'Battle of infirm not Old Firm as Celtic & Rangers limp into derby'

More a meeting of the infirm than a battle of the Old Firm, Rangers and Celtic arrive almost apologetically to their biggest domestic game of the season so far, the bunfight at the Not OK Corral of Ibrox on Sunday.

Rangers and Celtic have their own bespoke version of Newton's Law - when one is up the other must be down - but that's not the case this time. For once, there is equilibrium. It won't last, but following their European humiliations during the week, they are for now in the horrors together, side by side.

Their supporters enraged, their respective boards under siege, it's hard to remember a time when both clubs were in such a grim place at the same time.

You could be there a while debating whose result was worse, Celtic losing to a team 255 places behind them in Uefa's club coefficient rankings, or Rangers equalling their worst ever European performance in their game in Bruges.

Celtic have it, probably. Before Tuesday, Kairat ranked below Larne and Linfield, Shamrock Rovers and St Patrick's Athletic in the Uefa charts. It was their most mortifying failure since losing 5-0 against Artmedia Bratislava 20 years ago.

Brendan Rodgers' charge sheet in Europe extended over the two goalless and soulless games. On Friday he once again spoke about the club's lack of "agility" in the transfer market, a point that is unarguable. His own missteps in player evaluation and the missteps of his head of football operations, Paul Tisdale, were not given a full airing, of course.

His attempt to portray the club as a cohesive machine where no conflict existed was unconvincing based on some of the things he has been saying in recent weeks.

Celtic have dealt with their disappointment of a Champions League exit by finally signing some players in the same way a person arrives at the airport after their plane has left the tarmac. Why weren't Michel-Ange Balikwisha and Marcelo Saracchi in the building in time for the Kairat Almaty games?

There is also talk of them bringing in the Anderlecht and Denmark striker, Kasper Dolberg, and the Toulouse wing Sebastian Tounekti. The delayed signing policy - players arriving in waves after the Champions League damage has been done - really addles the brain.

Rangers, too, are it, with the arrival of Bojan Miovski, the striker who lit it up with Aberdeen. Again, the question needs to be asked - what took so long? Weren't your deficiencies up front - and pretty much everywhere else - evident for months before your denouement with Brugge and the brutality of what followed?

Both clubs are limping into Sunday, but Celtic at least have the comfort of a six-point cushion at the top of the Premiership. They've only had to be half-decent in establishing that lead.

They've been okay and nothing more. By contrast, Rangers have been awful. They've had three 1-1 draws against Motherwell, Dundee and St Mirren and they've been fortunate along the way.

Their defending has been such an abomination that Celtic, with no dependable striker but with a point to prove, could potentially run amok. The Rangers midfield has been a disorganised mess and the farrago around Nico Raskin continues.

Martin tied himself in knots on Friday when dealing with a volley of questions on his relationship with Raskin and whether the midfielder will be in his squad for Sunday. No, would appear to be the answer.

The other day, Belgium manager Rudi Garcia named Raskin in his squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Liechtenstein and Kazakhstan. So, Raskin is deemed good enough to be in an international squad with stellar names from Napoli, Arsenal, AC Milan, Aston Villa, Brugge and Brighton, but, for whatever reason, his face doesn't fit at Rangers?

On top of everything else the Rangers attack has had little bite. Opta's "big chance" stats show that St Mirren matched Rangers 3-3 on that front, Dundee matched them 1-1 and Motherwell did them 4-1. Miovski needs to change all of that.

The manager, Russell Martin, is asking for time to put things right but all the time in the world might not be sufficient. Seasoned observers of the Rangers scene will tell you that the toxicity around him is probably unparalleled.

Rangers folk have counted the managers in and they've counted them out again and their patience has gone. Martin, an unpopular choice in the eyes of many fans, needed to hit the ground running. Instead, he's hit the ground and fallen over.

The owners of the club will be at Ibrox on Sunday. The Rangers support will surely see that as an opportunity to send them a message, pre-match. If Martin's team then go on to lose the game, that message will become ever more vicious. It'll be a nine-point gap between them and Celtic at that point. After four games? It's a grisly thought.

Jack Butland, a Rangers beacon amid the darkness, spoke on Friday, the goalkeeper given the hospital pass of a media conference. He was a sensible choice in that he is a rare thing - a Rangers player in form. Butland has been exceptional.

"There's one thing that I've learned in football," he said, "and it's that if you down tools, you give up, nothing can work. You stick together, you fight, you give yourself a chance."

The greatness of sport is its capacity to surprise you. For the longest time, Celtic have dominated Rangers in terms of trophies, but Rangers are currently on a run of four games without loss against Celtic - two wins and two draws.

One of those games, in January, was a 3-0 win. Few saw it coming, just as few see anything good happening for Rangers on Sunday, regardless of Celtic's dreadful failure on Tuesday night.

Butland spoke about players holding themselves accountable and having pride in their job. He supported the manager and said the players are behind him. "The manager can't control things when you go over the line," he said.

"[Defeat] has to hurt, but it's got to be taken on the chin. You've got to stick your chest out and get on with it.It's always a must-win [against Celtic]. We know that, but it's also the best opportunity to show some character, to show something that probably people are doubting in us. It's an opportunity to put a show on.

"It's about trying to regain some confidence, trying to build some people back up, to allow them to express themselves and come out of their shell a little bit more. It's a game where characters and experienced people can step up and announce themselves. That's what we need to do on the weekend."

It was quite a rallying cry, but Butland would agree that after the dejection of midweek talk is cheap now, for both clubs.