Clement explains why Roofe missed Rangers' win over Hibs

How did you see the game?

It was very satisfying to see the way we played because Hibs have a good team. They’re on a good run after making good transfers in January. But we played a dominant game and were in control throughout. It’s a pity that we lost a goal from their only shot on target against us. But the reaction was very good and that’s been our strength this season. So there were a lot of positives today. The way we played, created chances and scored goals. It might have been four but we were unlucky because apparently Scott Wright’s boots are a bit too big. Before the game I had to make the puzzle with players coming back, in terms of who could start and who I wanted to come into the game. Everyone came in with the right energy and doing the right things for the team. They all know what to do in each position, which is important. You see the solidarity, hunger and desire we have to do the right things. And with good performances, the results come. That’s how it works.

You must be pleased with your side's mentality?

We have the desire to be on top of the game all of the time. If you do that, good moments come. We could have scored five or six today.  It’s about keeping that determination and believing in yourself and your team-mates, without starting to doubt or fear. I had a job in my first few months here to get that mentality into the players’ heads. But now I don’t have that job anymore because they know. They’re experienced together and that’s a strength of ours. in my time as a player, the best teams I played in were together for two or three years. We had winning experiences and losing experiences. We grew and became better because of that. This team has that experience but only in five months. They’ve reacted in such a good way and I’m proud of that.

Depth is improving ahead of next week?

We had depth today and players to choose from. Kemar Roofe and Kieran Dowell did a good job in training but weren’t selected. They were unlucky but after injuries they’re not ready to play for 90 minutes so I had to find a balance. I couldn’t have half of my selection unable to play 90 minutes. I had to take all of that into account and I had a few scenarios in my head before making decisions. But it’s important to have depth and the level is really high now in training. It will rise again in the next couple of weeks because they will be fitter, with more competition for places.

Impressed with Cyriel Dessers?

Impressed is not the right word with Cyriel. It’s normal, what he can do. And I think there’s still quite some margin to make with him. He’s working hard on that. For me, it’s not just the striker who has to score goals. They need to do other things for the team. Then they’ll get situations to score goals. It’s more important to have a team where everyone can score. That’s much more difficult to stop.If you have a team where one guy is scoring all the goals, they stop him and the story is finished. We score from everywhere, the strikers, the wingers, the midfielders, the full-backs and centre-backs. Only Jack Butland doesn’t score goals in this team. I want to see football like that because it’s difficult to stop.

How pleased are you for James Tavernier, becoming the UK's highest-scoring defender?

It’s an amazing achievement especially as he still has a couple of years to go so he can only make this record bigger and bigger. If you speak about the full history of football then you cannot imagine how many good defenders and how many defenders with good attacking qualities who have played the game. To be there on top – it’s an amazing achievement and we’re all proud of him. I said it in the dressing room also after the game. I don’t too often point out individual players, I don’t like it too much, but I had to do it this time. All the players are really proud of him, all the staff and the fans and everybody involved with Rangers. It’s really quite exceptional.

How ready is this team for the Old Firm?

I’m confident we can win against everybody. Are we at our best now? No. We had all the injuries and some players are not there at their best yet. But I also know that we can win that game and we have the quality to do that. It’s also not the decisive ending game of the season. We still have eight games to go. So, I’m focused on the next one and after that it will be the next one again. That’s the mentality of my players and they understand that’s the way. They are only focused on one thing and that’s performance. If they perform well then we have a big chance to get a result. And sometimes it doesn’t fall your way like we had against Motherwell. That can happen also although the performance was there. We will keep on pushing until the end in all these eight games and hopefully also two games in the cup.”

It was an end to end game?

Hibs have this quality, they have a lot of pace and good technical players. We got a goal against us that way and I was not happy with that. We could have done things different and better as we talked about at half-time. In the second half they didn’t really have one chance with those transitions. That’s a huge achievement against a team that’s scored the third most goals in the league. But we want to play dominant football and to create chances and to score a lot of goals – what we are doing. But we also don’t want to give away chances or goals. Keeping that balance is really important.”

How pleased were you with your side's response after the penalty?

Yes but he is not the only one. The whole team is now in that mindset. The past is finished and it’s now just about the next action every time, your belief, desire and hunger in yourself and in your teammates. That way we come back in a lot of situations in these last couple of months. This mindset is now in all the squad.”

101 goals this year - does that show how far your team have come?

It’s an achievement and we’re working hard on that. And I want to point out – as I also did it in the dressing room – that I’m also really happy with the goal of Rabbi today. For me it was one of his biggest working points to keep control of his shots. In the past he missed too many chances by shooting wildly and this time he had control to put it in the corner. He has been working hard on that over the last couple of months and I’ve seen more goals like that from him in training and now also in the games. There is still margin to grow with this squad, both physically and technically and I keep an eye on the guys who want to do it every day, who want to do extra after training as they want to become better.