After Rangers defeated St Johnstone, Philippe Clement, the manager, had to examine himself due to an injury sustained by John Lundstram that left him fuming.
Due of Rangers’ subpar center player conditioning, Clement has had to deal with a number of injury problems since joining the team.
However, brutal difficulties that have forced several of Rangers’ best players to miss time due to injury—Danilo needed knee surgery, and now John Lundstram might not return until after the winter break—have not helped the team’s situation.
However, Rangers prevailed 2-0 at Ibrox thanks to goals from James Tavernier and Cyriel Dessers. Philippe Clement said the following during his news conference following the game:
Philippe Clement post-match press conference v St Johnstone
Philippe, what do you make of your team’s performance and the overall result tonight?
That was a lot of what we accomplished really well. From the beginning to the finale, we were in complete control of the game. Playing against ten men who are seated so deeply that there is no room left behind them makes the spaces extremely narrow. However, we also maintained an organization against which we had no transitions; my defenders remained concentrated. We had many opportunities to score more goals and make a few excellent stops, so yes, you’re waiting for that second goal, but we didn’t give up and kept trying to get it.
Just on the injury front, what was the problem with Kemar Roofe? Was it a reoccurrence of his previous injury?
Tomorrow, we must analyze the situation. After the game, I didn’t immediately see him. I was therefore preoccupied with the game, so tomorrow we’ll see.
And John Lundstram, did he have to come off because of the tackle?
Indeed. Another player has been dismissed from the game. To be honest, I’m extremely annoyed about that. And after this game, this is also my biggest worry. Once more, a player left the field. It’s not looking good that we might not be able to get him back before winter break.
On that, what you’re saying there, what did you make of the tackle? Did you speak to the referee? You’re saying ‘another player kicked off the pitch’, do you feel that over-physicality, bad challenges, have been a problem in the Scottish league since you’ve been here?
“I prefer not to experience strong emotions right after the game. Since I’m getting a little hot under the collar right now, it might be best to chill off before discussing leagues or anything else. But with your studs forward like that, it was obviously not a good challenge. Later in the game, we had an even worse one where the man, fortunately, did not strike my player, but the intensity was enough to break a leg. Thus, I believe those things are bad for football.
What kind of damage has been done to John, Philippe, in terms of the injury itself?
Yes, it’s his ankle. We’ll see what happens over the course of the next few days.
Philippe, on a positive side, clean sheet tonight, Cyriel Dessers makes an impact off the bench. What did you make of the actual performance? I know obviously you’re frustrated on the injuries front etc but how did you think about Rangers’ player and obviously Dessers’ impact as well?
“Yeah we were dominant all the time. We could’ve been better in our last touches, in our finishing, in the last action but it’s difficult, the space was really, really, really small. So if you score the second goal earlier, maybe you make three, four, five. We also had the chances and a few good saves from the goalkeeper, just a shot blocked or whatever. That’s part of football. So for me the most important thing is we win 2-0, a well deserved victory, clearly much more chances than the opponent. Clean sheet. We have had a series of a lot of games. We had a team that write two times history in four days, but stays focused. It was easy now to be satisfied and to think it would be an easy game and to become sloppy.
So those are really good points. And it’s now to get good recovery tomorrow and to build towards Sunday and to see which players are available because from my three strikers I only keep one striker who is available and, I don’t know, five midfielders out or something for the moment. So that’s a really bad thing. I am pleased about the performance of Kieran Dowell today, who did a good job in midfield. Dujon also, again the second half. Leon King could take some experience, that’s why I gave him also the minutes there. And then we going to fight altogether really hard the next couple of weeks to take as much points as possible.”
Philippe, right now is it just about mentality, getting through this really difficult set of games where there’s a game every three days?
No, quality as well. We won’t be able to accomplish our goals with just mindset. In addition, there was a great deal of quality, excellent position play, and excellent actions. Perhaps we were too tired to make the right decisions and provide the ideal pass or move. However, I also gave a couple players a rest so they would be ready for Sunday. Because of this, we need to set up a solid rotation for these final four games.
You brought James (Tavernier) off with five minutes left, was that to feel the love of the Ibrox crowd?
“My main goal was to ensure that I don’t lose any more key players over the next few weeks and to avoid taking any chances that another one might be dismissed.”
