The Light Blues welcome their Glasgow rivals to Ibrox with the opportunity to head into the international break on a high as they look for their third league victory in a row.
Speaking to the media in this afternoon’s press conference ahead of the game the manager wants his side to bounce back from Champions League disappointment with a positive showing in front of their own fans this Sunday lunchtime.
He said: “If we go into the international break on the back of a win this weekend then I think we are in a really good place. We will be able to access this first period in terms of integrating the new players in the team up to September, we will always want to improve in the way that we play.
“The last two league games we have had two clean sheets, scored six goals with six different goal scorers, had the most shots in the league so we are moving in the right direction. I must pick the bones out of Wednesday night at the right time, it would be a miss of me to do that in between Wednesday and this huge game on Sunday.
“It is important that we dust ourselves down and we show a big response as a team and as a club, it is a great opportunity and the eyes of everybody will be on us for sure.”
The boss has given his reaction to this afternoon’s Europa League group stage draw and he believes the club have an opportunity to progress to the knockout stages but insists the full focus is on positive results domestically for now.
He continued: “What is important now is we show a big response in the coming weeks in the domestic games. The most important thing for me as the head coach is for us to be strong domestically in both cup competitions and the league.
“Europe is an extra and we want to punch above our weight and we want to go as far as we can, but we need to get things right domestically and that is my focus right now. The Europa League draw today it gives some daylight from the clouds that have been hanging over us the last few days, because that becomes very real and our schedule becomes in front of us.
“I think there is optimism that we can get out of this group and go into the knockout phases again.”
Beale knows how big a difference victories can be in the derby matches given the fine margins between the teams since he took charge and wants his side to take the opportunity in front of them at this early stage of the campaign.
He added: “Our home and our away form is going to be paramount, both teams have made quite a few changes, us more, it is fair to say more key players turning over. It is important this new group make their own history and their own legacy, the Old Firm games and the games against Celtic are going to be vitally important over the season.
“If you look at the points total that both teams had, and certainly again since I came back into the club in November, we have gone neck to neck all the way through. We have fallen second best, this year the aim is to not fall second best and these games are vitally important to that.
“It is only the fourth league game of the season. There are 34 to go afterwards and I think there is going to be lots of twists and turns, certainly as we get around European competition and we are coming off of European games into big games at the weekend.
“The importance of these games to this squad, to the fans and to the league I think going into the September international break it will set a narrative moving forward for sure.”