Michael Stewart admits he has a degree of sympathy for Philippe Clement amid Rangers’ testing start to the season both on and off the pitch but reckons that the next three games could be make or break for the Belgian boss.
Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to Kilmarnock was a second in the last three matches for the Light Blues in all competitions and has left them trailing joint-Premiership leaders Aberdeen and Celtic by six points. The former Genk manager overhauled his squad in the summer with 11 signings, while big names including Borna Barisic, John Lundstram and Ryan Jack were allowed to leave on free transfers.
Pundit Stewart has questioned just how much of an impact Clement really had on the recruitment side of things in the summer, with Rangers also needing to balance the books by offloading players. Gers welcome FSCB to Ibrox on matchday three of the Europa League before league clashes at home to St Mirren and up at Pittodrie against Jimmy Thelin’s high-flying Dons.
Speaking on Sportscene, he said: “I feel for him to a certain extent because I look at the squad and it’s not as strong as it was before. How much of that is down to poor recruitment that he’s been involved in? And how much of it is down to cost-cutting? I think there is an element of that there but one thing for certain is that the two games in the next week are huge and have potential ramifications.
“They have St Mirren at home off the back of the European game and then it’s Pittodrie. That is a mouth-watering game and is one that is going to tell us a lot about how their season is going to unfold.”
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