RANGERS warmed up for Sunday’s derby against Celtic with a 6-0 thrashing of Hamilton last weekend but I don’t think that will make any real difference come Sunday.

Yes, it was a convincing win and they played well in spells but I can’t see that have any bearing on what happens at Parkhead. There is no evidence that suggests Celtic aren’t going to win this game.

Rangers’ incentive will be to end Celtic’s unbeaten run to try to get a bit of credibility back. They’ll want to give their fans something to cling on to in an otherwise wretched season. The pre-requisites in an Old Firm game are passion, commitment, and effort, but ultimately fans just want a result and the bragging rights that go with that. For Rangers, there haven’t been too many of those days recently.

Read more: Can Rangers beat Celtic at Parkhead on Sunday? It's highly unlikely! But here are five things the Ibrox club could try

It won’t get any easier for them this weekend given the form Celtic are in. They’ve scored 23 goals in their last six games, only conceding three. That’s a frightening statistic that shows how strong they are. They are now so close to their targets of going through the season undefeated and winning the treble that the players can virtually taste it. That’s the motivation now for Celtic and they are showing no signs of complacency or slowing down.

In last weekend’s Scottish Cup tie at Parkhead St Mirren did unbelievably well for 50-odd minutes. They looked organised, and they pressed Celtic whenever they came over the halfway line which made it hard for them to play through the lines and find spaces – overall, Saints were excellent. But it has to be also said that the first half was easily the flattest I’ve seen a Celtic team this season. They were abnormally poor. In the second half it was more like the Celtic performances we are used to and in the end they dominated the game.

So I don’t think Rangers should be looking to take too much heart from what St Mirren did as, for all they caused Celtic problems, Brendan Rodgers and his players always find a solution to whatever problem is facing them. And that’s because of the quality of players that they have. The cream always rises to the top, no matter what. If Celtic reach the standards they know they can, then they will win every game because they have better players. Moussa Dembele and Scott Sinclair, in particular, are both in unbelievable form. Rangers have to try to stop those two players if they can, which is easier said than done.

Read more: Can Rangers beat Celtic at Parkhead on Sunday? It's highly unlikely! But here are five things the Ibrox club could try

If I’m Rodgers on Sunday, I’m going to try to start this match like a whirlwind. I’d want to be 2-0 up within the opening 10 minutes. I’d want to get the crowd going and I’d want my players to go straight for Rangers’ jugular. That would be my tactic.

What Rangers need to try to do is to weather that storm. The atmosphere is going to be incredible and it would only be natural if their 5-1 defeat there the last time was in some of the players’ minds. Rangers need to get into their own pattern in the game and then try to implement whatever gameplan Graeme Murty has been working on this week. But, again, that is no easy task.

For me, this game isn’t as important as the cup semi-final between the sides next month. Rangers know that one is all about them effectively trying to stop Celtic’s treble bid. Doing that for Rangers will be vitally important, as well as also giving themselves a great chance of winning silverware come May.

It is hard to say just what Celtic’s weak points are as they aren’t really demonstrating any. They need to be flat, you need to be having the best game of your season and even then you might still need a contentious penalty or a sending off or some other turning point to go for you. And even then it might not be enough.

Read more: Can Rangers beat Celtic at Parkhead on Sunday? It's highly unlikely! But here are five things the Ibrox club could try

St Mirren will say that if Dembele’s slice had gone in instead of striking his own crossbar then it might have been a different outcome. I’m not so sure. Even at two down you would not have counted Celtic out. They ended up scoring four and had another two ruled out so there is plenty to suggest that they would still have come back to win the match. That’s all hypothetical, of course.

I said afterwards on social media that I was surprised at Rodgers’ comments that Saints were the best side they have faced this season and took some criticism over that. I felt that other Premiership teams – including Motherwell and St Johnstone – had given Celtic more of a game over 90 minutes than my old team did.

And I soon learned that on Twitter people don’t like it if you give an opinion that is different to theirs! So I decided to close my account, not because I was in the huff or anything, but because it wasn’t working out for me as I had hoped when I joined. I had been considering coming off it for a while anyway. People will just need to read my thoughts on here in future instead!