Brian Laudrup fears Rangers 'drop off' against Celtic as club icon predicts Steven Gerrard's team talk

BlueMeanie

BlueMeanie

Well-Known Member

The stakes couldn't be higher for both ahead of the Scottish Cup fourth round showdown and the Danish hero has some reservations.​



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Rangers icon Brian Laudrup believes his former team's romp to the earliest Premiership title win in history is a "bit of a concern" ahead of Sunday's showdown with Celtic.
The stakes couldn't be higher ahead of the Scottish Cup fourth round showdown as both dream of trophy glory this season.
Rangers are aiming for the double while their rivals are hell-bent on lifting silverware once again and making it five consecutive triumphs in this tournament.

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Steven Gerrard 's side have been been the best team in the country but Laudrup admits he is worried the runaway title success could have dulled their sharpness.

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But the Danish football legend expects the Rangers manager to do everything to make sure his players empty their tanks when Celtic come calling.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said: "Winning the Double made it a very good season in the end. Now, of course, the chance is there for Steven Gerrard's team to go and do the same in 2021. And I think the game on Sunday promises to be every bit as absorbing as that epic derby all those years ago.

"We were still chasing down eight-in-a-row before that semi-final, but this year Rangers have achieved their main goal of the title more than a month ago.

"That maybe provides a little bit of a concern. Gerrard is still making the same demands, but when you win a championship, especially one of such immense significance this season, there can be a subconscious drop-off in the minds of one or two players just a very slight thing in knowing it has already been a fantastic campaign.

"Gerrard will want to make sure those vital few percentage points are not left in the dressing room come Sunday. It will be his job to ensure Rangers are absolutely ready for it. As he has said himself, there are no excuses given the free week to prepare.
"I genuinely think this is close to a 50-50 tie. The 20-point Premiership gap doesn't come into it at all, it's a one-off... and it's going to be thrilling.
"Just like 25 years ago, I expect Celtic to throw everything at it. The 6-0 win over Livingston last weekend offered renewed evidence of just how dangerous their attacking threats can be."
And Laudrup is certain Gerrard will turn to John Kennedy's comments in the build-up as bulletin board material within the Rangers dressing room.
The interim Celtic boss roared his side are "still the best team in the country" and the 52-year-old expects those words to be used as motivation.
He added: "Neither side should need any extra motivation, however, I'm sure Rangers will use John Kennedy's comments during the build-up.

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"It's one of those for the management team to cut out and put in the dressing room: 'Look guys, we have a Celtic manager here saying they are still the best team in the country. We have proved him wrong in the league. Go and do it again.'
"Most managers would use that. I would be very surprised if Gerrard or his staff didn't mention it inside the camp.
"I understand what Kennedy is doing, though. It's been such a difficult time for Celtic and he wants to build his team up again. That's understandable."
 
Time will tell, I would have liked at better more consistent performance last weekend because it is not easy to suddenly raise your game a few levels.

We need to start the game with real intensity and purpose. In the last few games against them we have not got out of second gear and our resilience has seen us through
 
The tactics in the last game to sit off them and let them have the ball really pissed me off, we must press them when they have possession,every time we have adopted this tactic we have beat them quite comfortably. I would play wright, he has the pace and skill to cause them problems.
 
Just_Perfect & Warranted said:
If we are aggressive and press and take the game to them, we’ll beat them.
If we’re as cautious as the last two games we could struggle.
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Exactly, we have pretty poor the last month since we won the league, Lack of energy and lots of safe passing, even the manager said it!

We should come out gung ho, fast 1-2 touch football against the beasts and they wont be able to live with us
 
They can’t beat us on an off day, the best they could do was draw. This is the cup, and we will be ready.
 
The Kennedy quotes have done Gerrard’s job for him

the players will be seething inside and want to price a point
 
I think he is right and I’ll be very surprised but delighted If we win on Sunday . They’ll throw hammer and tongs at us , and I don’t think we will be able to lift things back to the levels we had before we clinched 55 . It’s only natural that the players have switched off a wee bit , as Laudrup says it’s a subconscious thing very subtle but it’s as plain as the nose on John Kennedy’s dial that it’s a factor .

We got the title we all wanted so I’m not being greedy , I’ll still point and laugh at them for the rest of time about this season .
 
Always thought that a bit of a strange notion, the whole downing of tools thing. If having won the league has a negative effect on a group of players I.e. us, what must having lost the league in March, and all the turmoil they've endured, have done to them?

How anyone can argue they're going into this in a better place than us is a bit strange.
 
