01 April 2011 Bougherra: We blew Celtic away with two up front...and that’s the way to win the title

Madjid Bougherra today insisted Rangers can maintain their title push without him – thanks to manager Walter Smith’s tactical know how.

Bougherra will sit out his side’s next three matches as a result of the hamstring strain he picked up in the 2-1 triumph over Celtic in the Co-operative Insurance Cup Final at Hampden last month.

Many Gers supporters fear the Ibrox club, who will resume SPL duties when they play Dundee United at home tomorrow, will struggle while the Algerian centre-half is sidelined.

Smith is also without on-loan Arsenal star Kyle Bartley, Kirk Broadfoot and Lee McCulloch and is set to move Steven Whittaker alongside captain Davie Weir this weekend.

Yet, Bougherra is confident that Smith will be able to steer his team through difficult matches against United at home, St Johnstone away on Tuesday and then Hamilton away.

He was impressed with how the 63-year-old transformed the fortunes of his side after a dreadful run in Old Firm matches by switching to a 4-4-2 formation.

Celtic appeared set to shift the balance of power in Scottish football across Glasgow after their impressive displays against their city rivals at the start of this year.

They won the second meeting of the season with the Gers at Ibrox in an SPL game back in January thanks to a second-half Georgios Samaras double. Neil Lennon’s team followed that up with a 2-2 draw with Smith’s side in a Scottish Cup fifth-round tie at the same venue – despite being down to 10 men in the second half.

Furthermore, in their last two games at Parkhead, in the league and in the cup replay, they recorded 3-0 and 1-0 wins respectively.

But in their last showdown – the sixth time the two clubs have met in the current campaign – it was a totally different story.

The champions prevailed thanks to an extra-time strike from Nikica Jelavic and lifted the first silverware of the season after a fine team display.

Centre-half Bougherra, who limped off towards the end of regulation time with a hamstring strain, believes going with two in attack was crucial to his side’s success.

Croatian internationalist Jelavic, a £4million signing from Rapid Vienna in the close season, had looked totally isolated in previous Old Firm games operating as a lone striker.

However, with fit-again Steven Naismith playing just off him in an attacking role and Kyle Lafferty also pushing forward to test the opposition defence, Rangers were transformed.

Bougherra said: “I think the more attacking system we played in the cup final is better for us and will work well in the closing stages of the season.

“When you play in a 4-4-2 line-up it is easier for the strikers to hold the ball up, bring others players into the game and, as a result, you have a far better chance to score goals.

“We pressed Celtic very high up the park. In our last few games with them we had been very deep and only hit them on the counter-attack. But that was not the case in the last match.

“We put the ball in behind the defence and pushed them. It was a different story. I thought it worked very well for us.

“Hopefully, it will continue to work in the final games of the season.

“Gregg Wylde came in for the cup final and he is a very quick player. We also have Steven Naismith and Kyle Lafferty in the team as well. They help us to play this way.”

Despite losing twice to Celtic in the SPL this year, Rangers are just two points behind them at the top of the table and have a game in hand still to play.

A win in their record seventh meeting with their age-old adversaries at Ibrox after the top six split, then, is going to be absolutely vital to their hopes of completing a hat-trick of title wins.

But with the change in formation and approach to the fixture, the return to action of several key players and the emergence of so many talented kids, the 28-year-old is confident that his side can claim a vital win.

Bougherra, who has been a key player for Smith’s side in the last two SPL triumphs, also feels his side need to show enormous mental resilience during the closing stretch.

He said: At the cup final, the gaffer talked a great deal about having the right approach and attitude and we definitely had that on the day.

“We had lost many times to Celtic this season and so we desperately wanted to win the cup final.

“There was a lot of pressure on us to win the game after some poor results. But we wanted it ourselves as players.

“It was the first trophy of the season and to lift it has given everybody at the club, the players, the manager and the coaching staff, an enormous lift.

“We are confident going into the final games of the season.

“But we have to show the same desire that we had in the cup final in our remaining league games.”

Madjid Bougherra has travelled to Qatar in a bid to get himself fit for Rangers’ SPL run-in. The Algerian international missed his country’s African Nations action after suffering a hamstring injury in the Co-operative Cup Final win over Celtic.

The giant stopper had an ultrasound scan this week from Algerian FA medical staff and appeared to be confident that he would be out for no longer than three weeks.

However, the results were inconclusive due to a burst blood vessel around the injury. Now Boogie has decided to travel to Doha to receive specialist treatment in a bid to get back for Rangers.