Philippe Clement has always been honest when giving his thoughts on Rangers progress and the decisions that he makes, not that everyone agrees with him.
Every manager will have their team selections questioned; however, the Light Blues boss is under increasing pressure to ignore the advice of others and go with his strongest XI possible, rather than rotating.
Rangers’ squad is looking healthier than it has for some time with only defence a real cause for concern in terms of shortages, but a packed fixture list isn’t an excuse for playing individuals who have consistently let the club down when it matters.
Philippe Clement misses the mark with Rangers selection claim
Clement isn’t the only manager to rotate and use sport science to avoid injuries, it was a key task when he first took over and, aside from the usual suspects, the number of players missing games has dropped.
When questioned about Rangers’ line-up to face Motherwell, Clement gave a prickly response:
“If you’re not an ex-player or an ex-manager, it’s maybe less understandable in that way. It’s very simple,” defended Clement of his decision to rest Hamza Igamane and Vaclav Cerny.
“Can you tell me one team in the world where a player played this season, all the games, 90 minutes and played international duties?
“There’s not one. That’s because of the amount of games and also the difference between 15, 20, 30 years ago and the intensity of the game now. It’s a normal thing.
“I tried to explain it before the game. Maybe I didn’t do it well enough.
“Now, apparently, that’s the reason why we drew the game against Motherwell. It’s not the case.”
Resting Cerny and Igamane wasn’t the problem. It was who he picked to replace them.
Who should Clement have picked to rest Igamane and Cerny?
Cerny is a dynamic ball carrier, capable of providing goals and assists and of getting in behind opposition defences.
None of which applies to Kieran Dowell.
Igamane is a maverick. A player who can score goals from nothing, is willing to take risks and cause problems for opposition defences with his movement and dribbling.
Again, none of the qualities shared by Cyriel Dessers.
If Clement is going to rest and rotate key players, he must replace them with a like for like replacement so that the shape and approach play isn’t affect to the same extent.
Jefte, Zak Lovelace or Findlay Curtis, are all better options on the wing than Dowell and Nedim Bajrami could easily have replaced Igamane in a support striker role with more freedom.
Clement has been unlucky with some of the goals that his squad has coughed up, but he hasn’t helped himself either.
