Scott Brown has put the Old Firm rematch on a simple point: Celtic need a faster start against Rangers. Speaking to BBC Sport before Celtic vs Rangers, he said a win would leave Celtic eight points clear and, in his words, “changes the game”. Sunday's match in the east end of Glasgow will have no visiting supporters in attendance.

Brown's warning about the first 15 minutes

The former Celtic captain is really talking about intensity, not formation. Rangers beat Celtic 3-0 at home in last Sunday's Old Firm League Cup quarter-final, and Brown's view was that Rangers “went after Celtic from the get go”. He also said they “looked like they wanted the win more”.

That is why he focused on the opening stages of the rematch. “The first 15 minutes should be a battle,” he said, and his point is backed by the recent derby trend, with Rangers winning two of the last five league meetings and the other three ending level.

Celtic, though, go into Sunday on a strong domestic run. They have won their last five league matches, and Brown's warning is more about standards in the derby than panic over form.

The pressure on Celtic's key players

Brown also argued that Rangers made life hard by blocking Callum McGregor and forcing Celtic to look elsewhere for control. McGregor has only four league appearances so far, which leaves Celtic needing more from the players around him. Brown singled out the left side too, saying Yang Hyun-jun is still on Asian Games duty with South Korea and that Sebastian Tounekti and James Forrest have both been used on Celtic's left flank.

He linked that to an older Celtic model as well, mentioning Martin O'Neill's 2000-05 spell and his liking for a 3-5-2. Brown's broader point was that this squad does not naturally look built for that shape, so the response has to come from energy and movement as much as anything tactical.

The league table only adds to the pressure. Celtic have a five-point advantage over Rangers now, and a win on Sunday would stretch it to eight. Brown's message is that the gap is still big enough to matter, but only if Celtic handle the derby from the start rather than spending the first quarter of an hour trying to recover it.

Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →