Philippe Clement has been speaking to the press ahead of Rangers’ Scottish Premiership visit of Kilmarnock.
The Rangers manager has been talking about everything from injuries in his squad, to the club’s January transfer budget and of course the challenge of Derek McInnes’s side.
Philippe Clement knows that anything but a Scottish Premiership victory over Kilmarnock at Ibrox will heap the pressure further on his shoulders.
Here’s the eight big takeaways from a bumper press conference as Rangers look to build on the weekend’s 1-0 win away to St Johnstone.
Injury update on six Rangers players
”In general (the squad is) positive.
“I’ve talked about that already, Nana will not be available next couple of months so I cannot repeat that every press conference every few days.
“Tom Lawrence is still working individual, I expect him back in the short term.
”Rabbi Matondo and Oscar Cortes doing parts of the training so they’re close of being available again.
“In the trainings and later on in the games and we need to see their level then, of course at that moment.
“Dujon Sterling, that’s still a doubt for tomorrow but that’s a question of hours or days so it’s really short term.
”I told you guys and if I compare with a lot of other managers you guys get a lot of information because I even went into details about (Sterling).
“It’s not an injury, it’s something that can happen in a human body. It’s not even an injury because of load or whatever.
“So that’s unlucky, we tried to solve that fast. The medical staff tried to solve that fast and you cannot do more.
“But of course he was doing well so we want to keep these players available but it’s part of life.
”(Robin Propper) is ok again. So he was sick during the game, he got a knock on the knee also, but both those things are resolved.”
Rangers offensive options bolstered
”(We need to) score more goals, I think that’s the major one.
“We didn’t concede much but we have to score more goals and to be more lethal in the final third.
“In that way and looking also with the players available how we can create this.
“We talk now about the list, there are several important offensive players that we were missing.
“Danilo is coming back now, he was all the time not available. Ianis also with the situation before is coming back, giving other options. Hamza, he’s taking really good steps.
“So I think one month ago a lot of people were saying ‘why did we buy a Moroccan guy who doesn’t have any experience at this level?’
“So people start to see now why but he needs to take further steps the next couple of months.
“So we start to get options there in the offensive part and that’s crucial for sure in a club as Rangers where you have so many games.
“We will have now 16 games in the next eight weeks so it’s going to be very important that you can have also a kind of rotation in those positions but a rotation that you can put quality in every minute that players are on the pitch, that’s crucial to get results.”
Rangers working with lacklustre frontline
”You always want better but the last couple of weeks we came a lot of times in the box.
“We had a lot of good chances that were saved really well against Dundee United now, St Johnstone also.
“You always want more of course but you need to create that automatism between players in that way.
“From last season, look at the starting line-up offensively. There’s not one player from last season who started for example the last game.
“We have a lot of new players in that area also, you need to find connections. I don’t want to make comparisons too much with other teams but the better players, or the better player, in the offensive part on the other side of the town, was six months ago, or last season, was not starting there.
“He needed time to get his rhythm, to get his connection with other players.
“We’re working on that with all these guys and it’s about small details and it’s about getting the confidence and getting the goals.
“But you see that we come more and more in a good way in the box and we get more and more chances, so that’s the way we need to continue.”
Rangers focused on their own form
“It’s not about closing down (Aberdeen and Celtic), it’s about taking the points yourself. It’s all about that.
“It was the same story last season, it’s about us taking the points and not focused on what others are doing. You don’t have any control on that.
“What we need to control is taking the points ourselves and focusing on that.
“And not throwing away points like we did for example against Dundee United by not scoring this second goal although we had ten shots on target, so those games you need to kill off.”
Philippe Clement tight-lipped on transfers
”I am not going to go in detail with that because that’s some things to discuss with the board.
”We have other parts also to strengthen to be competitive every three days but those are things to discuss with the board and for sure also the funds.
”It hasn’t been done yet so it’s going to be in the near future that we need to see the reality of that.
“I think it’s necessary that we can do good things, like every team wants, like every manager wants. We will see what’s possible.”
Rangers scoring expectations nothing new
“I don’t know if you know what teams I’ve been in the past. It’s also always been teams that create a lot of chances.
“Last season also we scored a lot of goals. Sima left, he scored 16 goals last season. You need to find a replacement for that, also in the automatism in that way.
“We always play to score goals, to play attacking football, we’re not a team who’s defending and waiting and reacting. We take the ball and we want to create chances.
“Do we need to be better in our runs, in our timing, in our coordinated play in the final third? Yes.
“We need to become better but that’s the matter of working on that, training on that.
“Training moments are not so big so it’s a lot with video, it’s a lot with doing it in the games.
“But you see also the transitions we’ve had to make in the last couple of months in these offensive positions. So it’s a work that’s getting better.
“I don’t think that we have this talk if the two goalkeepers of Dundee and St Johnstone didn’t do a really good job in those two games also, then maybe we didn’t have this talk today also. That’s also football.
“So the most important thing is to keep on creating that, and I see in the finishing we get more and more shots on target than in the beginning of the season.”
Philippe Clement wants ‘sexy wins’
”Yes of course but I understand that fans want goals and everything and wins and, like I used the word sexy wins. I want that. I want that. I want domination. I want that we don’t give away chances, we put a lot of energy in our offensive play, in our trainings in that way, in scoring goals.
“We did also in several moments, we had also a 6-0 win, we had in Europe two times that we score four goals. So you cannot say that we’re not a team who wants to create.
“In also the last two games ok we scored one goal, but we had I think one time nine shots on target, the other game ten shots on target and the opponent one time.
“So we’re pushing in that way, it’s keep on pushing, making it better, making the runs better, making the timings better, making the finishing better.
“Of course the more quality you have, naturally from players, the more easy it will get.
“So I hope to get players who did really well in that way this season and last season with Oscar and Rabbi to get them back in the squad.
“That will help in the squad also like in every team when they miss players who were important before, it’s not so easy to replace all the time.
“For sure not every three days. With Vaclav and Nedim, they had to play almost every minute of the last months and then you miss sometimes that little bit of freshness also to kill it off.”
Rangers manager taking things ‘game by game’
”It’s about Kilmarnock now and it’s game by game.
”Totally different kind of games also, so it’s focusing on the next one, and after on the next one.
“It’s about that and then looking with the squad, who’s available to make the right choices also to keep some freshness that they need a kind of rotation in the squad also and looking at that game-by-game to get the three points and to go for that.
”All the games are important. We cannot say those two (Spurs & Celtic) are important and the rest no, so every game is important for us if we want to achieve what we want to achieve. Focus on the next one, that’s the most important.”