SSJack said:
I think he is right and I’ll be very surprised but delighted If we win on Sunday . They’ll throw hammer and tongs at us , and I don’t think we will be able to lift things back to the levels we had before we clinched 55 . It’s only natural that the players have switched off a wee bit , as Laudrup says it’s a subconscious thing very subtle but it’s as plain as the nose on John Kennedy’s dial that it’s a factor .

We got the title we all wanted so I’m not being greedy , I’ll still point and laugh at them for the rest of time about this season .
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Is this all based on the fact that Celtic beat Livingston 6-0?
They'd hardly been motoring along prior to that.

I think it will be close but to say "very surprised" if Rangers win is talking a load of shite I think.
 
DoubleWhopper said:
Is this all based on the fact that Celtic beat Livingston 6-0?
They'd hardly been motoring along prior to that.

I think it will be close but to say "very surprised" if Rangers win is talking a load of shite I think.
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So you can tell me my own thoughts on it can you ? Are you god ?

As I said I’ll be delighted but surprised if we knock them out . We are not firing on all cylinders and won’t be now until start of next season . If we play to our full potential we of course would beat them , but the fact is we haven’t been at it since we won the title , and as Laudrup says it’s understandable .
 
JD1872 said:
Time will tell, I would have liked at better more consistent performance last weekend because it is not easy to suddenly raise your game a few levels.

We need to start the game with real intensity and purpose. In the last few games against them we have not got out of second gear and our resilience has seen us through
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Agree with you.

With the exception of Cove Rangers we just not have played well in games since winning the title.

My concern is that players just cannot flick a switch and decide when to turn it on or not. Intensity levels have dropped considerably and if we are not up for it from the 1st minute on Sunday I have concerns.

Not saying Celtic are Worldbeaters, not by a long way but Kennedy has got a settled side and formation, fair too say they are in a better place than in the dying dsys if TLB's reign. A Cup triumph would put a little gloss on a poor season, they will come out all guns blazing, just like they did at Ibrox on 2 Jan.

If we are up for it, if our players are at their best I'm confident we'll win but there is just a nagging doubt when looking back at our level of performance in the past 4 weeks.
 
I think our level has reflected our seasonal slump during the second half of the season. We have been ‘just’ doing enough overall to not drop the points which cost us over the previous two seasons. Our first half of the season ruthlessness, which precipitated their slump took much of the pressure off us after the turn of the year.

Where I do think it affected us more was in Europe against a higher quality of opposition, Slavia. Had we played them in before Christmas I suspect we would have beaten them comfortably.

I think the manager really must work on getting levels back up to standard for this game as it could have a huge effect on the filths confidence for the foreseeable future. Kennedy’s words, should in my opinion, be rammed up his cavernous proboscis and Brown should be humiliated as a going away present!
 
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SSJack said:
I think he is right and I’ll be very surprised but delighted If we win on Sunday . They’ll throw hammer and tongs at us , and I don’t think we will be able to lift things back to the levels we had before we clinched 55 . It’s only natural that the players have switched off a wee bit , as Laudrup says it’s a subconscious thing very subtle but it’s as plain as the nose on John Kennedy’s dial that it’s a factor .

We got the title we all wanted so I’m not being greedy , I’ll still point and laugh at them for the rest of time about this season .
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Best if you do the dishes on Sunday.
 
Stevie G and the rest of the management team will have everyone ready for Sunday. Beat the scum and finish their season.
 
Theresa May said:
Always thought that a bit of a strange notion, the whole downing of tools thing. If having won the league has a negative effect on a group of players I.e. us, what must having lost the league in March, and all the turmoil they've endured, have done to them?

How anyone can argue they're going into this in a better place than us is a bit strange.
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If you remember back a bit , Walters teams done it several times , won the title and then switched off , we lost a couple of cup finals because of it as well as we couldn’t raise our game again .
 
SSJack said:
So you can tell me my own thoughts on it can you ? Are you god ?

As I said I’ll be delighted but surprised if we knock them out . We are not firing on all cylinders and won’t be now until start of next season . If we play to our full potential we of course would beat them , but the fact is we haven’t been at it since we won the title , and as Laudrup says it’s understandable .
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So i'll ask again, do you think Celtic are firing on all cylinders? Or coming into this in some rich vein of form?
Beating Livingston 6-0 doesnt suddenly make them the 1970 Brazil team.

We're coming into it fine. Unbeaten in the league. 3 wins and a draw in the last 4 v team. We've got their number.
We're not playing sparklingly, no, but we havent been consistently playing well for about 5 months. We've still took 4 points off them in that spell. The narrative that we've suddenly dropped off since winning the title just isnt true.

