The last two Rangers managers have rarely seen an empty treatment room with an injury list that has frequently dipped into double figures, hopefully, Philippe Clement will have better luck.
The Gers boss could do with the sort of luck that Steven Gerrard had in 2020/21 when injuries were restricted to the players with previous issues, or was it luck?
Remember the great coffee conspiracy? Well, it could be about to return to Rangers after Philippe Clement joked with reporters in the pre-match press conference for tonight’s fixture with Dundee, via RTV.
No shortcuts for Rangers under Philippe Clement
Since replacing Michael Beale, the no-nonsense Belgian has repeatedly raised the issue of the squad’s fitness and robustness.
A pre-season where tactics and a game plan seemed to play second fiddle to fitness and getting miles into the legs obviously hasn’t worked and, when asked what the solution was to get Rangers firing again, Philippe Clement gave a tongue in cheek response, as seen on RTV:
“This is the work that is never short term. It is impossible. Or you need to use things that are not allowed, and we are not planning to do that. Even then it doesn’t help because it is short term.”
Obviously, Clement was only joking, however, you just know that certain blogs will be at it again whipping up a conspiracy if the Gers boss suddenly has a clean bill of health and players make the same sort of transformation as Mateusz Zukowski.
Players like Steven Davis playing the best football of his career, Allan McGregor another, both pushing 40, all because of the special coffee that Steven Gerrard had managed to acquire from Liverpool – allegedly….
You couldn’t make it up.
The reality, is that there will have been an issue with the training volume, intensity or type and that there won’t be time in a congested fixture list to make any short term changes.
As shown with his strong management of Danilo and Todd Cantwell, Rangers have a manager in Philippe Clement who won’t take short cuts and will have the club’s best interests at heart in everything he does.
