Philippe Clement is finally starting to have a tougher job when it comes to picking his Rangers team as more players return to fitness.
One who promised so much when he arrived is now on the outside looking in, however, after making his first start of the season, Nicolas Raskin will be determined to win back his place.
Speaking as part of Rangers pre-match build up against Lyon, the Belgian midfielder has a tough task on his hand with the manager hinting that the 23-year old still has a long way to go.
Nicolas Raskin facing fight for Rangers place
Substituted at half-time against Hibs, Raskin looked out of sorts partnering Connor Barron.
The similarities between the two players meant that Rangers struggled to build play through midfield with Clement explaining where Raskin needs to improve:
“It was a tactical thing in the game. For him his role has changed this season compared with last season in midfield, we do slightly different things so he needs to adapt in that way and like with every player, we showed after the images.
“He is hungry to learn and he will become better. Nico can do two roles in the midfield, the role of Connor Barron also. It’s about learning and getting better in that way.”
Raskin was signed as a number six/number eight hybrid and has played with several different partners.
As Clement says though, Rangers have changed and so must Raskin.
Raskin must impress wherever he plays
Only a matter of weeks ago, the Gers boss suggested that it was a straight fight between Raskin and Barron for the number six role:
“I hope [he can have] a really big one [season].
“Nico has a lot of quality and he has a lot of competition also with a good player like Connor Barron.
“So it’s going to be interesting with the two of them.
“But we have a lot of games. So this is going to be the season until the end of January. So that’s the next four months and a half that we will play every three days normally.”
“For sure for the internationals, it’s something that never happened before in football. There were so many games without a winter break.
“So we will need all those players to be at their best to perform in all four competitions because we have ambitions in all four competitions. It’s not one competition that we throw in.
“He’s not at his best of course because he came out of injury. But he’s getting better and better to grow at his old level again.”
Having missed a lot of pre-season through injury, Raskin is understandably rusty but Clement should be able to give him time off the bench.
It is the only way that he will be able to adapt and improve, by getting minutes on the pitch in competitive games.
His skillset makes him a natural replacement for Barron, however, his energy and attitude means that there is no reason why Raskin couldn’t play a more box-to-box role.
If he is given the chance.
