 not out in domestic competition for Celtic. Ending this long unbeaten run would seem like a mission impossible for Rangers. “If Rangers were to end this run, whoever scores the winning goal will get a golden statue in front of the stadium,” added Numan.
Arthur Numan was speaking at a William Hill media event. William Hill is a proud sponsor of Scottish football.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here