At the sharp end of the season, there is only one thing that Philippe Clement cares about for Rangers – winning.
The manager has been around long enough to know that good performances tend to lead to good results but that the latter is always more important when trophies can be brought back to Ibrox.
What makes this mantra even more relevant for Philippe Clement is that the Rangers squad continues to be beset by injuries, which makes the win over St Mirren even more impressive, and the gaffer’s comments even more pertinent.
Philippe Clement sends mentality message to Rangers squad
For what feels like months, Clement has had to play players out of position in key roles.
Look at the win in Paisley.
Fabio Silva played on the left of a front three and Dujon Sterling on the right.
A number nine who can play as a ten and a right-back, both expected to provide creativity and fulfill roles that neither are used to under the most pressurised of situations.
Speaking after the win over St Mirren, the Rangers manager was quick to impress what matters most at this time of the year:
“In the end it is important to take the three points to go home and to know that you have four finals to go in the league and it will be game by game, going full to get the three points.
“Football is about the results in the end. Nobody remembers that we won 4-0 against Hibs in October with really good football or other games.
“At the end it is about the points. We had a lot of good games like that, but you need in a season games that you win with resilience or mentality or digging in together and fighting.
“There is not one team in the world who only win games in a very beautiful way, like the team did already several times. For sure, not teams who win trophies.
“You need both and they showed the right mentality today. Now it is getting good recovery and working towards next weekend to go full for the three points again.”
Winning is all that matters as Rangers target treble
Clement is right, with four league games and a cup final, winning is everything.
There is no point playing well and drawing or being the better team in the Scottish Cup final only to go home with runners up medals.
Against Ross County and Dundee, there was no shortage of effort, however, the quality was sadly lacking, as was the performance level.
The mentality wasn’t right.
Everything that they had been doing right to get to the top of the table just stopped.
There was no bravery in possession or players taking responsibility.
Against Hearts there was an improvement and again, against St Mirren, players were making more of an effort to make a difference, even if the execution wasn’t always good enough.
Philippe Clement would prefer to see the swashbuckling side of earlier in his reign, however, if Rangers keep winning, he will be more than happy – as will the fans.
