Philippe Clement provided an 'unconvincing & contradictory answer' when addressing Rangers' problems against Lyon last night.
The manager came under fire from a section of the Rangers support following their heavy 4-1 loss at Ibrox on matchday two of the Europa League.
The Scottish Premiership side looked out of their depth against the Ligue 1 side, as Malick Fofana and Alexandre Lacazette both scored doubles.
Post-match, Clement was asked by Four Lads Had a Dream if it was fair to say that his team is easy to break on structurally, using last night and the defeats to Kyiv and Celtic as examples, and if it's a problem that he will look to rectify.
This Rangers team is wide open & tactically there are red flags everywhere, the midfield is weak. People are beginning to seriously question the manager. You can’t shout & ball at him or be disrespectful, but his set up is poor & we see it Unconvincing & contradictory answer pic.twitter.com/C6IIbpU9MT
— Four Lads Had A Dream (@4ladshadadream) October 4, 2024
The Belgian responded: "Of course we work on these details.
"You speak about those games but you don't speak about all of the clean sheets that happened after.
"I don't think we had not enough people behind the ball in the moments when we had goals against, but we need to defend better in the one-on-ones against top-quality players."
Fans online were having none of the manager's assertions though, as replies flooded in to counter what he said.
@Tyndale7 responded: "Hibs had 18 shots against us. Hibs. At Ibrox."
@jamiehunter72 said: "I really don’t see where he goes from here. Continually poor team selection, subs, tactics and I see no player development under him.
"Can’t even bring myself to listen to or watch his pre and post-match interviews anymore."
@petera1872 commented: "I agree he skated about both your & @adamski152 questions. It’s clear we lack a 6 to give balance however where I will agree with him is we started with real purpose & if we take our chances the game shapes up very differently. Mistakes cost us just as much as shape last night."
@NaeBull wrote: "Souness, a midfielder with Walter, a defender, both recognised @RangersFC needed a backbone in 1986 & built a team that could defend better.
"Walter continued that his whole career. Clement, a defender, hasn't built a team that can defend better at all. Speaks volumes to me."
@Colin_Chapman said: "A more pragmatic approach is required against teams who are technically better - playing one formation is lazy management."
@CKM_97 didn't hold back with his view, saying: "Claps back by talking about 'clean sheets' against poor teams. He’s finished."
Read more:
-
Ally McCoist's heart-warming moment with lifelong Rangers fan
-
Rangers manager on shock decision to replace James Tavernier
Some fans did provide a different view, as they backed Clement.
@ski19640 said: "Haven't agreed with everything he's said or done but last night we were playing a far better team than we are.
"We could have been better but you only really beat that level 1 out of 10. We do need a stronger spine though, that's obvious."
@calstuart_7 wrote: "There has been progress made but as usual yourself and other fans can’t see reason, that Lyon attack performance last night was one of the best I’ve seen against us in the last 5 years. These type of results will happen whoever the manager is."
@skoosh1 pointed out: "He's right though. Sit back and they work us out. Come forward and they turn us over. They are levels above, but if we had taken our early chances may have been a diff game."
