Furious Giovanni van Bronckhorst blasts 'naive' Rangers after they suffer Celtic thrashing
- Michael Graham
- 3 February 2022
Rangers endured a miserable night at Celtic Park, and their manager was in no mood to offer any excuses for his players.
Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst blasted his "naive" players after they were trounced 3-0 by Celtic in the Old Firm derby.
All of the goals were scored before half-time and it is a result that sees Celtic leapfrog their bitter rivals to the top of the Scottish Premiership.
Reo Hatate got the opening goal inside five minutes for the hosts and then doubled his own and Celtic's tally later in the first half. Liel Ababa grabbed the third just before the break.
"It seemed like it was the first Old Firm we played," van Bronckhorst told Sky Sports.
"We know what it will bring, the Old Firm, and what you have to do - the environment you go in, the ambience, the pressure you get, everything. But it seemed like we weren't ready for it.
"You see the way we gave the goals away, it's the sharpness, I cannot say otherwise, not going with your man, not being ready for the battles.
"I think it was unbelievable, the first half. Our Old Firm game started in the second half, we were much better and much more aggressive, and we played the second half really well. But the first half we gave the game away.
"For sure it wasn't something I expected, when I saw the training we had, how focused we were before the game.
"But when the game started, we were just waiting for a goal to be scored. For me that's impossible.
"We were too naive and we deserved to be 3-0 down the way we played."
Van Bronckhorst was particularly upset with his players for appealing to referee Bobby Madden to stop the game for a head injury instead of defending Hatate's opener.
"It's a decision for the referee to stop the game," he said. "We still had the corner to defend. The ball goes out and you have to defend the ball.
"You don't stop when the ref doesn't whistle, For me, that was unbelievable to see."
