‘Evolution’ is the word Philippe Clement uses to describe the changing role of Rangers’ £1.7 million man after that Europa League draw with Tottenham Hotspur.
And it’s a pretty fitting description given the changes he has gone through in recent months. That transformation from a tidy ball-player into an all-action midfield monster.
Nico Raskin may be rather small in stature, but he is big in influence. Only one midfielder across the entirety of the Europa League averages more successful tackles per game than Rangers’ battling Belgian with four.
And even without his usual partner Connor Barron – Mohamed Diomande started in the deeper role instead against Spurs – Raskin delighted Philippe Clement in another hugely impressive performance. Another to add his ever-growing collection; Rangers pressing and harrying Tottenham into submission during the majority of Thursday’s so-called ‘Battle of Britain’.
Four tackles, four interceptions, three clearances, a 90 per cent pass completion rate and the most touches of any Rangers player. Raskin, once again, did the job of two or three men in a typically tireless display.
A display Clement, speaking to the media at full-time, puts down to a change in Raskin’s off-field conduct.
Philippe Clement explains Nico Raskin’s Rangers ‘evolution’
“I don’t like to spotlight one player. Why? Because I want all of them to stay humble and to stay focused and to stay hungry. So that’s the reason,” Clement begins. “But, OK, I will respond to this question.
“The biggest difference with Nico is that, physically, he’s taking really good steps. He spoke himself about the diet. That’s also a thing the club is helping with. So the chef in the club helps Nico with his food. But it’s not only with him.
“We’re giving cooking lessons, for example, for all the guys who don’t have a wife or are single. So they learn also now. You can laugh [about] it! But those are important details, that they learn what the good food is that they need to eat and not the wrong things, and that they learn also something out of it.
“I know I never was good in that, so I get some stick about that with my wife!”
Raskin, before Hamza Igamane inspired Rangers’ 3-0 win over Ross County on Sunday, admitted that he had taken a closer look at his diet after suffering what he describes as ‘four injuries in one and a half years’.
The former Standard Liege ace claims to have shed between two to three kilograms. Lighter, faster and more mobile now, Raskin believes that ‘the small details make the difference on the pitch, being first [to] the ball or to being just too late on the ball’.
Considering how impressive his ball-winning numbers have looked of late – Raskin doubling his number of tackles per game in the Europa League this season compared to the last – all that hard work off the pitch is clearly paying off.
Clement ‘really happy’ with Raskin as he shines in Europa League again
“Nico, tactically, is taking really big steps about what to do in which moment,” Clement adds. “And he’s still a young player. He didn’t play this role so much, and for sure not at this level.
“But he’s taking really good lessons and all staff are helping in that way; after every game, showing images of what was good, what can be better…
“Football is a game with a lot of details that you need to take control of. And Nico is learning really fast. Same as with Dio, same as with Conor Barron. All young midfielders, all exciting talents.
“The midfield, it’s the engine of the team. It’s important to do the right things, at the right moments, and controlling the games really well. To take out transitions, to have good positioning, but also to be available and knowing where to play, where to play the balls.
“So, yeah, I’m really happy with the evolution of Nico, but not only him.”
