Philippe Clement has been fighting fires ever since he first set foot in Rangers with criticism never far from his door.
The Old Firm win bought the manager a bit of time, but it won’t take long for fans to reset to what has become a default position of wanting the Belgian disposed from his position at Ibrox.
A recent complaint has been how Clement has rotated his starting XI with a few questionable calls seeing a Rangers legend tell him that enough, is enough.
Barry Ferguson tells Philippe Clement to stop rotating Rangers XI
Speaking on the Go Radio Football Show, Hall of Fame great Barry Ferguson has reflected in his time as a player and how taking a day off just wasn’t an option:
“It shows, the players who have been left out the previous two games against St Mirren and Motherwell, you see the difference that they make,” said Ferguson of Vaclav Cerny, Nicolas Raskin and Hamza Igamane being rotated.
“You are going into a game and you are carrying a wee strain or you are a bit stiff in your calf or your hamstring, thigh, back, whatever it is, just start the game, get in front two goals and then your rest period is coming off at half-time or coming off at 60, 70 minutes. That’s generally what happened when I played with something when you were touch and go.
“As long as you get into the game and get comfortable in a result then the manager would make a decision to bring you off.
“In terms of going into that game at Easter Road on Sunday, if that starting XI have no issues, then it’s the same starting XI that started the game yesterday.”
Is Ferguson being too old school or is Clement criticism valid?
Ferguson he nailed it.
On too many occasions, Clement has been forced into making changes at half-time because his starting XI hasn’t followed the game plan or individuals have let him down.
Had he followed Fergie’s advice, Rangers maybe wouldn’t have needed to chase as many games as they have and dropped as many points.
With five substitutes allowed, there is no reason why Clement can’t start with his strongest team.
There is a difference between a player not being 100% and one that is at risk of injury.
A Rangers manager should never have to justify their team selections, however, unless they start making more sense and Clement takes a leaf out of Ferguson’s book, questions will continue to be asked and points will continue to be dropped.
