Next Tuesday, during the international break, Philippe Clement will clock up a full year in the job.
So now seems like an appropriate moment to ask an obvious question. Where exactly are Rangers going under their Belgian boss? While we’re at it, here’s another one. Has it reached the stage where some of the club’s supporters might be hoping that Celtic beat Aberdeen when the top flight reconvenes in a fortnight from now?
Because a win for their city rivals in that top of the table clash would at least give Clement the chance to eat into the five point gap which has opened up between his side and Jemmy Thelin’s now that the Swede has made it seven wins from seven in a blistering start to his big red revolution at Pittodrie. Celtic, of course, have also posted a blemish free start to the domestic campaign so someone’s O has to go when this pair collide at Parkhead and it would be interesting to know what result Clement himself will be hoping for.
Does he really believe his side are serious contenders for this season’s title? Or would he be satisfied to see off this burgeoning threat from the north east and settle for a solid second place finish instead?
The very notion may seem ridiculous and not worthy of serious contemplation but then again, anyone who managed to sit through Clement’s side’s 2-0 win over St Johnstone on Sunday night can’t have escaped reaching the conclusion that Rangers are going nowhere fast right now. On the contrary, they appear to have lost their sense of direction completely and, 12 months into Clement’s tenure, it remains impossible to identify what the manager is actually asking his players to deliver on his behalf
Occasionally, every now and then, there is a flicker of something that looks vaguely like an identity. The midfield partnership blossoming between Connor Barron and Mohamed Diomande, for example, shows signs of upping the pace, dynamism and intensity at the heart of a side which became a pretty predictable and laborious watch towards the end of last season.
Both of these players have an eye for a forward pass which means they are capable of breaking through defensive lines by delivering the ball crisply into dangerous areas for those positioned further up the pitch. But it doesn’t happen anywhere near as often as it ought to and usually, when it does, it breaks down, either because of a lack of cohesion in the final third or a lack of clinical finishing.
To cut Clement some slack, this may have something to do with the fact that the likes of Vaclav Cerny and Nedim Bajrami are still bedding themselves into the team while Hamza Igamane remains as raw as a pound of Moroccan mince. The 21-year-old is the only alternative to Cyriel Dessers and showed flashes of genuine promise in back-to-back cameo appearances from the bench against both Celtic and Dundee United.
But he failed to back that up when he was given a first start against Hibs and didn’t look much better on Sunday night when thrown on for the bench after Dessers had tested the patience once too often. It really is a crying shame for the big Nigerian who could not hide his simmering frustration as he made his way onto the bench after seeing his number come up midway through Sunday night’s second half.
His effort and commitment to the cause cannot be questioned but the truth is, the harder he tries, the more his touch seems to desert him. And that represents a huge problem for the team’s general style of play as, for the most part, it’s the responsibility of the No.9 to act as a focal point, to hold the ball up and to link midfield with attack.
That simply can’t happen when the ball continually bounces off his toes and this clumsiness is probably the main reason why the Rangers fans are constantly on his case, even though he’s weighed in with seven goals over the first few weeks of the season. And yet, with Brazilian striker Danillo under lock and key in the treatment room at Auchenhowie and Igamane seemingly not ready to lead the line, it’s left to Dessers to huff and puff his way through one game after the next.
On top of that, comes Clement’s confusion over Ianis Hagi – does he rate the Romanian or not – as well as the unfortunate fact that the man who took his No.7 shirt, winger Oscar Cortes, can’t seem to string two games together without joining Danillo on the casualty list. All of which means Rangers continue to slog their way through games like Sunday’s without convincing their own supporters that they are capable of mounting a sustained and credible challenge at the top end of the table.
And that brings us back to the start. Where are Rangers headed under Clement and can the manager provide any irrefutable proof that his ongoing rebuild is not, in fact, an irreversible regression? He will argue, and with some justification, that wages have been slashed and that his squad has been trimmed, reconstructed and future proofed.
But none of that will matter if Rangers remain stuck in third place in what’s supposed to be a two horse race. Aberdeen’s sudden re-emergence as a potential force to be reckoned with then is just another hugely inconvenient factor to add into the mix as far as Clement’s increasingly gloomy situation is concerned.
In normal circumstances any Rangers manager would be hoping for them to puncture Celtic’s bubble by racking up an eighth straight league win when they arrive in the east end of Glasgow a week on Saturday. But right now Clement’s circumstances are far from the norm.
So, one way or another, by the time he takes his own team to face Kilmarnock at Rugby Park the following afternoon, he’ll have to show he really is capable of moving Rangers forward in the right direction. Before it’s too late