Philippe Clement reckons Vaclav Cerny was the bluest man in town after his Lyon sitter – but the Ibrox boss has been delighted with the winger’s red-hot response.
Cerny was left distraught earlier this month when he blew a golden early chance as Rangers welcomed the Ligue 1 giants to Glasgow. His failure to bury the ball into an empty net with the game goals proved costly as Clement’s men were blown away 4-1. And it caused further concern for the Czech wideman after he also missed another massive opening in the Light Blues’ Europa League opener away to Malmo.
But Clement has been impressed by the way the on-loan Wolfsburg wideman has put those blunders behind him, netting clinical doubles against St Johnstone and this week’s opponents Steaua Bucharest. Asked how important those goals could be for the 27-year-old’s confidence levels, he said: “Two weeks ago, straight after the Lyon game [he felt down]. He had a big chance in Malmo also. He was the most disappointed person I think in all Glasgow about missing those chances.
“That’s because he knows his quality. We know his quality also, but he has all my confidence. I told him that in that moment also. I told him that he has all my confidence because he’s not only a really good player but also somebody who’s working really hard for the team.
“So it’s really a quality goal [for his first against Steaua] to score with your lesser foot and curl the ball in like that. So I want to see more and more of that the next weeks and the next months. That’s a challenge. We cannot be satisfied after Thursday evening, but we are there. This needs to create much more hunger to become better and better.”
Gers now turn their attention to St Mirren on Sunday afternoon and Clement wants his men to build on their Bucharest win as they look to put the disappointment of last week’s costly Killie defeat behind them. And the Belgian boss admits he’ll be happy with three points – no matter how they come.
He said: “[It doesn’t have to be] a big win. Just a win. With all respect to St Mirren. It’s about winning the games. And if we can make it big wins, we will go full for that. But we know it will be a hard game again. To break open the wall and not concede on the transitions and on the set pieces.
“So it’s going to be a challenging game after a big European night. It’s about recovering well. And in that way my young team also still needs to learn how to control their energy in the right moments. So those are again lessons to take out of this experience. And to grow in that over the next couple of months and years with all of them.”