Our man reckons serious questions have to be asked about the direction Philippe Clement is taking the team James Tavernier is going to be “disappointed.” Is he not always like that? In terms of a long-term rebuild that will need to be completed in phases, Philippe Clement will refer to a project only partially completed.
And perhaps they will both hold onto the illusion that yesterday in Glasgow’s east end, the difference between their club and the champions from across town was simply three goals. However, they would be deluding themselves about the reality.
And Rangers have been doing it for so long that their own supporters are experiencing a great deal of misery, anxiety, and what seems like never-ending embarrassment as a result of these derby days. No, the reality is that these fans are about to give up, just like captain Tavernier did yesterday afternoon when his team was being humiliated by their neighbors, as unpleasant as that may be for them to accept.
Celtic’s 3-0 win could easily have been doubled. It could have been four or five before the half time whistle allowed Clement’s players to escape from the beating that was being inflicted upon them. And that’s precisely why serious questions have to be asked about the direction Clement is taking this team before any more trust can be afforded to the Belgian.
From the outside looking in, Rangers appear to be regressing at quite a staggering rate and the gulf between his side and that of Brendan Rodgers looks set to widen into a chasm over the coming months. There may be only five points separating the two of them at the top of the table after four league games. And yes, the season is only one month old.
But only the most optimistic Rangers supporter will not concede already that yet another title is already disappearing out of sight. And optimism is thin on the ground these days.
It was bad enough that they found themselves locked out of their own ground before the campaign had even begun. But now, not only are Rangers homeless off the pitch, but they are completely and utterly spineless on it.
And it has left them stumbling hopelessly from one calamity to the next while occasionally getting some respite to go back to base at Auchenhowie and repeat the process of licking their own self inflicted wounds. They certainly seemed to be in a rush to get off centre stage yesterday as they capitulated to another Old Firm mauling and this latest rout means Clement has registered zero wins from this fixture after five attempts.
And yet the Rangers board have locked him into a new long term contract in the belief that he really does know what he is doing and where he is going, when it looks very much as if the entire club is hurtling in entirely the wrong direction. Clement’s first major responsibility yesterday was to select a starting XI which would be robust enough to withstand the whirlwind which was about to come at it, from every conceivable angle.
The Belgian acknowledged as much by firming up his midfield, where Dujon Sterling’s considerable muscle was added to the burgeoning partnership between Connor Barron and Mohamed Diomande. That seemed like a smart move even although it meant, in order to do so, Clement had to sacrifice a more creative, forward thinking option by leaving Tom Lawrence on his bench.
The burden of causing Celtic problems further up the pitch fell upon the shoulders of a front three of Rabbi Matondo on one wing, Vaclav Cerny on the other and Cyriel Dessers fronting it all up through the middle.
Dessers did what Dessers does. He ran about a lot, he bounced off the impenetrable duo of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Liam Scales, threw his arms around every now and then while botching whatever slim pickings came his way.
It’s been the same story for a calendar year now. For Rodgers, it was all as stress free and straightforward as it’s possible to be on derby day.
Mind you, having experienced only one defeat from his previous 18 of these basket case encounters, the Celtic boss has learned how to cope with the madness of it all and bring it under his control.
He even had the luxury of the most expensively assembled substitutes bench in Celtic’s history, with six of his reinforcements costing a combined total of around £30m – just to further alleviate any in-game tensions.
Read more news on
sportchannel.co.uk
Leave a Reply