After his team easily defeated Livingston 2-0 in the Premiership to round out the month, Philippe Clement will be able to look back on his first month in charge of Rangers with great satisfaction.
Since taking over as manager on October 15, Clement has overseen seven games, winning six of them in three different competitions. This has allowed him to close the distance with league leaders Celtic and move one win closer to both the Viaplay Cup final and the Europa League knockout round. During that time, the only team that truly worried the Ibrox men is Sparta Prague, who drew 0-0 in the Czech Republic.
Perhaps the most telling indicator of improvement at Rangers since Clement’s predecessor Michael Beale was removed from post is the way the team is playing. They are more robust defensively, appear to have a plan and are more proficient in attack. All the noises coming out of the dressing-room are positive. The Belgian has clearly elevated standards.
Not that a great deal of quality was required, though, on a cold lunchtime at the Tony Macaroni Arena to record a victory. Livingston, now bottom of the league, posed little threat and Rangers’ only lament will be that they didn’t win by more goals in a match where VAR – yet again – played a starring role.
The big Rangers plus point was the performance of 20-year-old Northern Irish winger Ross McCausland, who has been given a chance under Clement and shone in his first start for the Ibrox club. He was a lively presence on the right flank and showed why Rangers are eager to extend his contract. Cyriel Dessers and James Tavernier were the goalscorers but the youngster will have excited the Gers supporters.
Given the short turnaround between Rangers’ 2-1 win over Sparta Prague on Thursday night and this game, Clement made four changes to his starting XI. As a result, they showed little signs of fatigue in an eventful opening half in West Lothian. Dessers did break the deadlock on 26 minutes, running on to an excellent through-ball from Tom Lawrence and finishing past Shamal George via slight deflection from a despairing Kelly challenge. Before that, Connor Goldson had a goal disallowed on 14 minutes when the centre-back converted a Leon Balogun cutback, Dessers deemed to have interfered with play from an offside position earlier in the action. The VAR intervention here was correct but two other first-half incidents involving officials were less clear cut.
Rangers were awarded a penalty on 23 minutes when George was judged to have fouled McCausland.
The goalkeeper appeared to make minimal contact with the Northern Irishman, who was going to ground before he came into contact with the stopper. Not that it really mattered because Tavernier’s penalty skewed wide.
And the decision to disallow a second Rangers goal in stoppage time, via a fine McCausland finish, for a push by Abdallah Sima on Cristian Montano looked soft. The forward barely made contact with the defender.
Livingston had been meek in the first 45 and played with more vigour after the restart but Rangers, far from their fluent best in the second half, were never in any danger. It was a VAR intervention that permitted them to score their second goal on 75 minutes. Not one away player claimed for a spot-kick after Borna Barisic’s cross was cleared but the eagle-eyed Steven Kirkland back at Clydesdale House spotted that Mikey Devlin had batted it away with his hand. This time Tavernier made no mistake from 12 yards, allowing Rangers to go into their two-week hiatus in fine fettle.
Player ratings
Livingston: George 4; Montano 4 (Brandon n/a), Devlin 4, Se Kelly 4; De Lucas 4 (Parkes), Sangare 3 (Holt 4), Shinnie 4, Pittman 4, Penrice 4; Anderson 4, Nouble 3 (Guthrie n/a).
Rangers: Butland 6; Tavernier 7, Goldson 7, Balogun 7, Barisic 7; Lundstram 8, Jack 7 (Cifuentes n/a); Sima (Yilmaz n/a), Lawrence 7 (Lammers n/a), McCausland 7 (Cantwell n/a); Dessers 6 (Danilo 3).
Man of the match: This wasn’t a match where one player was miles ahead of the rest. The quality level was pretty average. Young Ross McCausland showed some flashes out wide on his first start. It was a day for a midfield enforcer to shine and that was John Lundstram, who bossed the game with his aggression. Has started life well under the new manager.
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