Here’s every word of Philippe Clement’s pre-match press conference as Rangers face off against Real Betis for a place in the Europa League Last 16.
Heading into the final match of Group C, Rangers, Real Betis and Sparta Prague could all yet secure qualification for the next round of the Europa League.
Philippe Clement’s injury-ravaged squad has ambled itself to Spain with the Rangers manager in chipper mood heading into this European battle.
The Ibrox side have never won against a Spanish team in Spain and here’s how Philippe Clement responded to a press conference interrogation from journalists.
The press conference is hosted on the official Rangers YouTube channel.
Philippe Clement pre-Betis press conference
Philippe good to see you. First of all can you tell us about the players who are not here, and the reasons why they’re not here, Todd Cantwell in particular?
“I think we don’t have that much time because we need to eat this evening. To tell about every player who is not here, all the story is a little bit long. Todd is not here because of personal circumstances and he wants to keep it personal also so we respect that. The positive thing to say about that is that it is not something between the club and him or me and him it’s just family wise. It’s important if players want to keep things private we’re going to keep it private also. They are public figures that’s true, but they also have their personal things in life also that we need to respect and everybody needs to respect that.”
Will he be available for Sunday?
“There’s a really big chance for that, but it’s not guaranteed.”
Anyone else who anticipated coming out not being here?
“I hoped that Ryan Jack was back but it’s not the case. So he’s out also. And the rest you know. Tom Lawrence, Nicolas Raskin, Danilo – it’s quite a list and then also then quite a list of players who are not on the European list. So that’s what we know. For me it’s important, and I’ve said it a few times in the last couple of weeks, it’s about the guys who are here. So the players who are here are here with ambition, they are here to prove themselves, to prove themselves as a team also and that’s the most important thing.”
The task tomorrow seems simple – win the game and you top the group – it sounds simple but obviously it’s going to be a lot more difficult than that. What do you expect tomorrow from Betis in terms of how they approach the game?
“How many home games did they lose this season? (0). So if you say it’s simple, it’s not simple, otherwise teams would’ve done it. Also good teams like Real Madrid, so we have a lot of respect for them but we come here with ambition. It’s an interesting game. It’s a game also where Rangers have nothing to lose. We are in Europe next (year) but we come here with big ambition. We want to make a next step again as a group and I gave several challenges the last couple of weeks and every time, almost every time, they’ve passed that. Now it’s the next challenge, it’s maybe the biggest one until now, so we’re going full for it.”
Philippe can I just confirm with Ryan Jack, does he have a possibility of making the Cup Final on Sunday?
“I don’t know. Today was not possible so we will see.”
Just in terms of your team selection for tomorrow night, you have obviously got th e big gam eon Sunday. Is that a dilemma for you, do you have some big decision to make in terms of making sure you have as many of your top players fit for Sunday?
“If all these players would be fit I would’ve had maybe those kind of thoughts but for the moment it’s not the case because there are not so many positions where we can make rotation and keep the level of the Europa League.”
Jose Cifuentes lost his appeal on Monday was that a decision that surprised you?
“Clearly. I think it surprised everybody, maybe even the players of Dundee. Because look back at the image. It’s sometimes frustrating as a manager. If the referee gives a yellow card, and after it becomes a red card the next day you watch Match of the Day and you see much more bad tackles there than yellow cards. So that was strange. And then you see back the footage after the game where Jose has the contact but because the player slides underneath him when he goes for the ball. Look back to the image. There are five, six players of Dundee around. There’s nobody who reacts to the referee, nothing. They just continue to attack because it was a dual with the contact yes but not a big fall or something. It’s disappointing to lose a player one half and play with ten, but then to lose him two more games, that’s a little bit too much. But ok there are other people who decide and I don’t have any power so again I will focus on the guys who are available but I am going to be really cautious also to see in the next couple of months if these contacts happen it’s every time a red card.”
Jose’s obviously available for tomorrow evening, how big a part could he have to play in midfield given the other absences?
“It’s a good question. Look at the list of the midfielders that we bring today so there’s a big chance he’s going to play yes.”
You spoke about this being perhaps your biggest test yet. Do you feel that will require the best performance and what have you seen so far in the European games that gives you confidence that you can build towards (the victory)?
“Every game is different. Availability of players is different. So no it’s a new game, it’s a different style also. Betis is a different style from Sparta, than Aris, so every game has its own story. And of course if a team like Real Madrid doesn’t win here we don’t have to say ‘we need to win here or otherwise it’s a disgrace’ or something. It’s going to be a really, really big test but I feel something special in the group. I feel there is a really good dynamic. I see it the last couple of weeks, I see it growing in the dressing room, I see it on the pitch, I seen it at the weekend also. After going behind everybody stayed with confidence, they played good football, they made four good goals, although we only got three at the end of the game. We went with ten. There was no doubt in the team. They didn’t give away any chance any more second half, we created good chances. So there’s a really good dynamic. I see several players becoming better and better and we need to continue that story against a really good opponent.”
