Philippe Clement came under criticism for some of his decision making against Ross County even if it was the players who were given the most stick.
The Gers boss will never get everything right, but with a squad that needs some serious work, he still has one hand tied behind his back.
After the dismal draw away to Dundee, Philippe Clement chose to defend his Rangers players rather than throw them under a bus, an approach that has seen fan media outlet Four Lads Had a Dream take aim at the manager.
Philippe Clement causes controversy with Rangers presser
Modern football is a totally different sport to the one that even Walter Smith had to contend with in his second spell at the club.
As we’ve seen with Man Utd players only this week, by simply liking social media messages, they can voice their displeasure at their manager and plead ignorance when called out for it.
It is a sport that has moved on from managers publicly calling out their players, we only have to look at Derek Adams short time as Ross County boss to see what can happen.
Also, we’ve seen already since he took charge in the Ibrox hotseat that Philippe Clement isn’t stupid, he doesn’t give too much away or let emotion dictate what he says.
There is no over exuberence or negativity either, in short, he’s honest.
You don’t have to agree with him though.
Did Clement “waffle” in defence of players?
On this occasion, Stevie Clifford from the Four Lads blog clearly has:
“A bizarre media press conference by Clement, everyone left almost speechless.
“‘Only one team trying to win’, ‘We created big chances’, ‘My players gave everything’, ‘We saw a reaction tonight’, ‘Fans have to stick with the players’.
“Whilst I may be blind as a fan, maybe I don’t get it, I just don’t see it at all, absolute waffle from start to finish.”
The only point I would disagree with is that Dundee were trying to win it, they were just adopting different and more passive tactics having seen what worked for both Motherwell and Ross County.
The frustrating thing is, they nearly did but for a block from John Souttar and a couple of smart saves from Jack Butland.
Rangers were better than they were on Sunday, which was awful.
Unlike some, I don’t think the draw with Dundee was down to a lack of effort or desire, it was down to quality.
We also did create enough chances that were good enough to win the game.
Philippe Clement also criticised his team too for not showing the cutting edge needed for Rangers to secure all three points.
And he was right.
Yes, it wasn’t pretty, but it was certainly a game that we should have won.
