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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
David Irvine

Clement has brought Rangers 'fear factor' back after 'friendly' Beale, says McCulloch

Lee McCulloch reckons Philippe Clement has brought the fear factor back to Rangers.

The former Ibrox midfielder has suggested Michael Beale was perhaps too "friendly" with the squad before being sacked as manager.

But McCulloch is confident Clement will have no authority issues at Ibrox due to his relentless drive and focus on creating a winning culture at the club.

On BBC Sportsound, McCulloch said: "He's got an authority, doesn't he? Probably for the players under the previous manager he was maybe a bit friendly with them and there was no authority there.

"I think with this manager there's a bit of a fear factor with him, he's spoke about creating a winning culture which so far he's done. And a competitive environment and I think he's wanting competitive training and that's relaying onto the pitch.

"The players shout for every single thing the referee's gonna give, they're together on the pitch, I see a system. I see the way they're gonna play, I love the way they mix the play up, it's not having to play through the third every single time.

"There's not a specific way you have to play football. You look at the best teams in the world, yes they pass the ball but they also go in behind as well and they get runners in behind and go into the striker, they get midfield runners doing unselfish runs off to go and support the striker.

"You see the identity and tonight they go 1-0 up and you're thinking don't sit back. They didn't, they went for the second goal. If you're being super utter critical, which I'm not, but they didn't go for the third."

Clement has already made tweaks to training at Rangers since replacing Beale and is confident the players have bought into his approach and have reconnected with the supporters.

He said on TNT Sports: "We talked about the basics and getting the synergy back with the fans because it was gone a few weeks ago. It is all about hard work and most important is to do the things together and that's about work on the training ground and work with a lot of videos also to show what we have to do to implement the principles we want to get in the team.

"I am really happy with all the team stepping into the story. Every meeting I see people with a lot of attention and also the senior guys, the leaders in the group are really pushing the story in the dressing room."

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