Manager Praises Gers Desire And Hunger

PHILIPPE CLEMENT praised the desire and hunger from his squad as they overturned a two-goal deficit to take a point in this afternoon’s Old Firm derby at Ibrox.

Second-half goals from James Tavernier, Abdallah Sima and Rabbi Matondo saw the sides play out a dramatic 3-3 draw in the final derby before the Scottish Premiership split.

Speaking to RangersTV at full-time, Clement said: “It is the worst scenario you can have in an Old Firm to go behind in that way after 1 minute, so you get a knock and after we had difficulty to come into our normal rhythm.

“We then get a second goal against and in a home game that is for sure not what you want, that is the worst scenario that you can have in mind.

“The reaction in the second-half was really strong and that is what I want to see from my boys. The desire, hunger, never giving up and a real mentality to always go full to change the result and to change the scenario.

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070424 Rangers vs Celtic, Mohamed Diomande 69

“It is amazing also to see how the fans are behind the team and I hope today they get confidence for the next couple of weeks that this team will never never give up and they always will fight until the last second.

“You need to be strong in your head to do that, it is easy to give up and it is a big change from five months ago in that way, so the team is taking big steps. I think the fans are also taking big steps in that they see what this team can do if they keep on supporting them.

"That is what I want for the next couple of weeks, that we stick together in every situation because there are going to be difficult situations. We need to stick together and go full for it.”

With Abdallah Sima and Rabbi Matondo both coming off the bench to score, Clement was happy with the impact of his substitutes.

He continued: “In all good teams and all big teams it is not about 11 players, those days are gone, it is not possible with the intensity of the games to go every time with the same eleven players.

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070424 Rangers vs Celtic, Abdallah Sima Goal 105

“I am really happy with Abdallah coming back, you see directly his impact also although he has been out a long time.

"I am very happy with the goal of Rabbi, because it is something that we have been working on a lot in the last couple of months, that's why he was happy with the staff when he scored the goal, and he is becoming a different player when he does those things.”

Looking ahead to Wednesday night’s trip to Dundee, Clement insists it is important his team continue to take it one game at a time.

He added: “It’s game by game, we need to continue like that and not look too far forward. If the scenario is not our way, we have to keep on pushing to get it our way and stick together like this to get three points as many times as possible.”


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