'I'm happy': Philippe Clement hails two Rangers players who made 'a good impact' vs Dundee United

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With Philippe Clement desperate to take any hint of a positive out of Rangers’ 1-1 draw with Dundee United, he gave the impression of a man panning for gold amidst a sea of slate.

Another highly underwhelming, bordering on toothless performance from a Rangers side who squandered the opportunity to cut the eight point gap between themselves and an Aberdeen side who suffered a shock loss at St Mirren.

Robin Propper produced a display of familiar failings, leaving Sam Dalby free to open the scoring for Jim Goodwin’s side with 36 minutes on the clock. Mohamed Diomande offered a pitiful impression of the injured Tom Lawrence in a number ten role which feels increasingly ill-fitting.

Cyriel Dessers, meanwhile, did little to silence the growing demand for another striker in the January transfer window.

Though the impact of Danilo off the bench did, at least, provide a timely reminder that Rangers do have themselves a pretty handy alternative. That is, when the Brazilian is fit and available, of course.

Danilo made only his third Premiership appearance of the campaign against Dundee United. And his longest one too, replacing an ineffective Dessers at the break and coming through the remaining 45 minutes unscathed.

With Lawrence unavailable for another few weeks, meanwhile, an impressive second-half display from the similarly seldom-seen Ianis Hagi should give Clement plenty of food for thought too.

Philippe Clement hails Danilo and Ianis Hagi as Rangers slip up

“Some players not available enough and not enough quality on the ball,” Clement said at his post-match presser when asked to explain the manner of Rangers’ performance. “Losing too many easy balls, giving too many bad passes, not being available. 

“And that was a big change in the second-half. Dani and Ianis gave a good impact in that way. So I’m happy that they’re back in the squad after a long time not being at the club.

“That impacted our game, we see much more of what we want to see. In the second-half, I think fans see what they want to see and they know also if they see this from the team 90 minutes we’re going to win a lot of games. 

“We’re working very hard on that with the squad to get that kind of football again and to make it better. Like I said, Dani comes back from a long-term injury. He had his first minutes a couple of weeks ago. It’s step-by-step that he needs to take his minutes.

“It’s the same with Ianis after not being available for the squad for a long time. And it’s the same with other players.”

Rangers boss frustrated with first-half display against Dundee United

Danilo struck up a fearsome understanding with Vaclav Cerny during their time together at FC Twente in the Dutch Eredivisie. Due to the striker’s seemingly endless fitness problems, a frustrated Rangers fanbase have not really had pleasure of seeing the two velvet-toed forwards link up all that often in the famous blue shirt.

So, as the £5 million centre-forward set up Cerny’s equaliser just past the hour, Clement will be praying that Danilo’s latest comeback is not another false dawn.

“About the result, frustrating,” Clement adds after his team failed to win for the fifth time in 12 league matches. “Very frustrating to lose points and we lost already too many points this season. So we know we don’t have credit in the bank.

“First-half, I was not satisfied. I didn’t see enough braveness, enough movement, enough initiative of the team. So we need to show more of what we did in the second half and that’s what we need to show more in the future.

“We’re not where we want to be as a club, and we knew that before this game. So in that way it’s two points again lost that we cannot lose. Last season, these kind of games we won every time, even when it was difficult. We could push things over the line.”