PHILIPPE Clement says his side will have to adapt this weekend as they head to Rugby Park to face Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership.
It’s the first meeting of the sides this season, and after coming from behind to win 2-1 in the last match there back in February, Clement knows what to expect on Sunday afternoon.
Sitting down with the media at today’s press conference, the manager said: “I expect a very tough game, we know it is a place where you need to adapt to the circumstances and that is not an excuse, for sure not.
“We need to adapt to the style of play they have and the surface we play on, they are a team who like to compete with the Old Firm. They are looking forward to that, so we are also looking forward to the battle to get the three points. We saw the game last season and that for me was the first experience there, so I want to repeat that experience.”
With the squad back together after the international break, Clement provided an injury update as he revealed Ross McCausland is a doubt for Sunday’s fixture.
He said: “Sometimes you come back from the international break with knocks so luckily it is not the case, the only one who is still doubtful is Ross, but he got a knock with us. The national team were probably not happy with that, they treated him, but it was not good enough to play so he is back in training, but he is not 100% so we will see in the next few days.
“Ianis Hagi will be suspended so that will be a pity, and Oscar Cortes will be out for several weeks so we can’t expect him back too fast. Ridvan, I expect back training next week and Rabbi Matondo later on that week.”
The manager also said Danilo is back training with the squad but said the striker's return will be managed given his recent injuries. He continued: “It is not the same as a player who was playing for nine months, and then he is three weeks out with an injury and then comes back. This is a different case but I follow the orders of the medical and performance staff to do the right things with him.
“We adapt everything we can for him, like we do with all players coming out of injury, but in his case, we need to build it up in a nice way.”
With Tuesday marking a year in the job for Clement, he was asked to reflect on the past 12 months at Rangers.
He said: “It is difficult to discuss all of what happened in one year. It is good that we won a trophy along the way, I wanted more. We needed to do a big rebuild in the club in every sense, on the pitch and off the pitch so I am putting all my energy into that day and night to get this club back where it belongs so the future for me is much more important than the past.
“There are steps made, but we still must make several steps to get where we want to be. That is with staff, with players, with the board, with the investors and with everybody together making things better.
“I have seen steps made, I have also seen that we lost things along the way when people left and now, we need to rebuild again with players, with people from outside of the staff so it is about working hard to improve things.
“I don't want to speak about limitations, I don't want excuses, I don't want anything of that, this is a club where one ambition is to win the next game and every game, it is my ambition also.”
On the opportunities for young players, Clement used Ross McCausland as an example and said it is up to the Academy players to show what they can do when they train with the first team.
He said: “It always works from two sides and for sure from the player's side, so Ross is a good example. He has established himself in the squad the moment he gets his chances, and it will be the same with the other young lads.
“A lot of them have been training with us. In that way you cannot make any predictions, it is about what they show on the pitch and that is football, that is playing in a top club.
"It is not that you can say okay, we are going to give five games to one player to show himself.
"It doesn't work that way, it is about winning and picking the best team and three days later again the best team in that course of games so if they show themselves more and more, they will get more and more chances.”