Nine takeaways as 'frustrated' Philippe Clement faces music after Rangers drop points
Yesterday at 03:00 PM
Rangers manager Philippe Clement has addressed a post-match press conference as the pressure mounts following a draw with Dundee United.
The Gers could fall up to 11 points behind Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic if the current domestic champions can overcome Hearts.
Rangers also blew the opportunity to close the gap between themselves and Aberdeen to six points following the Dons' 2-1 defeat to St Mirren.
The result and performance has Rangers fans fuming with the Gers on abysmal domestic form and Philippe Clement struggling to get a tune from his players.
The Rangers manager has now admitted that his team has dropped too many points this season and that the Gers 'are not where they need to be'.
At the same time, Clement has defiantly refused to give up on the Scottish Premiership and is convinced his young team will recover this season.
Here's the big takeaways from Clement's post-match press conference.
Philippe Clement slaughters Rangers first-half showing
"About the result, frustrating. Very frustrating to lose points and we lost already too many points this season. We know we don't have credit in the bank in that way.
"About the performance, the second half I've seen what I want to see of my team. How I want to see how we play football, how I want to see how we press, how we create chances, how we don't concede chances.
"Everything was there, only the second goal not to make and that's the frustrating after this evening. First half I was not satisfied. I didn't see enough braveness, enough movements and 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."
Rangers manager hails Ianis Hagi & Danilo
"Some players (were) not available enough and not enough quality on the ball. Losing too easy balls, giving too many bad passes or not being available. And that was a big change in the second half.
"Danilo and Ianis (Hagi) gave a good impact in that way so I am happy that they're back in the squad after a long time not being at the club. So that impacted our game that we see much more what we want to see.
Rangers 'lose too many points' and are 'not where we want to be'
"I speak about the points, we lose too many points. We're not where we want to be as a club. And we knew that before this game.
"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.
"Today I cannot say anything about the second half, about the way the team pushed, and there was also a really good goalkeeper on the other side today who was important (with) a few really good saves in that way. But we need to show more the level of the second half, much more."
Philippe Clement reacts to Rangers boos
"I agree with the first half (in terms of booing). In the second half 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 again 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, Danilo 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. Same with Ianis (Hagi) after not being available for the squad for a long time, and it's with other players the same.
"I heard also in the second half that the fans were behind the team and not booing in this second half. In half-time yes and deservedly, because it was not good in the first half. And you get a goal against that makes things also worse of course, it could've been perfectly 0-0 at half-time also."
Rangers 'cannot lose points' in these games
"Yeah of course (we are looking at who we start with) but it was not every time with the same players also. We're working on that to make this squad more consistent.
"You see also players growing who are longer here, who're getting better in the way we want to play football. In that way Vaclav (Cerny) is also an exponent. That's normal but we should have took along the way more points.
"These kind of games you cannot lose points. If you have so many chances more than the opponent, if you have so much more possession that the opponent, you need to win. So you need to push those moments over the line and we didn't do that today."
Rangers manager refuses to give up on Premiership
"Fans can think what they want and that's their right also. I never give up is something is not possible. And I see also what I see in the second half. Everybody sees also what they see in the second half. We need to have that level much more the next couple of months and take much more points.
"Of course it's a big gap and you don't know what others teams, how many points they lose along the way but we need to get more points. And you see also, if you play like you play in the second half you will get more points, but we need to put that as a standard for the team and that's what I said in the dressing room also."
Philippe Clement on Dundee United time wasting
"They said before the game they came to annoy us. So they used that part to stop the game in moments. I think the referee was excellent today, also in managing the game, you cannot do much more about that. I think my players were also good in that way that they didn't go in the discussion, in the talking with those things but they were only busy with football and tried to score more goals and to win this game. That part of the game we don't have control on so I'm not busy with that also."
Rangers manager explains slow start
"(A lack of urgency) is not attitude it's more thinking too much, not enough initiative and also an opponent at that moment, that's also part of the story, is more fresh in the game. You see all over the world in the first half it's more difficult to create open chances because opponents are more fresh and they can run all the distances and they can get into all the duels and second half you see a lot of players from Dundee United getting tired because they had to run a lot before.
"So in that way that's also a little bit normal but still we lost too many balls that we cannot lose in the first half that the quality on the ball was not good enough.
"And for sure the goal we can never concede in that way. Not with an easy cross but for sure not with the contact in the box."
Philippe Clement convinced results will change
"For sure (I am seeing enough to be convinced results will change). 100%. If we play like we play in the second half we will win a lot of games but it needs to be every time like that.
"We need to create a team and a mentality and a culture also to have that every three days. For a lot of boys that's new but they need to step into that culture because that's what Rangers is about."
