Philippe Clement grilled on title tussle and handshake incident v Ross County

14/04/2024 16:42

Philippe Clement claims that the Ross County defeat was the worst performance of his Rangers tenure to date.

It's been six months since Big Phil took the reins at Ibrox and in that time the Belgian manager has lifted a League Cup with a treble tilt very much set to go down to the wire.

But as Rangers handed Celtic the Scottish Premiership title advantage with a 3-2 defeat in Dingwall, you'll forgive Rangers fans for fearing the worst in the club's title challenge.

With Philippe Clement grilled on his side's title credentials, the Rangers manager addressed a brief press conference after the defeat to Ross County.

And the Ibrox boss reckons this is as bad as he ever seen his side; even if won't be conceding the Scottish Premiership crown just yet.

Philippe Clement press conference Ross County v Rangers

What's the main thoughts after that?

"That we threw away the points today. That we didn't start well enough first half on the ball, in the duels. We get our chances also, we were not lethal enough also in the opportunities that we got in the first half, although a few clear ones. That you come then in a good way into halftime with 0-1 leading. I warned them that it was not good enough the first half and that I wanted to see more second half and keeping the clean sheet but then you concede two goals in five minutes or something. And then you start chasing the game. So that makes it more difficult. You give energy to the opponent, they get a lot of energy, they put their bodies all over the pitch, in front of the ball to make the decisive tackle or duel or whatever. I think the last half hour we played much better and I want to see that urgency 90 minutes long and not 30 minutes long."

Is it frustrating given the goals came so quickly after you'd warned the team?

"Yes but it doesn't matter in the end how fast we lost the lead. There were too many mistakes made in our defensive part which is not usual for our team because we've been the team who've conceded the least goals in all this period together, in this five six months. So there was a few strange goals to get against. We didn't score enough goals with the opportunities that we had today. In the end you give a lot of energy to the opponent and all the credit to Ross County also that they played with a big heart until the end. But we need to see that the team don't get so much energy because we need to be better with and without the ball."

How much harder is it going to be to win the title after the defeat?

"It's not about that. We need to continue what we've been doing. It can make still a lot of shift. We need to focus on ourselves and to go every time hard to get the three points and it starts on Wednesday. I want to see a different performance on Wednesday than what I saw today."

How deflated is the team?

"I don't know if you ever played football but if you lose a game you're very disappointed, that's normal. It's now about showing the mentality and tomorrow to step into the building with a lot of power and belief to take the three points in Wednesday."

The team went to the fans, is it about getting a reaction with so few games left?

"I think it's already a big step forward that they went to the fans and showed their respect for everyone who travelled that far. So that shows also how much respect there is from both sides and it's now about standing up on Wednesday and taking the three points. It's all about that. So we've been now six months together. I didn't see a performance in these six months like we had today so we need to take the good lessons out of that and react because they showed enough times that they can do much better than they did today."

Will you need to win your remaining six league games?

"I'm not a mathematician, so I don't know. We are going to go every game to win the game, it's all about that, then we can see the last two games what the ranking is. The same story that it was three days ago or one week ago, that stays the same. We need to be focused on us. Maybe that's part of today but it's not an excuse. It's been all week about anything than about football in our club and around our club, maybe that influenced also things but it's not an excuse. We need to win games in whatever situation."

Why was your teams so poor defensively today?

"It's in duels, it's about communication, it's about positioning, it's about a lot of things, so we're going to discuss that tomorrow."

Did you shake hands with the opposition manager?

"I went inside directly but I will shake hands with him directly after. No problem."

Was that just frustration?

"No I wanted to prepare really well what I had to say to the team. So nothing towards him, a lot of credit for him, what he's been doing here and a lot of respect towards him also."

Looking forward to Wednesday, is it a frustration not knowing where the game will be played?

"Yes that stays a strange situation. But that's not in my hands. I need to focus on the football and that's what I will do."

Does that impact your preparations not knowing where the game is?

"Of course because you don't know which hotel you need to take for the moment. But ok, that's decisions that are taken above my head."