Rangers boss Philippe Clement has been addressing a pre-match press conference ahead of the Europa League trip to OGC Nice.
The Rangers manager is a man under increasing pressure after slipping 11 points behind Old Firm rivals Celtic in the Scottish Premiership table.
Rangers find themselves under heavy criticism from supporters for their lack of application domestically but the Europa League has proven welcome respite for Clement this season.
Here’s the big talking points from the Rangers manager’s pre-match presser as ex-AS Monaco manager Philippe Clement returns to the south of France with the Gers.
Philippe Clement meets with CEO
”Nothing (in terms of meetings on Clement’s future). No board discussions. I had a meeting with the new CEO. That was a really good talk, and that’s it.”
Later press on details of the talks, Clement said: “No I cannot go in detail about that. It’s about my experience, about what this year was in the club, about what are the things that are good and what are the things to improve.”
Rangers manager not focused on sack talk
”No I am not busy with (pressure on his job). I’m busy with the team. I’m busy with getting results.
“I was disappointed like I said about the first half that we didn’t show enough quality, what we can do, what the team showed second half.
“It’s a game that you need to win and that you win nine out of ten or 99 out of 100 if you create that amount of chances then you get one chance against and it’s a goal.
“Then you need to take the right conclusions out of that, what we did with the team, and we look forward now towards this game in Europe.”
‘Four months, not one year’
”Everybody is talking about one year and it’s not a reality. It’s four months now that there’s been a rebuild. A lot of things changed in the club.
“So going back to that again; chairman who’s not there anymore, CEO not there anymore, director of operations not there anymore, academy director not there anymore and a lot of other people also in the club.
“So referring to one year, it’s not correct. It’s about the last four or five months.
“A lot of changes have been made. Sixteen players in the squad, building a new squad and adapting the players towards what Rangers is about.
“There were good moments, there were good games, there were good results, there were bad moments, losing points that we didn’t want to lose, that we cannot lose.
“We know the standards that Rangers are about but we’re working altogether to get this consistency more because it’s more about consistency also.”
Europa League suits Rangers more
”It has to do with the kind of games also maybe. But also domestically we need to do better.
“We had a few good ones domestically but not enough for the standards of Rangers. So we’re working hard on that.
“For me the second half was good in the weekend but if you play 90 minutes like that then even with one goal against you score four or five. We could’ve scored four or five also.
“It was our game that we had the most shots this season on target in the league, the most times that we came into the box of the opponent in the league this season.
“So a lot of things went good but you get one chance against, one ball on target and we make a big mistake there and we get a goal against.
“Then you need to change the game and we didn’t make the second goal or the third goal or the fourth goal, what was possible, because a really good goalkeeper was on the other side.
“Now we need to take the right conclusions and focus on this game again and then on Sunday being there again for the domestic also, not only in Europe getting good results, or in the cup because we’re also in the final there.”
Philippe Clement praises CEO decision
”It’s a very important thing because the last couple of months there was a big vacuum in the club. A lot of things could not be decided in that moment. Because there was no body to decide those kind of things.
“I am really happy that Patrick is here now. We had a really good talk about everything, about the past year, my experiences, he’s doing that with all the people in the club to make a good analyse and that he can start in a good way.
“He’s going to start halfway in December I think, so that we can make a step forward again. Because of course for any club in the world it’s not good to be in that kind of vacuum situation.”
Rangers board chaos ‘no excuse’
”I don’t want to use excuses (about the season). Never. I don’t want the players to use excuses, never.
“So whatever is going on in the club, yes or no, we need to perform together, we need to win together.
“We know what Rangers is about, that’s why we want to be here also. All the players, everybody who came knew also the story from my side before, that it’s all about winning and we are busy with creating that culture in the dressing room on the pitch, with the new players, with the old players, to gel it together.
“And in the football also, to get this automatism. To get the right kind of timings, every time, to get the right reflexes in every situation of that game.
“There are a lot of young players where they don’t have yet that experience to in every moment do the right things together. But I see a good evolution in that way.
“Not in the result we had no, but I think the second half the way the team played, that’s the way I want to see them play. To strangle opponents. And we didn’t do that enough this season so I want to see more of that the next weeks, the next months. No, I don’t want to see that; I demand to see that. And we’re working hard on that with them on videos, on trainings, on all those things.”
Rangers trio close to injury return
”In that way positive also. We spoke about that last season, we had big periods with 12 players out. Long players like that.
“So Oscar (Cortes) did his first part of the training today, so he will need still a few more weeks to be ready to play games but it’s a positive thing.
“Tom Lawrence is also close. It’s in the next couple of weeks he will be back, Rabbi Matondo the same. And we want to keep it that way.
“I think John (Souttar) is a good example in that way also for the past year. He had problems in the past in the way he’s performing in the last couple of months, regularly playing all these minutes.
“It’s the first time in his career that he’s played so many minutes and we have a few other examples in that way also. So that’s a positive and we want to keep it that way.
“We’re a lot of times busy with prevention, with the power, with the training, doing the right things. Now you start to see the fruits of all the things we’re working on the last couple of months and (Souttar) is also one proof of that.”
Europa League win makes qualification ‘certain’
”It’s special to be back. I had a really good time here. I enjoyed living here. I met some really nice people, a lot of friends who have come to watch this game also.
“So yeah this feels like a place where you were in a really good way, so I’m happy to be back in that way but I’m not here for a holiday or to meet people tomorrow or to have talks with a lot of people.
“I’m here to work. I’m here to win together with the guys or do to do everything to win this game because it’s a massive game for Nice, even more than for us. They have to win this one clearly.
“We’re going to go, like always against every opponent, we will try go for the win. We never play for a draw. So if you can win here I think we make a really big step in qualification or you’re almost certain of that.
“Taking a point can also be a rally important point in the end but we will go full for the three points against a really good team.”
