Raging Philippe Clement slammed an unacceptable first-half mentality as Rangers were sunk by St Mirren.
The irate Ibrox boss admits he didn’t see the flop coming and could have changed almost an entire team at the break. Danilo equalised in an improved effort after the restart only for Caloan Boyd-Munce’s later stunner to leave the Belgian’s team floored. Clement didn’t hold back as he said: “They didn’t give it in the first half, that’s clear. We lost the game there, We cannot play like we played in the first half. That’s below level.
“It’s below par for everybody in the team. And that’s not the mentality you can accept at Rangers. That’s why I was so angry at half-time also. So I made two changes and it’s not about the two guys, it was the whole team. I could have made eight or nine changes maybe and there you lose the game.
“And that’s the frustrating part, that I didn’t see that one coming or nobody saw that one coming, if you see the consistency over the last two months. In the second half, you see what you want to see, the football, the intensity, the duels you want to see, you see the chances you want to see.
“The only thing that we missed there is to score two, three, four goals, which we could have done. But we lost the game ourselves in the first-half with not showing the level that we need to show.
“It’s not a tactical thing because there was no big change in tactics in the second-half. It’s about quality, that moment, intensity. That’s something to analyse deeply as a squad, how it can happen.
“They showed it in the second half that they can do it. They showed it also during the two months with a lot of games and a lot of games against really good opponents. So, it’s there.”
Rangers’ defeat leaves them 12 points behind Celtic in the title race. Clement said: “We don’t need to start calculating in that way. We need to show the level we showed in the second-half every game.
“We know from the start of the season that we have a new project and building something. There was consistency during two months, which is a long time.
“The reaction was there was also a second half, so it’s not that we start from zero again. But players need to learn that the level they showed in the first half is not acceptable at Rangers. You cannot have that.”
Clement also lost defender Leon Balogun during the first-period as the defender limped off. With John Soutar and Neraysho Kasanwirjo crocked, defensive issues are piling up.
Clement said: “Like I said before the game, you make a rotation to avoid these things. We cannot make more rotations than we did the last couple of weeks.
“But I don’t know what the situation will be with Leon. But it’s never a good sign if a player comes off in the first half.
“Also, as a team, it’s never good. You need to make a change because maybe we missed that change in the second half to make the difference and to score the second goal and to win this game.
“I don’t know [the injury] yet, to be honest. I didn’t have time to speak about that. I had other things to speak about in half-time and after the game also.
“So, I didn’t ask that one because I know the doctor will say he needs to make an assessment tomorrow. So, we will focus on that tomorrow.
“Now we have to focus on changing this game, what the team did in the second half. But then we need to finish it off also.”