MANAGER Philippe Clement hopes to see a ‘braver’ Rangers moving forward as the boss prepares for his first match in the dugout tomorrow afternoon.
Rangers take on Hibernian at Ibrox in the Scottish Premiership with the Belgian looking forward to his debut game in charge in front of the home supporters.
He sat down with the media at this afternoon’s pre-match press conference and said it has been a busy week but said he is looking forward to seeing how the squad can grow in the coming weeks and months.
Clement said: “It is busy, but we expected that, it has been a week of analysing everything, staff and players getting to know everybody, the way of working and the way I want to implement things, but everyone has been really motivated to do the right things.
“Of course, it is never perfect in the beginning, that is impossible, but I see the good intentions. In the last two days the international players have come back so that is also a difference, and I am looking forward to tomorrow to see the first game and see the little seeds that we planted this week to see how fast they will grow.
“It is about being brave, it is about doing actions, playing forward and not thinking we keep the ball and now we are safe. It is about giving the ball forward and making runs without the ball, without being afraid. To do that first you need to create a structure for the team, so we made the first steps in that way.
“We want to make clear if we attack in a certain way, what is everybody’s position at that moment, and we can develop this week by week, so it is an interesting journey.”
Clement says this week has been about prioritising what is most important, with a limited time on the pitch with the players ahead of his first match in charge.
He continued: “I saw good things in training, but I know the game is different. There is another atmosphere, another tension than in training sessions so I don't expect the perfect game tomorrow.
“I expect there will be things that go wrong but it is important how you react in that moment and that they are open to learning, to become better and I have seen that the last couple of days. It is now continuing this story into the next weeks and months to make it better and better.
“I hope to see differences, but I am not Harry Potter with the magic stick who can change everything suddenly, it doesn't work that way so that is the tough balance.
“When you come in during a season you need to analyse what can be better, what is good and then prioritise what is the most important thing this week and then next week because if I try to do everything at one moment then I kill the players.
“I am somebody who stays calm, I know the way to go but it depends on how fast players react, how fast players understand things because it can be that you need to explain some things only once and other things ten times before they understand. Football is a sport of 10 million or 10 billion small details, I see a lot of details they already possess, and they do in a good way, and there are quite some details we need to make better.”
The manager hopes the supporters and team can feed off each other, with dominant and aggressive football on show on the pitch.
“One thing that is important for me is I want to create much more of a bond between supporters and the players again,” he continued. “I think it is a crucial thing for this club, from both sides, for the players but also for the fans so let's start with that tomorrow.
“It is also one of the reasons I came here and not other places, because I love the passion, I am a football addict, I love the atmosphere in a stadium.
“My focus will be on the players, winning games and playing better football with a dominant aggressive style.”
Clement provided an injury update revealing Todd Cantwell, Ryan Jack and Danilo will return to the squad for tomorrow’s match as he looks to welcome more players back to the squad in the coming weeks.
He added: “I always work in a really good way with medical staff, and I am really on top of that so in the beginning all medical staff are a little bit surprised because I want to know all the details.
“I want to discuss everything, I want to work individually with the players towards what they do during the week physically to make them ready for games not only for the next game but for the next game for the next couple of months – I want to create the strongest physical team in the league.”