Former Rangers defender Alan Hutton has declared that no Celtic player would currently be good enough to start for Rangers, flipping the long-running debate over a combined Glasgow XI. Speaking to Record Sport via Footballpredictions.com, Hutton said form alone means the Parkhead squad would struggle to break into Derek McInnes' team.
Hutton's verdict on Celtic's form
"To be totally honest and only going on form at this moment in time, I would say no Celtic players get into the Rangers XI," Hutton said. "If you'd asked me this question a month ago, it would have been a lot different, because Celtic started the season well, Rangers didn't."
Celtic go into the international break on the back of three consecutive defeats - a Premier Sports Cup loss to Rangers, a Europa League defeat to Ferencvaros, and a second league reverse against their Glasgow rivals. Martin O'Neill's side also crashed out of the Champions League playoff to LASK.
Rangers' summer rebuild paying off
Rangers brought in 14 players last summer, with Dan Neil, Olwethu Makhanya, Minsu Kim and James Penrice making an instant impact. Celtic, meanwhile, spent £31.6m on Camillo Duran, Kasper Hogh, Mika Baur, Haïssem Hassan, Joel van den Berg and Jordan Lotomba, but record signing Hogh has gone seven games without a goal.
"It's taken the new signings a little bit of time [at Rangers], and I always thought there would be such a big transition from last year, especially with the manager and then I think it's fourteen players that have come in," Hutton added. "I was a little bit worried at the start of the season, but now I'm looking at it with the likes of Kim Min-su, Makhanya, Penrice. Shankland was scoring goals before his injury. I think things are starting to look up. I'd probably rate it round about seven out of ten."
Celtic's big-game struggles
Hutton believes Celtic have failed to deliver in the bigger matches this season, despite sitting top of the Scottish Premiership. "There will be a worry at Celtic after the previous two games," he said. "If you look at Celtic as a whole, the bigger games that they've played in, the likes of LASK, Ferencvaros, the double against Rangers, they haven't been to standard."
He added: "Having said that, they've been through the course multiple times, have won so many trophies, they'll feel that they can still claw back, but I think there will be a small amount of trepidation moving forward at this moment in time."
Rangers, meanwhile, have reached the Premier Sports Cup semi-final against Aberdeen after winning away at Celtic, a result Hutton said McInnes would have savoured. "He wouldn't say it out in public, but Derek McInnes would have absolutely loved it after what happened to Hearts last season. I know that for sure," Hutton said.
