Rangers have taken some of the heat off Philippe Clement by sealing their place in the Premier Sports Cup final – but one former Ibrox favourite argues that the Belgian has a lot of hurdles to overcome before their Hampden showdown with Celtic comes around.
Three league defeats in their first 10 Premiership matches has left the Gers trailing league leaders Celtic and Aberdeen by nine points, but Rangers have fared much better on the continent so far this season, winning two of their first three games in the Europa League‘s new revamped group stage format. Next up for the Gers is a trip to Piraeus to face Olympiakos on Thursday, with a league clash at home to Hearts coming three days later before the November international break.
Clement’s men then return with Premiership fixtures against Dundee United, St Johnstone, Kilmarnock and Ross County whilst also having to navigate further Europa Leagues ties against Nice and Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham before they meet Celtic in the cup final on Sunday December 15. That date had originally been slated for a Premiership match with Aberdeen at Ibrox, which will now land on a rearranged date.
But with ex Celtic boss Postecoglou taking his star-studded Spurs side to Govan just three days before the Premier Sports Cup final, former Rangers winger Neil McCann knows his side are up against it to keep fighting for the big honours on multiple fronts. Speaking on Sportsound, he said: “Cup football is all about getting through, and they are in a final now.
“The next game against Olympiacos (on Thursday) is huge. But in this cup final that they have got themselves into, they are facing a Celtic side who are absolutely scintillating and showed Aberdeen yesterday the levels you have got to get to (in order to) challenge. The problem that they (Rangers) have got is that they play Spurs three days beforehand. So it won’t be easy.
“The games don’t become any less pressurised for Philippe Clement, he has to get this side functioning better and more consistent. They can’t just turn the tap on and win games because they are not at that level yet.”
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