Clement names the one Rangers player who impressed him at Dundee but criticises £1.7m man
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Positives were few and far between as far as the Rangers faithful are concerned as the Premiership giants failed to win for an eighth time in eleven away matches at Dundee.
But, Philippe Clement argued with the distinct air of a man desperate to cling any minor plus point he can find, that uninspiring 1-1 draw at Dens Park wasn’t entirely disastrous.
Dundee managed only two shots on target, Clement points out. Liam Kelly maybe had a point to prove after Hibernian scored three times against him at the weekend, but Jack Butland’s replacement was relatively untested after Oluwaseun Adewumi’s sixth minute opener.
And while Clinton Nsiala was maybe fortunate not to give away a penalty up against the always tricky Simon Murray, the summer signing from AC Milan was arguably the only Rangers player who could walk out of Dundee with some pride in his performance.
Philippe Clement impressed as Rangers youngster Clinton Nsiala shines at Dundee
Rangers News handed Nsiala a 7/10 on what was his long-awaited Scottish Premiership debut. Only Hamza Igamane, assisting Vaclav Cerny’s equaliser, could perhaps rival the young defender for Rangers’ Man of the Match award.
“We didn’t give away much today again,” Clement says. “I don’t remember one big save of Liam today. I think Clinton did a good game for his first game.
“But you lose the points because today, on the offensive part, we didn’t show enough to make the difference and to break open the game. So, now [Dundee] could defend with ten players behind the ball all the time with one striker deep and hoping for transitions.
“We had the ball, we took most of the transitions really well out, but we were not decisive enough in the final third.”
Clement highlights Hamza Igamane issue after Dens Park clash
Igamane was a nuisance, as he often is, in the final third.
Yet, while the Moroccan proved to be Rangers’ most effective outlet on the night, Clement still felt that Igamane spent too much time outside of the penalty area during a game the visitors never felt likely to win.
“Hamza was, for me, too much on the sides today and not enough in the box,” Clement adds. “So that’s for sure a working point where we need to address it to him. That was one issue, and to be more decisive in our last pass.”
The closest Rangers came to securing all three points was through a speculative long-range effort from the otherwise anonymous Mohamed Diomande. The Ivorian rattled the crossbar in a rare moment of concern for the Dundee backline.
“Not enough clear chances. In our last pass, we were not good enough today,” sighs the under-fire Gers boss. “We didn’t show enough to make the difference. We were not decisive enough. We had enough moments to be there, but we didn’t make enough of the right choices.
“It’s normal [that the fans are] unhappy. I’m also unhappy we didn’t take the three points. I know I’m the face of the team, it’s part of my job.”
