'Have to give Rangers credit': Brendan Rodgers explains what impressed him about Clement's team in cup final
01/02/2025 05:00 AM
While confidence may be low in the Rangers camp heading into Thursday’s Old Firm derby clash with arch rivals Celtic, Philippe Clement’s team can take some belief out of that Scottish League Cup final display a few weeks ago.
Yes, Rangers ended up on the losing side at Hampden Park, Ridvan Yilmaz the odd-one out in the penalty shoot-out thanks to Kasper Schmeichel’s heroics in the Hoops goal.
But the way those in blue pressed and harried Celtic in the centre of the park – Nico Raskin was ‘excellent’ while Mo Diomande produced one of his best performances of the campaign – proves that Clement’s under-fire side are capable of bloodying the noses of the runaway Premiership leaders if they are on it from the first whistle.
Celtic can go a colossal 17 points clear of Rangers with a victory at Ibrox in today’s 3pm kick-off.
And, when asked in his pre-match press conference what lessons Celtic can take from that 3-3 Hampden thriller, manager Brendan Rodgers admitted that it was Rangers’ discipline and aggression out of possession which laid the foundations for what would have been a statement victory for Clement.
Brendan Rodgers explains Rangers lessons after cup final
“We won the game, which is what a cup final is all about,” Rodgers said during his press conference. “It’s a one-off game. I thought they defended well in terms of how they wanted to press at times.
“My biggest view of the game was ourselves. In the first-half we weren’t clean enough in our work, and you have to give Rangers credit for that.”
The goal Nedim Bajrami scored to give Rangers the lead at the national stadium just before half-time was typical of the way Clement’s charges played on the day.
As Diomande forced Greg Taylor into a hurried and misplaced pass, Rangers countered rapidly, Bajrami eventually tapping home after Schmeichel had parried Hamza Igamane’s effort.
Rangers would also show the sort of resolve that they have often been accused of missing in recent times. They bounced back from 2-1 and 3-2 down, Diomande and then Danilo breathing fresh life into a game that, on two occasions, appeared lost.
“We were happy with the goals we scored. With the goals we conceded, we gave the first one way and the others came from a deflection from a corner and a goal late on which we should defend,” Rodgers adds.
“You go into games like these and you never know what can happen. It’s very diffcult for me to forecast what game Rangers will play, what team they will bring. You try to anticipate that, it’s very hard to at times.
“You can really only focus on your own game. These types of game, they always throw up something.”
Philippe Clement takes heart out of Rangers’ Motherwell fightback
Major questions are being asked of Clement these days following a defeat to St Mirren and that hard-fought 2-2 draw with Motherwell last time out.
Celtic legend Chris Sutton feels that the Rangers boss could go, meanwhile, if his team suffer another heavy Old Firm defeat. Clement has only one draw and five defeats in six meetings with those in green.
Rangers will be without captain James Tavernier after he joined John Souttar, Neraysho Kasanwirjo and co on the sidelines. Then again, given how Tavernier has struggled against the jet-heeled Daizen Maeda, maybe that is not a bad thing.
“There’s always a lot of pressure,” Clement says during his own press conference. “Yeah, you cannot look at the gap because then you lose yourself. We need to look at every game to take the maximum out of it.
” We’re very disappointed that we didn’t do that in the last two games and that we get these goals against because those goals made a really big difference in those games. The team showed resilience to fight back [against Motherwell]. Not only with creating chances but also scoring goals.
“Pity that it was not the third goal we could make and then you have another dynamic. You have another conclusion after the game also. Now you lose two points more.
“So it’s now looking to the next game to go for the three points.”
