Rangers, under Philippe Clement, don’t have a defined style of play but, as he said on his debut press conference, all he wants to do is win.
The Gers boss passed another test at Rugby Park against Kilmarnock where the pitch, weather and officiating conspired to make it a difficult night after an emphatic win at Ibrox over Hearts just a few days before.
The whole squad seems to be buying into the mentality required to win with the Rangers Review’s Joshua Barrie telling Sky Sports Scotland that there is something different about the club under Philippe Clement.
Rangers breaking new ground under Philippe Clement
It’s easy to say that “we wouldn’t have won that before” but the evidence speaks for itself.
Our record at Rugby Park is as poor as it is anywhere in the country – for context, our record in Portugal is better against the likes of Porto, Benfica, Braga and Sporting Lison.
As crazy as that may sound.
Even at 1-0 down though, there was never a feeling that it was going to be one of those nights with the game turned on its head before the hour mark – no last minute winners required.
Barrie, speaking to Sky Sports, summed up the feeling of the support perfectly:
“It’s the type of game that they’ve not won and obviously when you don’t win those games the confidence isn’t really there that you are going to win them again.
“Under Clement so far, the consistency that they’ve shown in the league, the ability to right wrongs of seasons gone by is being pretty consistent.”
There is a belief there that wasn’t in the past.
We trust Philippe Clement and this Rangers squad, even if there are players who we don’t think are good enough.
The gaffer seems to be getting a tune out of all of them and they are carrying out his instructions perfectly.
Every substitute makes a difference and rarely, has he got a starting XI wrong.
Yes, people weren’t happy with Borna Barisic returning instead of Ridvan Yilmaz but, in fairness, the Croatian has been in good form under the new manager.
The key difference, is that Clement sees what we see.
He knew Borna was having a stinker, so he replaced him.
He also realised that it wasn’t the type of game for Fabio Silva because of the way we were having to play.
Both calls made a difference.
And this is why the belief in the team and in the stands is united, why there is a synergy.
We have a manager we can trust to get the big calls right when it matters.
