Here is every word from Rangers boss Philippe Clement during his press conference ahead of Saturday’s Old Firm clash away to Celtic.
The Belgian was quizzed on the fitness of three first-team squad stars and explained why the Ross County postponement is a negative and not a positive.
Moreover, Clement gave his thoughts on no Rangers supporters being present at Celtic Park for the game and also touched on the arrival of Fabio Silva from Wolves.
Philippe Clement full press conference before Celtic
Is Connor Goldson fit to start tomorrow?
“He trained.”
Is he fit to play?
“He trained so we will assess this afternoon and tomorrow what to do with that. He did train.”
Does that give you encouragement that he was able to come through the session?
“We will see tomorrow and it is the same with all the squad. There were a couple of others also. It is normal. In this period we are the team who has played most games these last couple of weeks.
“I did some things in training, not too much, and I will make my decisions tomorrow after watching back the training and after speaking with the doc and the medical staff.”
How is the rest of the squad like Borna Barisic, John Lundstram?
“I cannot answer really today. Some trained but it is not sure yet if they will have a reaction or not. That is why I don’t want to say too fast because otherwise people think that I play games.
“I don’t like to play games and to say that somebody is in and then this afternoon he feels a reaction from the training and we are not going to make a stupid risk and lose players for the rest of the season. It is better to make this assessment tomorrow and then it is clear.
How would you describe the position you have got yourselves into ahead of the game?
“That we are in a marathon. The players are progressing, their stride is getting better and better. We need to continue that way. That is our next step in this marathon of 38 games in the league.”
You have used that analogy quite a few times since you came in…
“Yes, that is the story. OK, it is a clear story also for everyone to understand.”
Would you concede that if you got a good result it would give you a second wind in the marathon?
“I don’t know, to be honest. That is my experience in those things. I know it is about three points. It is of course a boost at that moment but then three days later you need to confirm the boost.
“I have seen in the past well enough, in my team or other teams, that people get an incredible boost and days later they don’t perform anymore because they were thinking about their boost. Then you lose.
“It is about three points and on Tuesday again it is about three points. Game by game, that is the story we need to do. I know that is the way to win things long term and not to be living from moment to moment or boost or to be down when you lose.
“It will happen along the way but we go every game for the three points with all our energy, with all our enthusiasm and with our quality.”
Was it a negative that the County game was called off?
“Yes, to be honest. I read some other things. I have seen also some funny pictures that I had a snow cannon and things like that! I don’t have! It was funny.
“No, we were all disappointed. We were on the bus on the way to the hotel and everybody was really focused and wanted to play.
“Although I think that the training is quite good and quite fun also, the players always love to play games. Everyone was disappointed that we couldn’t play.”
Has it given anyone a rest and is a positive?
“I don’t think positives and negatives in things that we cannot control. It was a decision made. I understand why, I have seen also the images of the roads.
“Then you need to directly think for the next day what to do and to focus on the next goal. That is what we did. It was not a positive or negative, it was something that happened along the way in our marathon.”
How are you feeling going into your first Old Firm?
“I am curious, to be honest, because everybody has been talking about that for a long time. A lot of people are saying it is a game like nowhere else in the world with that atmosphere. I am curious about that.”
There won’t be any Rangers fans there, how do you feel about that?
“In our hearts, they will be there. It’s a pity for football. It’s always better to have two sides, it creates a certain atmosphere. It’s a pity for football but it’s decisions made above my head and knowing much more things than I know.
“Again, I try to control the controllable, the things that I can do, the things we need to do as a team with my staff with the players and the rest is not important. We’re no focused on that, we’re focused on our football and the game.
Do you expect it to be extra difficult given there are no fans?
I hope not. It depends on us. In the end, it’s always decided on the pitch between those four white lines, it’s 11 against 11, I hope.
“There it is decided, people can yell and shout whatever they want but as long as they’re not running on the pitch, it’s okay for me.”
How pleased are you to have the Fabio Silva deal signed and sealed already?
“Yes, I’m happy about that because he hasn’t played too many minutes this season so we need time to get him into a good shape although his stats were quite good for the minutes he played so you see it’s somebody who’s been working on himself and his physical abilities so that’s already positive.
“That’s also what we got out of the talks with him in the last couple of weeks about his ambitions and our ambitions also. I think it’s a really clear sign from the club that players with that reputation and quality want to come to Rangers.
“He’s very motivated and it’s going to be interesting to integrate him into the team. In that way, it’s important that he comes early and we can give him a programme during his winter break.
“He has to do some stuff there that he knows and then afterwards he will go with us to the training camp. It’s seven days, 24 hours a day living together so it will be really good for his adaptation towards the rest.”
Do you expect to sign another striker in the window?
“Good question! I said from the beginning I’m not going to speak about those things. There’s a really clear plan with the board, with everybody in the club about what we want and I hope that we can succeed in that in January, to do everything we have in mind, we will see.
“I am hopeful, also, that we win every game. You work hard and that’s why I’m also relaxed. I know everyone in the club is working really hard to get the best things possible and that everybody is super motivated to do that.
“There is a really good dynamic back in this building with a lot of young ambitious people who want to make this club better and better. That’s what we’re going to do in the next five weeks to get the best things possible for the club but also it’s January so it’s a special period.”
Where is Fabio’s best position?
“He will say the team so that’s the good thing with him. For a star player he can play different positions and maybe we can use him also in different positions.
“With the situation with Danilo out for a couple of months and Kemar (Roofe) who will also be out for the next couple of weeks, for sure, we don’t have many numbers in the striking positions so that will be the main position first.”
You must be pleased for Sima getting called up for Senegal for AFCON?
“That’s not a nice question! That’s a mean one, to be honest. No, I’m not happy that he’s selected but I understand. I’ve been an international myself and it was a great honour to play for my country. I was always really proud every time it happened so I understand that it’s really important for the players.
“As a club, as a manager, nothing to do to go against it, it’s strange to have a tournament during a season. We’re not the only team in the world in that way also so it’s things you need to accept and to be happy for him that he gets the respect out of his country and he deserves it.
“We had talks with the federation and we made an agreement that he has to leave on the 3rd of January so he’s still available for the 2nd of January. That was also important so there was respect on both sides.”
