Rangers fans are loving Philippe Clement’s first serious pre-match presser as Rangers boss, after the new chief delivered an impressive and honest assessment of the club’s position, what he can do, in places how he can do it, and even went so far as to swear!
Clement was speaking this afternoon with a candour and directness rarely seen from Rangers managers, but with a clear deep understanding of the sport of football and how to structure it, in a way Rangers supporters just have not been privileged to witness from any manager pretty much since and maybe even including the Great Walter.
But it was explaining about how not to be stupid in one’s own box or half which led to two fascinating outcomes:
1: Clement actually swore, which had to be bleeped out by RTV editors.
2: He hinted he will not be tolerating the absolutely garbage defending from the likes of Tavernier, Goldson and Davies (without naming them) that Rangers fans have had to tolerate from Gerrard, Gio and Beale before him.
This is reassuring. We couldn’t care less if Popeye the Sailor Man is at the back, as long as he does his job well – equally, Ronald McDonald could partner him, and as long as he can defend we’re happy with that.
And this manager will tolerate no less.
He said:
“It’s not risk to do stupid things. It’s not to dribble in our own box or give sh*t lateral passes in our own half. It’s not about that.”
That’s about as clear as it gets. You do stupid things for this club and you will not play for this club.
Risk, of course, is to take calculated chance on something that could pay off and work well for the team, not to disengage brain and fail to do the basics of defending or the sport in general.
Fans are loving this. This is the first time we have a no-nonsense manager who might even make players of our pathetic backline, a backline which has been appallingly coached for far too long.
This guy knows the game better than any manager since Walter, and he really does know what he’s doing.