Rangers didn’t have to get out of second gear to beat St Johnstone to go into the international break on a high, not that Philippe Clement was happy with proceedings.
The manager would have been happy to see his defence keep another clean sheet, the return of Ianis Hagi and the performance of Vaclav Cerny, but there is still a lot of work to be done.
Seeing players like Nedim Bajrami and Hagi playing together will give Rangers more quality at the sharp end of the pitch, however, Clement still wants more.
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Philippe Clement not happy with what he saw from Rangers
Speaking in his post-match press conference, the Gers boss has demanded that his squad keep the foot on the gas:
“It was not a top performance today. I think we started bright, with good tempo, but we didn’t create enough chances in the final third, we were not decisive enough. Like the moment with Vaclav – that’s a decisive moment, with the right composure, and we missed that in the first half.
“Second half I wanted to give minutes to Ianis also, after his comeback, and to get to know the rest of the team.
“But in general, with the whole team, our tempo went down.
“We had some more good opportunities to score, and the goalkeeper saved a few good goals. But we have played better games than that this season.
“It’s also about giving players minutes, it was Nico’s first time 90 minutes in a long time, I wanted to give minutes to Ianis, Hamza – they need to get to know each other, and that takes some time.”
Nicolas Raskin was at the heart of everything good that Rangers and tried to get his side on the front foot every time he had the ball and Nedim Bajrami and Vaclav Cerny were also a constant threat to the away side.
Clement must get Cyriel Dessers firing again for Rangers
One of the problems that Clement is currently having to deal with though is an off-form and out of sorts Cyriel Dessers.
Ronald de Boer, with hindsight, gave the perfect description of Dessers as a player before he signed.
He’s either world class, or amateur.
There is no happy medium.
Against St Johnstone, good attacking play would break down with Dessers unable to hold it up or bring others into the game.
Statistics are a wonderful thing, however, for those pointing at Rangers recent performance in terms of xG – expected goals – as a cause for concern, how often has Dessers not even managed to get a shot away in a promising position in recent weeks?
Against the Perth outfit, he was at it again.
At 2-0, he was played clean through on goal, 12-yards out, only to take a poor touch that went backwards instead of setting up a shot with his next – no xG model measures that.
If Rangers are to be more clinical and keep the tempo higher as Clement demands, they need their number nine to be contributing, not hindering, the attack.
