Philippe Clement: Squad Must Embrace Hard Work To Come

PHILIPPE CLEMENT says his squad must embrace the hard work that is to come as Rangers kicked-off the Scottish Premiership season with a 0-0 draw away to Hearts.

There were chances for both teams at Tynecastle, but neither could find the breakthrough, and the manager said he learned several things about his squad.

Speaking to RangersTV at full-time, he said: “I learned several things about individual players, some positives and also come not positives.

"For sure in the first-half I could've changed maybe eight players but in the second-half there was a good reaction to do the right things.

“They understand that it is not only with the ball, but you also need to first win the duels and we lacked that in the first-half. In the second-half we were much braver with the ball, with the right positioning in our runs and the right timing but there is work to do in the next couple of weeks.

“It is always the case after a pre-season or after a while that you don’t play competitive games that it needs to come into the team and also with new players in so we will get there.

“It is hard-work, day by day for the players and they need to embrace that, and it is an exciting place for the players to play every three days competitively.”

Reflecting on the 90 minutes, Clement continued: “It was not a game for a goalless draw, there were chances in the two halves for both teams, but I was not happy with the first half-hour.

"We lacked personality in the duels, and on the ball but the last 10/15 minutes of the second-half was better and we showed the right images.

“At half-time we talked, and we discussed how to do the right things and then you see we play better football, we create more, and we have much more control of the game.

"We need to continue in that way like we played in the second-half. In the end if you look at the game, I think it is the honest result to have a draw and that Hearts dominated the first-half and we dominated the second.”

On new signing’s Connor Barron and Vaclav Cerny, who both made competitive debuts this afternoon, Clement added: “Connor played a good game but not at the level he played in pre-season, but it is also his first competitive game for Rangers. He will be a big asset for the future.

“With Vaclav you saw directly when he came in his qualities to make the right decisions and he is an experienced player with a lot of quality, and we need to get more of those types in that will help our young players.”


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