Philippe Clement says Celtic are even stronger than when winning the double last season.
And the Rangers boss admits his new-look side must bridge that big improvement to cause a Hampden upset. The last time the clubs clashed with a trophy on the line was May’s Scottish Cup Final. Brendan Rodgers’ Bhoys grabbed a dramatic late winner through Adam Idah. Clement says Rangers have undergone the greater revamp since then. Now the Premier Sports Cup Final will determine if that’s been enough for them to keep pace with Celts.
Clement said “It’s different players, different game. A lot of different players on our side; on Celtic’s side not that much difference. Also more depth in their squad, a bigger squad than they had last season. So they have been better than last season. That’s also a reality we know. So we need to be better also. But we have a totally different squad than in that moment. So it’s about now with this Rangers squad and getting the best out of them.”
Clement got just that with the Thursday night Europa League performance against Tottenham. And he wants them to start with the same intensity and fire this afternoon.
Clement said: “I always want to start on the front foot, and winning duels. You cannot be dominant and you cannot win games if you are not in that state of mind.
“Because then you only defend and you need to suffer all the time. It’s not what we want. We want to create something. I didn’t one time park the bus somewhere in my entire career.”
Nico Raskin set the early tone in midweek and went on to post a stunning display. The 23-year-old is building on all the promise of his first six months at Gers before fellow countryman Clement arrived. The Belgian lost all momentum last season through intermittent injuries. But he’s now key man in a Clement midfield that’s taken time to come to the boil.
Clement said: “Nico’s is a very important role because you need to keep balance in the team when you attack and when you defend. Nico has been doing both roles in a really good way. It was something we needed to rebuild.
“Because we had two experienced players there last season who knew in which moment to do what. With the younger midfield, we had to work on that to make it better again.
“To find this balance, to let him understand which moment to do what for the team. Nico is taking really big steps in that way. In the same way that (Connor) Barron is making big steps, (Mohamed) Diomande is making really big steps.
“Because they are really hungry to learn to be better for all the collective video sessions but also the individual ones. I am really happy with the evolution Nico is making. Because I know him a long time already, I know his qualities, I know also what the things were to work on.”
The Scottish Cup Final was heading for extra-time before Idah pounced in the 90th minute. When asked if his squad had been practising penalties, Clement revealed that’s a regular focus thanks to a training ground competition.
“We do that already all season,” he said. “I said to the players we will do it quite regularly.
“We have a list in the dressing room and the player who is last on the first week of January, there will be a sanction about that. So we’re not doing that especially for this game, it’s been going on since the beginning of the season.”
Rangers have two days less of a build-up than Celtic who played out a Champions League stalemate in Zagreb on Tuesday night. When asked if Celtic not being too dissimilar to Ange Postecoglou’s side was a help, he replied: “It helps because the preparation is really short.
“If it’s totally two different styles, it’s even more difficult to prepare really well in this very short time.”
Philippe Clement was previewing live and exclusive coverage of the Premier Sports Cup Finalthis Sunday from 3pm– Celtic v Rangers. Premier Sports is available to stream from premiersports.com or via your TV provider on Sky, Virgin TV and Amazon Prime as an add-on subscription.