Rangers, as they did last season, have given themselves it all to do with Philippe Clement almost perfectly echoing the start that Michael Beale made.
An Old Firm defeat, a crushing European reality check and dropped points domestically against a team they should have beaten. It could be the tale of either manager in the last two campaigns.
Despite this, Rangers last block of fixtures saw every domestic game won with clean sheets in all of them too – solid title contender form.
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Rangers given title verdict by Darren Bent
Speaking on Talksport Drive at 6:24pm, Darren Bent defended the Light Blues form and backed them to close the gap to an Aberdeen fan’s claims of a three horse title race ahead of their clash with Celtic, as the two sides face off with 100% records:
“Look at what Rangers have done this season. The only league game they have lost was against Celtic.
“They have drawn a couple, and that’s the reason why they currently sit where they do. They got a couple of hidings in Europe, the one against Lyon wasn’t great.”
Bent isn’t 100% right, but the sentiment is.
Rangers have only drawn once in the league and had one “hiding” in Europe, and even then, the defeat to Lyon should have been much closer given the chances missed by Cyriel Dessers and company.
The conversation then took an unexpected turn when Bent was asked if he’d have joined Rangers in 2015 when they were still in the Championship, rather than joining another sleeping giant in Derby County:
“Probably not. No. Listen, two powerful clubs, but I am just thinking, my point is Derby had the chance to get back to the Premier League, so that’s why I would go to Derby.”
Rangers need players who will fight for every point
How many times have Rangers lost out on players for that reason over the years?
Nils Koppen pulled the plug on Jose Cordoba’s move to Ibrox because he wasn’t sure of the centre-half’s desire to come to Scotland when there was a club with Premier League aspirations also interested.
Rangers don’t have the resources of Celtic, yet, so the recruitment chief has to identify players who will roll up their sleeves when the going gets tough, rather than buying obvious talent.
The going, despite the season only being a few months old, is as tough as it can get and Philippe Clement will need players who he can rely on to, not just catch Celtic and Aberdeen, but to beat them and pass them too.