Did you believe Philippe that you would be able to have that dynamic so early on in your time or did you think it would take longer for you to have that feeling in this group?
“To be honest I don’t know how long I’ve been here now. It feels like at least one year already. I’m not busy about the past or the level of players they had before or whatever. It’s about now, it’s about the future. It’s about what the team is doing and I see a team who works really hard, a team who is really focused. We had a flight now, on the plane also I spoke with two players about individual actions, video clips. Everybody is really, really focused on becoming better. I think this is a group where a lot of players still have potential to grow. I don’t see many players who are at their top yet. So that’s interesting for a coach to help them and guide them in that way.”
Sorry for going back to injuries again. A timescale on Danilo?
“I never give a timescale. Why? I’ve been a player myself and I had the luck that I was somebody who healed really fast. I worked really hard to come back also after injuries but there were moments that doctors said you will be back in eight weeks and I was back in four weeks. So I don’t think it’s good to put a timescale on it. But we need to be really clear and honest and I always try to be that as much as possible to give all the information. It will be several months, that’s for sure. So he will not be back in January or something but I don’t want to pinpoint on number of months.”
Philippe can I ask you about your backroom staff? It was confirmed today that they’ll be in place until the end of the season. What have you seen from them in your time so far at the club that’s impressed you and how much are you looking forward to continuing to work with them?
”It’s always interesting if you come into a new club, you have new staff. They were not also so long in the staff and for sure not with the first team so you need to see what their qualities are, how they’re doing things, how they fit with yourself, with the rest of the staff. So we took the time to make these observations and I am happy with the work, it’s clear, otherwise we would not continue. I feel there’s a really good dynamic with the team also, with the players, so it’s also a very important thing. They are ambitious. We have with Brian (Gilmour) someone who comes out of the Academy who’s really, really good structural work, understands the football story that we want to play, who’s going to be the bridge also towards the Academy. That’s also a very important thing to me. That we can write the story together and that we develop the young players after that when they come into the first team it’s not that big step as before. So he has a very important role in that. And then with Alex (Rae) we have somebody who knows what it is to be a player for Rangers. With all the things around, how it is in the dressing room, he has the experience at every level, so he can help the players in that way. And they did a really good job. Steph (van der Hayden) came with me, I knew his qualities, so it’s clear that he stays also, and the three of them work really good together. And Colin (Stewart) is doing also a really good job with Jack (Butland) and the other goalkeepers so for me there was no other reason to look then outside the club. Although we did it a while, to speak with people, to get to know other people, and it was also really interesting, but I think for the moment this is a really good staff and I’m really satisfied about it.”
Philippe, it’s obviously a huge week for the club tomorrow night and then Sunday, the potential to get into the Last 16 of the Europa League, to get the first trophy of the season, just how excited are you by the possibilities of the next few days?
“Yeah I am very excited but I’m also calm, I’m also focused. You need to see also that when you’re too excited you lose control, you lose overview, so that cannot happen. The most important thing is that the players keep on doing what they are doing. And I see it every week, even every training, if I repeat things that we did before and it was – for example – yesterday when we were training on our building actions, it becomes more and more fluid every week. And that’s the road we need to take the next weeks and next months and to implement more and more players. You saw a few young guys who were there, for them it was more difficult because it was the first or the second time they did it. But the guys who’ve been doing it from the beginning, they start to find each other much faster, and without thinking, and with better communication, and like this our football will become better and better.”
Paraphrased from Spanish journalist: Manuel Pellegrini called Rangers a big European club. The club is returning to Seville after almost winning this trophy in the city. What opinion do you have on this?
“I want to thank Mr Pellegrini for the nice words about the club. It’s clear that Rangers is a club with a big history so it’s an interesting game tomorrow. Two teams also who want to play football, who have an attacking style of football, so I think it will be for sure a good game for everybody to watch.”
Paraphrased from Spanish journalist: This morning Isco, a player who is in the best form in his career, do Rangers have any special plan to contend with him?
“I know he played for Real Madrid before. I few years ago we were with Brugge in Real when he was there. He’s a good player of course. But I am not going to give our plans towards you, that’s a little bit easy, maybe you are the son of the coach or something. No we are not going to speak about the plans that we’re going to have in the game but for sure it’s a very important player. Not only for Betis, he’s been important in Real and he’s played good games in the Spanish national team also. We know his qualities of course but he’s not the only good player of Betis, they have several good players.”
