How Celtic beat Rangers to win the Betfred Cup and the Steven Gerrard error that handed them victory

They were second best for most of the game but Neil Lennon's side got the job done.

Neil Lennon, Fraser Forster and Scott Brown all admitted that it wasn't Celtic's best performance of the season - far from it.

While they beat Rangers to lift the Betfred Cup , their 10th domestic trophy on the spin, the Hoops had only one shot on target in the 90 minutes - and that was probably offside.

That they didn't play well and still won speaks to Celtic 's mentality but there were some interesting tactical dynamics at work at Hampden on Sunday.

While Steven Gerrard's side controlled most of the match it was Lennon who went home with the trophy - here's how it happened.

Brown marshalls Kent

Jeremie Frimpong is a terrific talent and absolutely electric going forward, but he's still just 18 and was starting his first major cup final.

The right-back was up against Ryan Kent, a hard task for any player, and Lennon made sure to afford him extra protection.

While Scott Brown took up his customary position at the base of midfield it was clear he'd been told to double up on Kent wherever possible.

When Rangers worked the ball out to the left flank it was often the Celtic skipper who came across to help out his young team-mate.

Kent likes to drift inside, but even when he moved into wide areas he was tracked by Brown - particularly when Frimpong went on one of his forward raids.

In the below sequence we can see Brown move in to cover for Frimpong at right-back, with Kent ready to exploit the space left by the youngster.

The former Liverpool winger then moves inside and is tracked all the way by Brown.

It didn't work every time, with Kent squeezing between the two to set up Ryan Jack for a long-range shot on Fraser Forster's goal, but the help of Brown allowed Frimpong to be arguably Celtic's main attacking outlet in the first half without giving Kent the run of Hampden.

Edouard's impact

Steven Gerrard opted to start with a very narrow midfield, almost operating as a diamond at times.

Joe Aribo would go forward to provide a direct option alongside Alfredo Morelos, with Kent and Arfield happy to tuck in and congest the middle of the pitch alongside the more defensively-minded Jack and Kamara.

The width was provided by Borna Barisic and James Tavernier, both of whom are happy to get forward and deliver crosses.

The Rangers manager had clearly told his midfielders to press hard and stop Celtic being given time on the ball in midfield.

Lennon's midfield is arguably more technically gifted than Gerrard's, so the Gers boss looked to win the physical battle and deprive the likes of Callum McGregor and Ryan Christie of time to play.

That aggressive pressing and narrow shape did leave spaces elsewhere on the park.

However, with Lewis Morgan not a natural striker the Hoops struggled to find an out ball.

The youngster didn't seem inclined to drop deep and try to provide an option that way, and he was physically dominated by Helander and Goldson whenever the ball did go more direct.

The narrowness of the Rangers midfield meant there was plenty of space behind the full-backs, who were tasked with providing the width, but Morgan couldn't act as the pivot Celtic needed to exploit that.

The introduction of Odsonne Edouard on 59 minutes changed that dynamic almost immediately.

The Frenchman may not have been fully fit but his movement and positional sense is far better than that of Morgan.

His greater physical presence and willingness to drop deep paid dividends, with Edouard having the tactical nous to drop into the space behind James Tavernier.

That meant that when he spun away from Goldson the Rangers defender had no choice but to foul him, and Christopher Jullien scored from the resulting free-kick.

Once Frimpong was sent off, Edouard's ability to drop between the lines and hold the ball up proved crucial and almost brought a second goal.

Unlike Morgan, who had been isolated up-front before coming off, Edouard moved into the space between the Rangers midfield and defence.

Edouard has the skill and physical presence to beat his man and he was able to turn Goldson once again.

That meant Celtic finally had the chance to exploit the space behind the Rangers full-backs, with Edouard slipping it through for Mikey Johnston.

The substitute missed his chance to seal it, but Edouard offered what Morgan could not and gave his team a way to exploit the gaps left by Barisic and Tavernier.

Frimpong's red card meant Celtic inevitably spent most of the last half hour defending but it would have been interesting to see how the balance of play shifted had Edouard been available from the start.

All height on the night

If there's one thing we know about Neil Lennon as a manager it's that he likes his centre-backs to be big, strong and good in the air.

Kris Ajer and Christopher Jullien can certainly play but they're also big, imposing figures.

With Nir Bitton coming on to join the defence - Ajer switching to right-back after Frimpong's dismissal - Celtic sat very deep and narrow.

It was always a tactic with a high chance of success, as neither Morelos nor substitute Jermain Defoe are going to win many aerial battles.

Lennon essentially challenged Rangers to play through his defence, and while Morelos did have a good chance at the end they looked far less threatening once Celtic were down to 10.

The wrong call by Gerrard?

It's difficult to criticise a manager for throwing on a striker, particularly one of Jermain Defoe's quality, and a winger at 1-0 down against 10 men in a cup final.

However, bringing the veteran on for Glen Kamara rather than Scott Arfield, and sending Barker on to replace Aribo, was arguably the wrong decision.

Where Rangers had bossed the midfield for the first 70 minutes, the removal of the man sitting at the base of it saw meant they often had to go long from the back - which suited Celtic down to the ground.

By the end Rangers were practically playing a 4-2-4 - with Tavernier on the right wing and Arfield at right-back - in search of a goal but they sacrificed control and struggled to get the ball to their attacking players.

They no longer had Aribo's physical presence up-front, and were effectively two men down in midfield.

Of course, there would have been outcry had Defoe been left on the bench for the entire 90 minutes and there's no guarantee Rangers would have found a way past Forster with the form he was in.

But the decision to throw on attacking players in search of a goal was arguably not the right tactical decision.

It's hard to be too critical of Gerrard, given the way his team played for most of the match, but perhaps a more experienced manager would have trusted that the goal would come rather than going gung-ho and changing a system which had his team dominating the game up to that point.

Conclusion

It wasn't a vintage performance from Celtic, as Lennon and his players admitted after the match.

Gerrard got it right for most of the match and still ended up on the losing side, showing just how fine the margins are at this level.

Lennon deployed Brown cleverly and was hampered by Edouard not being available from the start, but won't have been happy with his team's performance.

A brilliant display by Forster, a little luck, and arguably a miscalculation from Gerrard handed Celtic the cup - which is really all that matters in the end.