Philippe Clement admits Rangers were ‘up and down’ in nervy victory over Hearts

Philippe Clement claimed Rangers players made their fans anxious with their “up and down” performance in beating Hearts 1-0 at Ibrox.

After beating Motherwell 2-1 in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final last Sunday and drawing 1-1 with Olympiacos in the Europa League on Thursday night, the Light Blues got off to a perfect start against the Jambos when striker Cyriel Dessers scored after five minutes with his third goal in three games.

However, Clement’s side failed to build on that advantage and Jambos striker Kenneth Vargas missed a couple of good chances, with Ibrox becoming increasingly racked with tension during a nervy second half.

Rangers held on to move back to nine points behind William Hill Premiership leaders Celtic and Aberdeen going into November’s international break.

Clement said: “I think in the first half there was a really good atmosphere, the fans were really positive, behind the team and we make the fans nervous by making wrong choices.

“It’s more like that because they also see it’s only one goal difference and it’s only one bad ball that drops wrong or you make one mistake and Hearts is back in the game, so in that way it’s about us doing things better with the ball in these moments.

“In the first half I saw a really good goal, a comparable goal we scored in Olympiacos, finding the right spaces, making a good combination play, making good runs and scoring a good goal.

“We didn’t score the second goal to kill the belief of the opponent.

“About 30 seconds or one minute into the second half, you make a mistake and you get the ball against your post and after that it went up and down, with more downs than ups in our game, and we were too sloppy with the ball and not making the right choices like we did in the first half.

“That way, Hearts came more in the game without really creating good opportunities, but they stay in the game because it’s a one-goal difference.

“We also had several good opportunities to score the second goal, so we need to take those.

“Of course, we also hit the crossbar, that was a good attack, but we should have done that faster in the game and then you have a different kind of game in the last half hour.

“Also, at the end, in the last minute of the game, you get a free-kick on the opponent’s half and you end with that free-kick, a ball for your goalkeeper and then a throw-in for the opponent.

“It’s a young squad, they still need to learn a lot of things. They are really hungry, full of desire to learn, they are becoming better.

“They showed a lot of good things this week, but those things we need to work on again, that they recognise these moments. Football is about that, managing the game.”

Hearts boss Neil Critchley left Ibrox thinking his side should have taken something from the game, but insisted that he did not want the Jambos to be known as a “nearly team.”

He said: “We got off to the worst possible start, obviously. We were too tentative at the start.

“Rangers scored. We grew into the game, but their best moments probably came from us giving the ball away in the mid-third of the pitch in the first half when they broke on us. But we controlled a lot of the game.

“We had a big chance right after half-time and I felt that if we’d have taken that, with the feeling around the ground, maybe the game would have swung even more in our favour.

“I think in the second half we controlled the game, pushed Rangers back and we’ve had nearly moments. But I don’t want us to be a nearly team.

“People keep saying, ‘oh, good performance’, but I don’t want that feeling.

“Good performances is about getting points and winning games, and we should have got something from that game today.”