Philippe Clement has a decent record in his three games against Aberdeen and he will be hoping that this continues with his Rangers team looking up the table at tonight’s hosts.
The manager knows that he is under pressure, however, his mood will have been improved with the extra additions to the squad and the news that John Souttar, Ianis Hagi and Tom Lawrence are all available for the trip to Pittodrie.
After the recent defeat to Kilmarnock and the win over St Mirren, there have been a few question marks throughout the Rangers starting XI, but it will have been a massive blow to lose Vaclav Cerny so close to such a big game.
Vaclav Cerny deals Rangers manager injury blow
With no sign of the Czech international and on-form winger in the training ground video posted by the club on Tuesday, fears were quietly whispered around the support.
Unfortunately, those fears have now become reality with Cerny not making the bus for the trip to face Aberdeen as confirmed by Heart and Hands’ David Edgar when responding to a concerned fan.
The 26-year old looked uncomfortable as he walked off the pitch at Ibrox after a stellar performance, but Clement never mentioned that he might be unavailable.
Clement hoping that Rangers click but change will be needed
As a pragmatist, all that Clement cares about is winning. He will make subtle changes to his system/shape and change personnel who offer something slightly different.
With a 2-1 scoreline and having been pegged back by St Mirren at Ibrox, the narrative has been that Rangers struggled, an opinion not shared by the manager.
Cerny was the star of the show, but he can at least call upon the services of Ianis Hagi who has plenty of experience of Pittodrie and score on his last appearance against Aberdeen.
When asked in his pre-match press conference if he wants Rangers to play better, he said:
“So, it’s now the next game Aberdeen. A better opponent than St Mirren, yes?
“But was Steaua Bucharest a worse opponent than St.Mirren? Also no. But there we were efficient. We took the moments and we played a really good game out of that. And Steaua Bucharest created better chances maybe than St Mirren did, but at the end, it’s 4-0 and there’s a perception.
“So, it’s about looking at the reality. And that’s why we need a top, top performance against Aberdeen. That we know and I’m confident the team is going to do that.”
Clement is right, Rangers could easily have come off the back of two convincing wins in the last two days and the mood would be significantly more optimistic.
Rangers do need to play better, but there are signs that a corner is being turned.
Not having Cerny has just made turning that corner a little bit harder though.
