Rangers defeat to Ross County was a sore one to take but Philippe Clement has been in combative mood going into the first of six cup finals in the league.
The Gers boss always knew that there were going to be bumps along the way, however, he probably didn’t expect it to be up in Dingwall.
Next up for Rangers and Philippe Clement is Dundee but it doesn’t look like the gaffer is ready to rip up his team and start again any time soon.
Rangers flops set for Philippe Clement reprieve?
Speaking as part of the buildup for the fourth trip to Tayside, Clement has hinted that coaching and management, not starting from scratch with his team selection, is the direction that he is going to take:
“Every manager has these moments, even with teams that win. It is part of the game, it is not something you want – but the important thing is how you react and I have a good feeling around that.
“We didn’t do the basics right at the weekend – and because of that we were punished. Sometimes you need a knock to remind you what you need to do.”
Aside from these comments, the key positions that saw the most criticism has the expected replacements all unavailable too.
Ridvan Yilmaz, Mohamed Diomande and Leon Balogun will be unable to start tonight which means that Philippe Clement is likely to stick with the same players who came under fire for the abysmal showing against Ross County.
Rangers have to reset not start again
With just six games to go in the league and, hopefully, two more in the cup, now is not the time to throw away plan A.
This is what doesn’t make sense from the defeats to Motherwell and Ross County, everything that Rangers had been doing so well since Clement arrived at Ibrox has disappeared.
Criticism of Clement after the defeat went overboard and James Tavernier’s post-match comments pinpointed who was really to blame – the players.
What we have seen before from the Belgian is that he trusts the players in his squad, he knows how to manage them and get them playing above their natural ability.
How many players have improved since he arrived, that isn’t a coincidence.
The gap, should we beat Dundee, goes to one point, which means that Rangers will have won six points more than Celtic since Philippe Clement too charge.
That is a sign of a manager who knows what he is doing and we should trust him, as he trusts his players, even if we might not agree with everything he does.
