Had Philippe Clement’s Rangers and Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham Hotspur gone head-to-head in the Europa League a few weeks ago, the narrative would have been very different.
Back in November, Tottenham ascended to the zenith of the Postecoglou era as they destroyed Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City 4-0 in their own back yard.
Just three days after that, Philippe Clement’s Rangers lost 2-1 at Aberdeen. Thus, falling nine points behind both Jimmy Thelin’s surprise packages and also Old Firm rivals Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premiership table.
Back then, Clement’s job looked under serious pressure. South of the border, however, Postecoglou was the toast of the town, strolling into the Etihad and beating Guardiola emphatically at his own game.
Flash forward to mid-December, though, and Tottenham are in a very different place ahead of Thursday’s trip to Ibrox. That Man City obliteration is their only win in the last seven appearances. Successive defeats against Bournemouth and Chelsea suddenly have former Celtic boss Postecoglou scrambling around for answers he might not have.
Rangers, in contrast, are enjoying their best run of the entire campaign.
Hamza Igamane fired Rangers past Nice last time out in the Europa League. And, as Philippe Clement’s team swept Ross County aside in Dingwall on Sunday lunchtime, they took their tally to 14 goals across just four matches in all competitions.
James Tavernier explains Rangers’ fine form ahead of Tottenham clash
Captain James Tavernier scored a stunner at Ross County, having also found the net a few days earlier in the 6-0 beating of Kilmarnock.
And the skipper puts Rangers’ recent improved form down to a change in approach, Clement helping to breathe fresh life into what looked to be a lame duck of a season by re-introducing Ianis Hagi and pairing Danilo with the suddenly-prolific Igamane.
“We obviously tweaked a little bit in the tactics, and it’s really showing the team really well,” Tavernier said during his Wednesday press conference. “The team are really performing and, obviously, you’ve seen me get on the [score] sheet a couple of times now.
“You want to have that throughout the season. You can’t be perfect all the time but it’s about just continuing to keep working hard and that’s what everyone’s doing.
“Obviously goals haven’t come that much domestically but I think it was nine goals in two games over the course of last week. Sometimes, it can be the opponent, it can be us as a team.
“We’ve been very critical of ourselves about performances. Just [things like] final third entries and being clinical in front of goal, I think we’ve been doing that of late, being really clinical and getting our rewards when we get into those positions.”
- READ MORE: Rangers Europa League Record Since 2017
Tavernier insists clean sheets must be the backbone of Rangers’ success
Of course, neither Danilo nor Hagi will be available for that Tottenham clash. Both players were left out of Rangers’ roster for the first round of the Europa League.
Tavernier, meanwhile, knows that Rangers will have to be at their best defensively if they are to keep out a Tottenham team who, even during a miserable spell of results, have still found the net pretty regularly.
Jack Butland has saved Rangers’ skin on umpteenth occasions in Europe. John Souttar is playing the best football of his Rangers career at the perfect time, meanwhile, with Spurs to come on Thursday and Sunday’s Scottish League Cup final with Celtic looming.
“It’s about us keeping clean sheets,” Tavernier adds. “I think we’ve been doing really well with that of late as a team. Not just the back four or Jack, it’s about the team.
“With the front pressure, everyone’s been really doing that. It’s all about continuing to do that now.”
Connor Barron and Nicolas Raskin have been exceptional in the Europa League. And Clement will need his all-action midfield duo at their most effective and energetic up against the likes of James Maddison and Heung-Min Son.
