Philippe Clement is still battling against the problems that he inherited last season when he first took his place in the Rangers hotseat.
The manager must have thought that he had nailed it after a debut 4-0 win over Hibernian and wondered why there were so many questions about the quality of the squad.
Fast forward over a year and only a few new faces have arrived to bring the wage bill and average down with a lot of experience heading in the other direction.
Rangers all ready have a Tiago Gouveia prototype
One area that continues to need more depth an upgrade in terms of personnel is on the wing with Tiago Gouveia said to be on a list of potential names for Rangers recruitment director Nils Koppen.
The 23-year old has seen Benfica pull the brakes on a proposed exit from the Portuguese outfit after a man of the match display against Casa Pia, but do Rangers already have their own version of the £6m-rated Premiera Liga flyer?
According to Data MB, in his last season with enough qualifying minutes, Gouveia’s numbers measured up to Auchenhowie graduate Ross McCausland.
The Northern Ireland international has come in for criticism in the past for his lack of end product, but there have never been any doubts about his work rate or commitment.
As the radar shows, if McCausland can add assists and more goals like his one against St Johnstone to his repertoire, then he will be a more than reliable option in the squad.
Like McCausland at Rangers, it appears that Gouveia has no intentions of leaving Benfica and seems intent on making the most of his recent opportunity as reported by A Bola:
“I’m here every day waiting for opportunities. Today (Saturday against Casa Pia) I had to decide. It’s almost mandatory to score easy chances at Benfica . Sometimes it doesn’t happen and the frustration is huge.”
McCausland has a big fan in Philippe Clement
It is a similar story at Ibrox and, when Philippe Clement was asked about the arrival of Vaclav Cerny and the need for more quality players:
“Players are making really good steps in that. One example, six months ago if Ross played on the right side he never came into shoot in his left foot. He never did it a year before.
“But we have been working on that the last couple of months, he is conscious of it, he is very motivated and that’s why he got a good shot in Kyiv and hit the post because it is getting more and more natural but it takes time.
“With all the players, doing different things next to their collective training. Of course, Vaclav is experienced, who went through this trajectory to become a better player and so I hope to get a few more like that, it makes everybody’s life easier.”
Part of the Rangers player training model must be developing their own players and few would have tipped McCausland to make the impact that he has this time last year.
Individuals like Zak Lovelace, Bailey Rice and Alex Lowry always attracted more attention, but it has been McCausland’s work ethic and attitude that has got him to where he wants to be.
Now, he has to prove that he deserves to keep his place.
