Sir Alex Ferguson used to be a master of mind games, Philippe Clement hasn’t really entertained them since taking over as Rangers manager, maybe Brendan Rodgers should take a leaf out of his book.
We’ve all read or heard the stories about the “Gucci belt” but the Celtic manager’s latest post-match musings prove that he is feeling the heat.
Philippe Clement seems only focussed on one thing, winning games for Rangers, whereas Brendan Rodgers appears to have lost his senses.
Brendan Rodgers comments show Rangers and Philippe Clement have him rattled
It’s going to be tit for tat from now until the end of the season.
The good thing is, the Gers gaffer doesn’t seem remotely interested in entertaining Rodgers and is only thinking about preparing his squad.
His now famous saying, “I’m not busy with that”, is one that shows exactly what his mindset is.
Even in the build-up to today’s game Clement was repeating the mantra:
“I’m only busy with Ross County, that’s why I told you guys I want to talk a little bit about football but I know I need to respond to all the other things and I need to be busy with the other things also myself, but not my team, they need to focus on Ross County.”
Rodgers on the other hand:
“We are where we want to be. It’s in our hands. I really look forward to this period because it’s where Celtic comes alive. There are five games to go with trophies at stake. There’s a Scottish Cup at stake, so bring it on. I’d rather be the team with points in the bag at the top.
“We had to be tough, bite down on the gum-shield, and see it through in a difficult environment. That bodes well for us. We know we can play our football now, with speed, and we can score goals. We’ve also shown steeliness, which will be important for us in the run-in.”
Has he forgotten that Rangers won the second half 3-1 at Ibrox last week, had a goal disallowed and that his side didn’t just throw away a 2-0 lead but also lost a goal in injury time to drop points?
Also, he had the points on the board when Philippe Clement took charge as Rangers manager and, at one stage, we were as many as 11 points behind.
When you add in that it isn’t in Celtic’s hands if we in all our games too and he’s had an absolute stinker.
Clement focussed on one thing and one thing only
Under the Belgian, it is literally one game at a time.
No worries about the points difference or games in hand or thoughts of winning the title.
Rodgers, on the other hand, already seems to think its job done.
They’ve never been in this position before, a proper title race, and it shows when you see how rattled their manager is.
