Rangers manager Philippe Clement has addressed a press conference ahead of the Scottish Premiership trip to face Aberdeen.
The Ibrox boss will hope to secure a momentum-building victory in the north east but knows Rangers will face a stiff test against an unbeaten Dons at Pittodrie.
Here’s the big takeaways from the press conference as Philippe Clement readies his Rangers team for the challenge of Aberdeen.
John Souttar and Tom Lawrence passed fit
“Tom Lawrence and John Souttar will be available. We will need to see tomorrow if its for 90 minutes or not.
“Oscar Cortes still not, but in a good way doing his rehab.
“Rabbi Matondo also still not, but also in a good way, doing already warm ups with the team and then being outside with the physios.
“Ridvan Yilmaz doing some parts of the training with the squad but not fit enough yet.
“And Danilo on his way back, not as his best form of course, but he’s getting better and better.”
Ianis Hagi back from suspension
“Yes (Ianis Hagi is back). The more players that we have, the better it is.
“The more players we have, the better it is, also with this amount of games you see every game there are some people with niggles.
“So we need to take everything into account so I’m happy he’s back.”
Aberdeen ‘not so different’ from last season
“(I’m expecting) a big battle.
“A team who play really play really physical football with fast transitions using their speed in front.
“Very collective team with a very good team mentality.
“In that way not so much differences with what it was last season when we went there.
“It was quite similar in that way but in an other formation with some other players also.”
Rangers ‘not busy’ with Premiership table
“We’re not busy with that. Like you say, it’s early in the season.
“It’s about us, it’s about us taking the points. We need to take the points. We need to focus on that.
“We are now after this game still in one quarter of the season or something.
“Last season we came back and in the end you don’t get a title.
“It’s about us taking the points, it’s all about that.
“And not looking at the others because you lose time, energy, for nothing about that.
“It’s about us taking as many points as possible and to raise our levels.”
Clement clear on Aberdeen rivalry
“I spoke already about some things but of course we have one boy in the building who was there in Connor (Barron).
“We also have several players who have played there before. We have other new ones.
“It’s my task also and I did today to speak about circumstances and the way a team will perform, how they will play against us, so yeah they know.
“It’s a really big test.
“I think it’s one of the biggest that you can have in this league to go to Aberdeen now so yeah, it’s a really good challenge.
“And that’s what you need with the team to get these challenges and then to overcome them and to grow out of that.”
Connor Barron ‘one of the most mature’ young players
“I worked with a lot of young players in my career as a player and as manager.
“(Connor Barron) is one of the most mature that I met at that age.
“So it will be for him the first time like that but I’m sure he’s ready for that and he’s just focused on football.
“That’s his strong point also. He’s only busy with football and with his ambitions to become better and to become important for this club.”
Rangers have to ‘win every game’
“We have to win every game. We have to win the first game of the season and we have to win the last game of the season.
“So there is no difference (v Aberdeen) in that. We always want to win every game.
“There is a lot of confidence and belief in the team.
“It would help from the outside maybe the perception around the team, and the evolution the team is making, in that way it can help a lot.
“But all the team has confidence to go there and to get a result but also a lot of respect towards Aberdeen.”
Outside disparity with Rangers squad ‘normal’
“About the idea what the squad is now and what it will be in a couple of month (there is a disparity).
“But that’s normal because people who don’t see everything that’s going on in the building, how people are training, how people are reacting, how they are playing, and you’re not busy with that process, you only look at the results or one moment.
“And even then it can be one moment really good and the next week he doesn’t score and it’s a really bad player.
“I think (Vaclav) Cerny is a really good example in that way.
“Two, three weeks ago he was for some people a really bad player and then he scored five goals in four games.
“So it’s important as a player, as a manager, as a club not to live those emotions because if you do that you will never create stability.”
Clement refuses to get drawn on ‘favourites’
“I don’t speak about favourites before games, after games.
“I never said that about us also. It is just about tomorrow, who is the best team or who is the team who gets the points.
“And we’re going to go full to get the three points.”
Rangers have ‘missed’ Nico Raskin
“It’s a player we’ve missed for nine months. And we have several of those.
“Danilo is also on that list, Oscar Cortes is also on that list.
“Medical staff, performance staff, all the staff did a lot of work to get there, it was also a lot work to get Nico to adapt to the story of football now.
“He’s taking it in a good way and showing good performances.
“We knew it was a good player, that we knew from before, but he needs to settle into the team also and to be complimentary with all the other players.”
Clement needs everyone to be Rangers ‘ready’
“I’m excited about winning trophies. Then I get excited, before then never.
“I want to see this team grow, I want to see them fight hard together, I want to see them work hard every day to become better.
“I want to see players who are ambitious. I want to see players who want to be part of the team, not thinking only about themselves.
“Because we need a bigger squad than 11, 14, 15 players.
“It’s different when you play in a team that only has the domestic games.
“We need a bigger squad because we have the European games also and they’re more than ever before now this season.
“So you need the rotation. You need everybody to be ready for the team all the time.
“With all the egos, with all the importance, because playing a good game and then the next game not playing, to be fresh for the next one, it’s not always easy.
“In that way this group is behaving really well for the moment and I will be very firm on that also because that’s what you need to be successful in four competitions.”
