The Belgian suffered his first defeat in the final game of last year What will be on his mind after the Old Firm derby loss?
It’s not unusual to wake up this morning with a sore head and a promise to make things better in the new year.
But for Philippe Clement, his headache won’t have anything to do with having one too many bringing in the bells at a Hogmanay. Instead, it was being the visitor at an unwelcome party in the east end of Glasgow that would have left him contemplating how he could make improvements in 2024. Not on a personal level, but specifically with his Rangers side as he was given a reality check following a 2-1 derby defeat to Celtic in the final game of last year.
Kilmarnock will first foot the Light Blues at Ibrox on Tuesday as Rangers look to shrug off their Old Firm hangover with Derek McInnes looking to compound their misery by repeating his victory over his old club on the opening day of the season. That ensured a nightmare start to the campaign after so much pre-season hype under Michael Beale.
And it was because of such a horror start that Clement has been cut plenty of slack whenever there has been cause for criticism, albeit that hasn’t been too often given he was unbeaten before Saturday. He picked up the Viaplay Cup with a win over Aberdeen at Hampden. But Saturday was a reminder of Rangers’ shortcomings and here, Record Sport looks at some of the main issues that will be occupying Clement’s thoughts since full time at Parkhead.
In Squad We Distrust
The most glaring problem is that, in the main, this group of Rangers players lack the quality and desire to match Celtic. And for anyone who didn’t already know, Callum McGregor pretty much made it clear in that leaked video from his post-match interview in a Parkhead hospitality suite. “We feel like when we play against them they don’t deal with the intensity,” said the Hoops captain. “If you get after them and press them and make them kick out the pitch then very quickly they will start to unravel.”
That kind of comment should be enough to fire the Ibrox dressing room up. But Gers fans won’t have any faith that they have it in them. And therein lies the problem. Todd Cantwell is a prime example of someone who has had plenty to say during his time at Ibrox but a section of the fans now see his mouth as bigger than his heart for the fight.
Speaking to Sky Sports before the game, Clement said: “For me, the real winners are the ones who win something and have even more hunger to win the next thing. I want to create more of those in this dressing room and see several players with that potential – but not all.”
So he need stronger characters but in his defense, he inherited this squad and predecessor Michael Beale must shoulder much of the blame for recruits who are not up to it. But Clement can now start to do something about it with the transfer window open.
Profligate Gers
It’s becoming a recurring theme for the Light Blues in derby games – creating plenty of chances but failing to take them. They actually had a higher xG than Celtic in Saturday’s defeat, a point made by Clement in his post-match interviews, but that is nothing new. It was the case in all but one of their seven Old Firm meetings in 2023.
But the difference is Celtic are clinical, Rangers aren’t. Where the Hoops of a ruthless frontman in Kyogo who loves a derby goal, the Ibrox side have Cyriel Dessers who took an age before trying to get a shot away when through on goal by which time the chance had gone and Alistair Johnston had made the challenge. Fabio Silva has been recruited so that might go some way to addressing this issue.
Scottish officials
Philippe Clement might be relatively new to Scottish football but his post match blast at officials was a familiar one. Rangers have had their fair share of penalties – some that have resulted in opposing managers having an outburst similar to Clement’s at the weekend – and there was controversy over one they didn’t get at Parkhead on Saturday. It came in the one big controversial moment of the game for an alleged handball by Alistair Johnston as he contested Abdallah Sima for the ball.
Match referee Nick Walsh and his assistants missed it and VAR Willie Collum didn’t deem it worthy of a spot kick. It was a head scratcher – but not as much as what happened after with claims the reason was Sima had been offside in the build up which would have been irrelevant if Callum didn’t see any offence in the first place. It was a mess. But Clement will need to get used to that in the second half of the season if history is anything to go by.
Big game Brendan
Brendan Rodgers thrives on the Old Firm fixture and Philippe Clement is going to have to make sure he doesn’t become his latest victim. The Irishman has lost just one and won 12 of his 15 derby encounters against Mark Warburton, Graeme Murty (caretaker), Pedro Caixinha, Steven Gerrard, Michael Beale and now Clement.
Kenny Dalglish, writing in his Sunday Post column, said: “Philippe Clement needs to find a way to beat Celtic. It’s vital. It’s unlikely they can become champions in May if they don’t win at least one of the last two Old Firm games.
Celtic will get stronger
While Clement will be hoping to add to Fabio Silva and recruit more in January, it’s likely that the Hoops will be the busier of the two sides now that the window is open. Of course, Rangers had injuries to many of their own key players but Celtic probably won’t be as vulnerable again given they had lost back to back league games in the month, making confidence a little fragile, were missing Cameron Carter-Vickers and then his replacement Stephen Welsh had to go off midway through the first half.
It was a similar story for the first derby of the season but unlikely to be the same again so they will get Reo Hatate, Liel Abada and Carter-Vickers back and that’s before the promising of adding the “quality” players Rodgers is demanding with £72 million in the Parkhead coffers.
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