Andy Halliday witnesses Rangers sea change on the pitch as Giovanni van Bronckhorst flicks derby switch

Hearts star Andy Halliday witnessed the Jambos go two goals down to Rangers inside 13 minutes back in December and feared the worst.

Expecting the Light Blues to go for the throat, he was surprised to see them instead sit back as the Gorgie side twice hit the woodwork and could have had a penalty.

Those same tactics from Giovanni van Bronckhorst led to heavy criticism when Ange Postecoglou's Celtic ran over the top of them in a 3-0 February derby defeat.

Like all good managers, the Dutchman has adapted.

And Halliday thinks they look nothing like the side he faced in Gorgie – not least because the men in maroon were on the receiving end when they took their derby frustrations out on them and won 5-0.

Now he believes this new front foot approach will stand Rangers in good stead for Sunday's meeting at Ibrox against their title rivals.

Previewing the weekend's showdown, he told Open Goal: “ Rangers need to win. But I agree, since that (3-0) game, Giovanni van Bronckhorst has 100 per cent changed.

“They played us at Tynecastle a few weeks before and I couldn’t believe how passive they were.

“See if you play against an ‘inferior’ team, which Rangers were at the time, and they’ve come and gone 2-0 up inside 10 minutes.

“What are you thinking? You’re thinking, ‘they could batter us’.

“You try to hold on for a certain amount of time, get control of the ball, build it up and create chances.

“But they went 2-0 up, sat off, and we just dominated the ball for the rest of the game.

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