PHILIPPE Clement was delighted with the reaction from his side as they defeated FCSB 4-0 in the UEFA Europa League this evening.
It was the biggest win in a European group stage for more than 20 years with goals from Tom Lawrence, Hamza Igamane and a double from Vaclav Cerny securing the three points.
Speaking to RangersTV at full time, Clement said: “It was a good reaction after the disappointment of Sunday. I asked the players to start on the front foot, to be aggressive and to play forwards. We trained a lot on where to find the spaces and the players did that brilliantly with some really nice goals and keeping a clean sheet, so it was a very good evening.
“I am happy that people outside will see what I have been saying in the last weeks and months that there is a lot of potential in this squad, but we need to work with them together.
“They need to get to know each other, get connections, get to know the club, and everything about life here in Glasgow. So much change was made so it is now about building on this and creating more consistency that way with performances like that.
“It is a mental test also because it is not nice to get all the negative reactions after the game so that is an important thing being a player at this club and those are things we talked about before players came here. You need to be strong in your head to work here or to play here but in the moments you perform really well you get a lot back like they had today.
“The fans were also amazing and gave a lot of support to the players. If you don't have the other side, you will not have this positive side also it is about passion. For a lot of people this club is their life, it is their passion and I want to get this passion in the squad and I see this more and more.”
For Igamane, it was his first goal for the club since joining in the summer, and Clement feels he has a lot of potential for the future.
He added: “It is a really good goal and a goal we have seen several times in training. He is also one of the guys who has not been in the building long and he has been injured in the beginning also
“He is a player with a lot of potential for the future but where we still need to work with him to make him better and it is normal he is still a young guy so these moments can help him a lot in his adaptation.”
Clement handed a European debut to Zak Lovelace as he came off the bench with 15 minutes to play at Ibrox. On his debut, the manager continued: “He was a little bit nervous with the occasion but those are experiences to take. Probably, other players deserved more to come in, who have done their job in the last couple of months, but Zak comes out of a really difficult period personally and also with injuries.
“I wanted to give him this moment for all the hard work that he has been doing and to create again experience for young players to work on and to grow on.”