Twice now Cantwell has responded to low moments by producing for Rangers in their next game.
At least Todd Cantwell can see the funny side now.
And Philippe Clement reckons his Rangers playmaker can have the last laugh if he continues to respond to adversity like he did on Tuesday. The 25-year-old Ibrox ace wasn’t smiling as he trudged glumly off the Parkhead pitch three days earlier to the sound of sarcastic cheers from the Celtic support. The East End faithful like to call the former Norwich man TikTok and they ramped up their trolling as they celebrated their side’s 2-1 triumph in their second Old Firm win of the campaign.
But Clement was delighted to see Cantwell stick a thumb in the eye of the keyboard warriors and critics as he responded with a goal and a stand-out display in the Light Blues’ New Year stroll against Kilmarnock. It was reminiscent of the way the Englishman bounced back from being unceremoniously hooked just 37 minutes into the club’s November draw at home to Europa League minnows Aris Limassol – responding three days later with two assists in a win over Hearts.
Clement was quick to remind the attacker of that as he afforded him a standing ovation from the appreciative Ibrox faithful as he was replaced late on against Killie. Asked if he was pleased with Cantwell’s reaction to his Old Firm criticism, the big Belgian said: “It’s difficult to take out one player.
“It’s a total story and every player has his own working points. It’s my job and the job of the staff to point them out and work on that with them.
“So I am happy with the evolution Todd is making and I prefer to take him out in the 87th minute instead of the 37th minute. I told him that when he came off. He found it funny.”
Clement has told his players to rest up and come back refreshed next week, ready to put in some serious graft when they jet out for a warm-weather training camp in the Spanish resort of La Manga. But the Ibrox gaffer admits he’ll going flat out over the next few days as he looks to make further additions after signing Fabio Silva on loan from Wolves.
“Will I get a rest before Spain?” asked the former Genk, Club Brugge and Monaco boss. “No, because I have other things to do – it’s not only training.
“We have a January transfer window to come. So I need to watch players also, but I would do things with my family.
“But I don’t like to switch off. For me, it is not important.
“My body don’t need to do anything any more. And my brain doesn’t explode by doing that all the time. I love it, and I will do it.
“How active will we be in the transfer window? Very active every day, by looking at a lot of players together with people in the club.
“And then we will see what we can make happen. The things we want. But we are not going to sign 10 players.”
Clement doesn’t mind putting in the hours if the work pays off – and so far it has. The derby defeat to Celtic is the only blot on the 49-year-old’s Ibrox result sheet so far and while his side sit eight adrift of Brendan Rodgers’ Premiership pace-setters right now, that deficit will shrink to two if they win both their games in hand on the champions.
It’s a situation that has the Ibrox faithful eagerly anticipating the second half of a season that has already delivered Viaplay Cup silver and a place in the Europa League’s last 16.
And Clement is just as keen to see how it all plays out. He said: “I am still curious. I am happy that you speak now about the potential of this team.
“Eleven weeks ago, I hear a lot of people saying there was not potential enough in this team to do what Rangers needs to do. So it is positive that so many players are growing, and that is what I want to see.
“I will keep a close eye, together with my staff, on who are the players staying ambitious, who are the players who are pushing. There are a lot of good examples in that way.
“You have a young lad [Ross McCausland] who was just in the academy and now he is playing really regular in the first team because he is performing. Kieran Dowell, Dujon Sterling, who are now playing in other positions. They have done that for the team, or else they wouldn’t play.
“So, I think this team is in a really good way. The dressing room also. The atmosphere every day within the building, with the training, the ambition in the training. Now after our first defeat, which we knew would come one day, the reaction was how I wanted it.
“We looked at what we had to do to make good, to analyse what went wrong, what we could do better. And then we reacted directly on the pitch again and left everything behind.”
Clement has taken the plaudits for piecing Rangers’ season back together after being brought in to repair the damage done by Michael Beale’s calamitous summer rebuild. But the modest manager insists it’s his squad that deserve the credit for turning things around.
He said: “It’s not about me, it’s about the team. I’m happy that everybody is saying they see a different team now with more more of a winning mentality.
“I see more and more quality and that the team understands better and better how I want to see football, how I want to see them run together, how I want them to create spaces for other players.
“It becomes more and more fluid. These are things that I know if the players keep on working, if they stay attentive and they stay concentrated then after a while it becomes more natural for them.
“So there are really positive things. It’s not about being satisfied. It’s about being ambitious to get better.”
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