Boss Philippe Clement has raised the eyebrows of Rangers fans after his post-match comments on Jack Butland’s performance against Kilmarnock.
It was a miserable day for the Light Blues as they failed to capitalise on Aberdeen and Celtic drawing on Saturday – as defeat to Kilmarnock meant the club were further adrift of the Scottish Premiership summit than they were at the start of the weekend. Rugby Park has traditionally been a tough place for Rangers to go but the manner of the toothless 1-0 defeat has sparked fury among the Ibrox faithful.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Clement was asked about why they struggled to get to grips with Derek McInnes’ side – and threw in Butland’s name as he put the fault on the goalkeeper for Marley Watkins’ late winner. The Belgian said: It’s about details. It’s about your right full-back at that moment, too late reacting to push forward with your defensive line and because of that, the player was not offside.
“So, yeah, those are details, but important details. And then we can react also better. Jack Butland is a little bit in no-man’s land in that moment. Small details with new players also. So we need to learn out of that, but we need to play better than we did today. That’s also clear.”
The nod to Butland has lead to some fans sensing tension behind the scenes in the Ibrox dressing room – calling back to the England cap’s post-match interview after Lyon demolished Gers in the Europa League. Some punters took it as a criticism of the boss as the Ibrox No1 declared a “different approach” was required.
One punter felt that the boss had kept the receipts as he fired back at Butland, posting to X: “He’s actually hung Butland out to dry for the goal. Souttar carries the can not Butland. No coincidence Butland took a swipe at his tactics against Lyon.”
Another chimed in: “Throwing Butland under the bus but the rest get off. My honest opinion they ain’t playing for Clement.” One noted: “Butland said something the other week, now Clement is just trying to get one back.”
An observer added: “Butland burying Clements tactics vs Lyon. Clement hanging Butland AND Tavernier out dry post-match vs Kilmarnock. Not a good look.”