Rangers manager Philippe Clement thought he’d seen everything in football until this season’s excruciatingly hectic schedule.
Elite level footballers across Europe will play more games than ever this season with plenty of fears surrounding player injuries and exhaustion.
But for Philippe Clement, who has not had his injury problems to seek at Rangers, there will be no such ‘excuses’ within the walls of Ibrox.
It comes with the Belgian insisting that this season’s schedule is a world first in football and that he’ll be gritting is teeth and getting on with it, even if he disagrees with it.
Philippe Clement on hectic Rangers schedule
“This is the first time in the history of football that this has happened, so we need to have a squad that’s physically and mentally ready for that,” Clement said ahead of the St Mirren game.
“The more you complain about that, the more excuses you have, and I don’t want to give excuses to the team because they all want to play football, they all want to win.
“It’s like running a marathon but only wanting to run 20 miles. Those are the rules, that’s what was decided.
“Is it good for football? I don’t think so and everybody agrees with that but we need to focus on ourselves and be ready.
“But then you need to keep the same quality and that’s going to be the challenge for us.”
Rangers hope to rest Vaclav Cerny
Speaking of keeping the same quality, Vaclav Cerny has been a key player for Rangers this season but looks increasingly worn out by the hectic schedule.
Rangers manager Philippe Clement was asked specifically about the Czech winger, who has been a key feature amid a spate on injuries in the final third this season.
Explaining that the club will have to manage the squad’s minutes, the return of Ross McCausland can help Vaclav Cerny catch a breather over the next few months.
“It’s also been a busy period until now,” Clement said. “Everybody’s speaking now and that’s maybe because people think it’s the holidays now, but look at the period that we had in October, November, December.
“We will need to manage it, that is for sure. In that way, I’m happy that Ross McCausland is getting back, he struggled for a long time with his foot, he feels better now. And I hope he can grow now as well to release Cerny in moments.
“We have other options also with Danilo, Hagi, Dessers getting back, so there are more options than we had at the beginning of the season. Yilmaz can also do a job as a left winger, so it’s going be crucial to be able to make rotations with all the games coming up.”
