• Update on Sima, Matondo, Ridvan and Jack
  • Message to the players during treble chase
  • Addressing reports of interest in Tavernier and Goldson
  • Players have six games to earn new Ibrox deals

Philippe Clement has spoken to the media ahead of the fixture with St Mirren. Here is everything he had to say.

Can you give a fitness update on your players?

The fitness update is that Sima will be out. We are in contact with Brighton about that for the next couple of weeks. Rabbi Matondo also got a bad tackle during the game against Hearts so he is doubtful for the weekend. Ridvan Yilmaz and Ryan Jack I expect back in training next week.

Do you expect to see Abdallah again this season?

I hope to see him playing again this season and he hopes also. He is very motivated for that.

It must be tough for him?

Yes but he is a terrific lad. He is somebody with really strong mental strength, a really positive person. He takes it and he wants to come back as fast as possible and works hard for that.

How do you view this run in?

It is exciting. It is nice also for all the fans to have the best team competing with each other. It creates an extra tension, I think you guys like that also. I come out of a country where they make a crazier system, what I didn’t like, and that is dividing the points. That is also a split, we have play-offs where everybody plays two times against each other. There is the dividing of the points and that was always, for me, not honest because it changes everything. It is like the first part of the season looks less important. We had one time that we were 20 points ahead of the second and lost the first game and suddenly it was from 20 points to seven in two days. Mentally it is a strange thing. I think it is a good system in Scotland to have at the end of the season the best teams competing for the most important part of the season.

How much has the cup win changed the morale?

Not. And I said it after the game also. If you don’t have the morale, you can’t play that way against Hearts. Hearts play a very good season, they took a lot of points, they have been a strong team. If you can win the game the way we did, you cannot do that if the morale is not good before the game. It is impossible.

When is the earliest you think Abdallah can return?

I wish I can say those things. I am not a doctor. I am not a guy who is smart in reading scans. I listen always to the specialised persons and we are in discussions about that also with Brighton and doctors. I cannot say anything about that yet.

Are you saying to your players if they win all these games they could be treble winners?

No, I tell them win the next game. Of course. It is the only way, not only here, in every league. Everybody who is busy with more games loses his focus. It is about the next game and to show yourselves. We had a bad week but you need the next game to be there and if you win you need to win the next one also or it is not good. If you don’t win you need to react. It is game by game, as simple as that, putting all the energy into that. It is exciting. For me it is an evaluation moment the split like we had in Belgium. You can see that everybody has played against everybody. If we look back, and I want to know everything, the analyst give the overview. If we look back at the last six months working here together, we are the team who took the most points. We took four points more than Celtic in that period. If you look to only games against Premiership teams then it is even more because we won also the cup final and we won against Hearts. I think everybody in the club would have signed for that six months ago and nobody believed that would be possible. It is now repeating that again. It is not a guarantee but it is something they have proven and now they need to prove it again in the next six games.

Are you saying to them to look at where they have come from?

Of course. They have proven it. It is not something that you hope for and it comes falling out of the sky. It is something they did already. It is now repeating it and making it better.

Do you think it is fair that after 33 games some teams have played two at home against Rangers and some have played two at Ibrox?

No. That is not fair.

How do you solve that?

Less teams in the league and play less games. Have a system like that. Or more teams but more quality then. I don’t know enough about the all the country if you can have more teams in the same quality of league because you need to watch out for that. I am not in a position to speak about those things because I don’t see the lower league games. The only thing you can change if there is not enough quality is less teams and more playing against each other and then we have the split. It is what it is. For clubs in general, if you look over a big period, it stays honest because you have one year more home games, the other year less. Maybe for managers and players it is less honest because we are less long in a club.

All six top six clubs have something to play for…

Also for the other thing to be there in the top six. It is something that everyone is working for the whole season. For some teams if they achieve that they have a really great season. I think all six teams who are there now deserve to be there also, they did a really good job.

How much do you expect to learn from your players in these games?

It is exciting as a manager this process. I have been in it long in Belgium with that system because it is even more pressure, like I explained. Then you see differences with players, but also all the people around the players, all the staff. It is massive that everyone doesn’t go in a rollercoaster of that moment because it can shift so fast. I gave you the example of Brugge and we became champions that season. This season I think Union was 19 points ahead of Brugge and now they play five games and Brugge is in front of Union and Anderlecht is in first position. It can go really fast. In this way also it will be competition with six teams who are close together so all scenarios are possible and it can make a lot of turns still in the five final games. Alex told me one he became champion in the last four games when five points behind for example. Everything is possible. It is good for you guys that there are a lot of scenarios and things to write about. For us it is about thinking about the next game and doing everything, everything, everything possible to win that game.

Do you expect James Tavernier and Connor Goldson to be part of the squad next season?

I didn’t hear Steven. Yeah, I expect. I expect them to be here next season, yes. That is my expectation.

Have you spoken to them about their futures?

No. There is no reason. My players come to speak with me about that if they have doubts or if they want to go or if they are out of contract. We have that relationship. If I need to speak with every player where there is a rumour about, then we will not train too much I think or I cannot speak about a lot of interesting things. There are so many rumours in the world now and so many fake news also. If you every time need to speak about that it is a waste of energy.

Have you decided which players will be offered new contracts?

In big part, yes. But there are still six games to convince in another way.

So these last six games could affect somebody’s future?

Of course. Maybe somebody we could not count on enough the last season plays the next six games and is the best guy on the pitch. It is silly not to give a contract. Everything is still possible. It is in their hands.

Any further forward with John Lundstram?

Nothing to speak about no. There have been offers from the club, there is no agreement yet. That is the only thing I can say for the moment.

Do you expect him to agree to stay?

I hope that. I know he loves the club, I know he loves to be here. It depends what you can offer as a club and what other clubs are offering in this situation. That is why I don’t like that important players are at the end of contract and we talked about that already a few times. I don’t think it is a good thing for a club. It is something that will never happen again in the period that I am here, for sure.

Does John have other offers from clubs?

I expect he has, yes.

Leon Balogun came in and did well – do you see any reason to change that?

I can change. I have four really good centre-backs, for me, who did a good job this season. It is about every game looking who is in the best shape in that moment. It is about momentum. Maybe all four are in good momentum and then there are tactical choices to make. It will continue like it was the last couple of months, there is no difference.