Plenty to please Philippe Clement as Rangers start with a win

Posted Sunday, October 22, 2023 by PA

Philippe Clement believes there is still better to come from Rangers after he began his reign at Ibrox with a 4-0 cinch Premiership win over Hibernian.

The 49-year-old Belgian, appointed last Sunday as replacement for Michael Beale, had clearly asked his players to increase the tempo and get the ball forward quicker and they reaped early rewards when attacker Abdallah Sima scored a seventh goal in seven games in the 17th minute.

Belgian midfielder Nicolas Raskin drilled in a second just before the interval, Sima added a third in the 65th minute to make it nine for the season and striker Cyriel Dessers got a close-range goal 10 minutes from time.

Asked if he was impressed by the start to his tenure, the former Genk, Club Brugge and Monaco boss said: “Impressed is a big word. I am happy. I am happy about the result. I am happy that the seeds we planted this week, that the team is trying to do them as well as possible.

“I still saw a lot of details we can make better but I seen a team who stayed well in the structure and made the runs and the tempo we played at.

“The most important thing was the reaction after losing the ball or missing a chance. The reaction was good and that is a crucial apart of modern football.

“It is like the honeymoon. Everything is new. They need to confirm this the next week, the next month.”

On the other hand, Clement was not happy to see left-back Borna Barisic go off with an injury after 10 minutes to be replaced by Ridvan Yilmaz who is not in Rangers’ Europa League squad.

The new Gers boss does not know yet if Barisic will be fit for the game against Sparta Prague on Thursday but noted that Todd Cantwell, Ryan Jack, Kemar Roofe and Danilo were not fit to start the game – Cantwell and Danilo got on in the second half.

Jose Cifuentes returned from international duty with Ecuador with a knock and Tom Lawrence (calf) and Rabbi Matondo (knee) remain out.

Clement said: “On the downside for me, I see a player going off after 10 minutes – we will see (for Sparta Prague), I don’t know the situation.

“I see players who struggled to play 90 minutes also so there are still several players injured or coming back from injury so that is also going to be a main task together with the performance staff, to get everybody at his best physical level to produce this kind of game and better every few days for the next couple of months.

“It is not about one moment then afterwards too tired to do it again three days later.”

The Easter Road side’s six-game unbeaten run – five under Nick Montgomery – came to an end and the Hibs boss said: “It was a tough afternoon. It was a defeat.

“Obviously disappointed with the manner of the first goal. I thought we were building into the game at that point, frustrating them and we’d created a couple of half chances on the counter.

“It’s a disappointing goal to concede. And then they start building a bit of momentum, the fans are buoyed by a new coach coming in.

“The second goal, my view at the time is it was a foul on Joe Newell. That’s my opinion and I’ve watched it back on the video – he gets kicked from behind, into his Achilles before the ball is touched.

“I genuinely thought VAR would have called that back – but it wasn’t to be.

“The second half was difficult, a couple of sloppy turnovers, the pressure was off them and they’ve got quality players.

“They were more clinical than us in the final third today. We lacked a bit of creativity, didn’t generate many chances.

“It wasn’t to be, it’s a defeat and we accept it. We cop it on the chin and move forward.”