I just don't see how you could be "very surprised" if we beat them.
 
DoubleWhopper said:
So i'll ask again, do you think Celtic are firing on all cylinders? Or coming into this in some rich vein of form?
Beating Livingston 6-0 doesnt suddenly make them the 1970 Brazil team.

We're coming into it fine. Unbeaten in the league. 3 wins and a draw in the last 4 v team. We've got their number.
We're not playing sparklingly, no, but we havent been consistently playing well for about 5 months. We've still took 4 points off them in that spell.

I just don't see how you could be "very surprised" if we beat them.
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I agree with what you are saying but I’ll still be surprised if we beat them on Sunday . I don’t need to explain it, I don’t feel that mob are any great shakes , we are a better team than them but I don’t think we will lift ourselves enough .

If we do it I’ll be on here celebrating and buy you a cyber pint ( whatever that means ) B-)
 
The stakes couldnt be higher is a bit of cliche in that article.

It's the fourth round of the cup with Rangers already champions FFS. It's hardly a Champions League Semi Final.
 
SSJack said:
I think he is right and I’ll be very surprised but delighted If we win on Sunday . They’ll throw hammer and tongs at us , and I don’t think we will be able to lift things back to the levels we had before we clinched 55 . It’s only natural that the players have switched off a wee bit , as Laudrup says it’s a subconscious thing very subtle but it’s as plain as the nose on John Kennedy’s dial that it’s a factor .

We got the title we all wanted so I’m not being greedy , I’ll still point and laugh at them for the rest of time about this season .
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I’ll be very surprised if we don’t turn up and fight to win the game.
 
I’m not very confident for Sunday. We’ve been poor against them the last couple, we need a performance, big time.
 
Theresa May said:
Always thought that a bit of a strange notion, the whole downing of tools thing. If having won the league has a negative effect on a group of players I.e. us, what must having lost the league in March, and all the turmoil they've endured, have done to them?

How anyone can argue they're going into this in a better place than us is a bit strange.
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I wouldn't say they are going in in a better place than us but they've known for a long time that the cup is their last stand as a team trophy wise.

We, on the other hand, basically finished our season in March and are now having to restart in a "mini season." We very much have a mission accomplished vibe since winning the league. The way the fixtures fell after the St Mirren game didn't help us as we've hardly played so of course it's going to have that end of season feel.

I listened to Walter saying that you get the best out a team when there is little margin for error.
 
si72 said:
Am absolutely confident our players will be up for it against the shower of filth.Have no fear.
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I'm the opposite.
It's incredibly difficult to regain focus and drive once it's gone.
If we're to prevail on Sunday it'll be a hard slog, don't be expecting a five star show.
 
Best to take no notice of former players in the media, even the former players we admire. The vast majority of it is done to fill up space.
 
SSJack said:
I think he is right and I’ll be very surprised but delighted If we win on Sunday . They’ll throw hammer and tongs at us , and I don’t think we will be able to lift things back to the levels we had before we clinched 55 . It’s only natural that the players have switched off a wee bit , as Laudrup says it’s a subconscious thing very subtle but it’s as plain as the nose on John Kennedy’s dial that it’s a factor .

We got the title we all wanted so I’m not being greedy , I’ll still point and laugh at them for the rest of time about this season .
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Defeat on Sunday doesn’t diminish the magnitude of the achievement of winning the title and stopping their tainted ten in a row, but if this side really has what it takes, if they’re real winners to be ranked alongside the truly great Rangers teams of the past, they’ll find a way to raise their game on Sunday and dispose of Celtic.

Now is not the time to be resting on our laurels. I want to see this group of players greedy for success now. I want to see them addicted to winning trophies.

I’m pretty sure Gerrard is of that mindset, let’s just hope the players are on the same wavelength.
 
I have the same reservations as God regarding our lack of potential for a lack of competitive edge due to wrapping the title up and being out of Europe for a few weeks now.

What I would say though is it only becomes a 50/50 if we allow our standards to drop. If we come out all guns blazing we are far and away a better team and will win the game. I have faith in Gerrard and the players to do just that
 
Predictable response on here but he is absolutely right. The history books prove that old firm derbies played after the league is won are far more likely to be won by the other team than games played before the title is wrapped up. It is just human nature.
 
brain said:
Predictable response on here but he is absolutely right. The history books prove that old firm derbies played after the league is won are far more likely to be won by the other team than games played before the title is wrapped up. It is just human nature.
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I don’t think some on this thread fully appreciate the nuances of the game . We also have this odd statistic of never in our history have we beaten them at this stage of the Scottish cup . Hopefully Sunday will change all that .
 
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