Philippe Clement couldn’t rely on Mohamed Diomande to pass from A to B as Rangers lost further ground in the title race last weekend against Dundee United.
But the Ivory Coast ace insists his boss can trust him to get even better after a Europa League performance that offers hope for the future. Diomande looked a shell of the player Clement had forked out £4.5million for last January as he was hooked at half-time following a brutal performance in the 1-1 draw with United. But with Tom Lawrence injured and Ianis Hagi ineligible, the Ibrox gaffer had no choice but to turn to the 23-year-old again as he side rolled up on the Riviera to face Nice.
But this time the ex-Nordsjaelland ace refused to let his boss down, bursting back to life in a 4-1 leathering of the Ligue 1 outfit. And now he has vowed there’s more to come as Rangers seek to replace their dismal domestic form with the clinical stuff they’ve been producing on the continent.
Diomande said: “I’m happy the gaffer trusts me. And I’m happy that my team-mates also know that I’m going to give my best. It was not my best game at the weekend but I won’t say Thursday is my top performance either – there’s more I can show.
“I’m always going to work for my team and show that I’m there to make a difference, to get on the ball. It’s not always going to be good but I’m always going to show that I want to be on the ball and I want to do what I’m good at doing.”
Gers were better than good as they nailed Nice on the Cote d’Azur. Vaclav Cerny got them off and running before Diomande capitalised on some horror defending by Nice to make it 2-0. The French side were just as generous with the openings they gifted Hamza Igamane for a double to kill the tie.
But it was the ruthless streak displayed by his players that most pleased manager Clement. While the Light Blues look certain to reach February’s play-off round at the least, there are no guarantees with their form back home as they continue to stumble domestically.
They head to Perth at lunchtime to face St Johnstone and Diomande admits his team need to show the same hunger for goals in the Premiership that they’ve displayed in the Europa League. He said: ”I’m happy we put ourselves in a good position and we did that because we scored goals and won the game.
“I would say, in Europe, it’s one of our best performances so far. To come away and score four goals, I mean, it’s not easy – but we did it.
“We’ve been struggling to score in the league, even though we create chances, but this will help boost our confidence to score goals and to be dominant in the league. That’s one thing we are lacking in the league.
“We need to finish our chances – that’s one thing we didn’t do especially against Dundee United. We had all those chances but couldn’t finish the action. But we showed the other side against Nice and I hope we can keep it that way.” Meanwhile, Connor Barron believes improvements abroad can help Rangers find their feet again on domestic duty.
The Scotland Under-21 midfielder impressed again on Thursday night and said: “We’re on a good run in Europe. It was another positive result against Nice and another step closer to qualification.
“You never know what happens in football. All we’ve got to do is take it one game at a time. Obviously it’s another positive result and we go again.
“It’s about the momentum we’ve got. We have to keep building on it. It was a top performance, a team performance, on Thursday night.
“You’ve seen a group of boys fight for their club – and that’s what it should be every week. We’ll look to go and continue that against Saints hopefully. We learn from our mistakes. We keep the positivity there within the group.
“You saw that on Thursday. It’s about starting a run now. We just need to keep going and keep doing the right things. Keep positive.
“We know what we did the other night in France. We know it was a good result but we’ve got to turn quickly. Just after a defeat, you’ve got to turn back and come back to realisation quickly. It’s probably the same after a win, you’ve got to bounce back again. It’s a humble group but we’re willing to go again.
“It’s about us putting a smile on the supporters’ faces. On Thursday we did that and it’s about us going again and doing that against St Johnstone.”