PHILIPPE Clement has revealed how giving the Rangers players cooking lessons has helped the Ibrox club to come to the boil ahead of their Premier Sports Cup final against Celtic at Hampden on Sunday.
Clement’s side performed superbly in their Europa League league phase match against Spurs in Govan this evening and were unlucky to only draw 1-1 with their Premier League rivals at the end of the 90 minutes.
The Belgian was delighted with how his charges, who will defend the League Cup they won last year against their city rivals this weekend, played against Ange Postecoglou’s men.
He was particularly impressed with how his Nicolas Raskin acquitted himself in midfield and revealed how addressing his eating habits with the catering staff at Auchenhowie had helped his countryman to rediscover his best form.
“The biggest difference with Nico is that physically he's taking really good steps,” he said. “He has spoken himself about his diet. That's also a thing which the club is helping with. “So the chef in the club helps Nico with his food. But it's not only with him. We're giving cooking lessons to all of the guys who don't have a wife or are single so they learn also now.
“You can laugh with it. But those are important details, that they learn what the good food is, what they need to eat, not the wrong things. They learn something out of it that will help them also in the future if they have a relationship with somebody.
“I know I never was good in that. So I get some stick about that with my wife. So it's good lessons from my side also. No, to stay serious, Nico, tactically is taking really big steps about what to do in which moment. And he's still a young player. “He didn't play this role so much, and for sure not at this level. But he's taking really good lessons and all staff is helping in that way. After every game, we are showing images of what was good and what can be better. “With a squad like that, you need to get all the details right because football is a game with a lot of details that you need to take control of, the things you can control. And Nico is learning really fast. “Same as with Dio [Mohamed Diomande], same with Conor Barron. All young midfielders, all exciting talents. It's about in the midfield, it's the engine of the team. “It's important to do the right things, the right moments, and like this, controlling the games really well. To take out transitions, to have good positioning, but also to be available and knowing where to play, where to play the balls. So, yeah, I'm really happy with the evolution of Nico, but not only him.”
Rangers centre half John Souttar limped off in the first half and was replaced by Leon Balogun and Hamza Igamane, who scored at the start of the second half, also appeared to pull up with cramp before making way for Cyriel Dessers. Clement was unsure if the duo will be available to face Celtic at Hampden on Sunday when he spoke after the Spurs draw.
“I cannot say anything for the moment,” he said. “I wish I could because that would ease my mind also towards tomorrow, but it's not the case. So we will see in the next two days how it is with them.
“About freshness? We're not going to think about that. We're going to recover as fast as possible and we're going to throw all our energy into that game at Hampden. We want to give our fans again the good feeling that they had last season in this League Cup.
“And this performance means that players can have a lot of belief in what they are doing individually and also together in the next couple of days and play a really good game against Celtic.”
