PLAY LIKE THAT EVERY GAME! Clement challenges Rangers players to replicate superb performance against Celtic on a regular basis
Philippe Clement secured his first win in seven attempts against Celtic before challenging his Rangers players to replicate their dominant performance on a weekly basis.
The under-fire Belgian’s team defied the loss of key players Jack Butland, James Tavernier and John Souttar to secure a one-sided 3-0 victory over their bitter rivals.
Ianis Hagi claimed the opener before second-half strikes from Robin Propper and substitute Danilo ensured all three points for the Ibrox side.
Despite a rampant performance, Rangers remain 11 points behind the champions – and Clement insisted the victory was far more important for the club than his own situation as manager.
‘The only thing is that you guys don’t need to start (writing) anymore about never winning an Old Firm (game), so that’s done,’ he said. ‘That’s the story.
‘I know, and I knew in June, that this was a really, really big challenge and I do it because I love this club so much and the fans and everybody in the building.
Clement celebrates Hagi’s opener with the scorer and Diomande
Hagi runs to his manager after scoring the all-important first goal for the Ibrox side
Hagi makes it 1-0 against Celtic with a superb strike in the first half
‘This is a massive club, but we’re not where we want to be yet and I want to be part of that – to get this club back to the level it needs to be.
‘Of course, I want to have this group (playing) every three days at this level, but it’s hard work and they need to learn that. Their bodies need to adapt to that also. We had this discussion about rotation and things like that.’
Criticised for dropping key players for the loss to St Mirren and draw with Motherwell, Clement defended himself again.
‘I hope everybody understands now that it (rotation) is important in moments,’ he said. ‘I don’t see players from other teams, and let’s say now from Celtic, playing every time 90 minutes. Kyogo has also changed, and (Adam) Idah is starting some games.
‘(Nicolas) Kuhn is also not starting all the games. Everybody was speaking about Hamza (Igamane) and Vaclav (Cerny). So I hope we can stop this discussion for the rest of the season or for the rest of my time that I’m here, because it’s the only way that you can do it in professional football, to work in that way.
‘And we need to continue creating depth in the squads. We don’t have the money to buy it.
Robin Propper makes it 2-0 for Rangers in the 66th minute
Propper, left, acknowledges the acclaim of the Rangers fans after scoring the second
Danilo made sure of all three points for Clement’s side with the third goal
The Brazilian celebrates his goal on a wonderful afternoon for the Ibrox side
‘Depth in the squads, we need to do it by work, by making players better, getting young players in or getting young players out of our academy to make them better, and creating the depth like this. So that’s what we’re going to do in the next couple of months.’
Clement would have faced serious questions over his future had another defeat to Celtic ended in a 17-point deficit at the top of the Premiership.
Handing all the credit to his players, he added: ‘I’m pleased for the team, I told you guys already a few times, I’m not here for myself.
‘So, yeah, very pleased that they get the reward that they deserve. So they didn’t get it in the League Cup final, and that was a harsh one. A cruel one. Today they got it. They didn’t get it, they grabbed it.
‘And that’s what I want to see. So it was a well-deserved victory. It was a very strong collective victory, with some players playing out of position also, but doing a very good job.’
