Clement: Rangers squad has 'more potential than people think'

Your thoughts on that game?

That you get the game that you expect, and all respect to Kilmarnock in that way. That's also why they've only been beaten by Celtic and us in almost the last year. But there's no excuse in that way. So we knew what conditions it was to play here. I was not happy with the first half in that way, that we didn't create enough chances and we gave away too many situations in the duels, that we were not good enough. On the long balls, in the first ball, second ball, it was much better in the second half. And that's then the disappointing thing, the moment that you take much more control of the game. In general, if you had a ball in the game, I think it was around 70% of the time. The moment you have the second half, the control, you get the chances there, you hit the crossbar, you have several corners, you have blocked shots, then you need to kill it off, and then it's disappointing to get the goal against like that. So with one blind ball behind the defence in, where our defensive line was not good at that moment, but those are things to work on with new players coming into the building.

The fact that Aberdeen and Celtic drew yesterday, you didn't manage to capitalise on that, does that make it extra disappointing?

Yeah, we have 30 games to go, so it's always disappointing to lose points because we want to win all the games. So we're focused on that. So there is our disappointment, and also that we cannot build on what the players did the last couple of weeks. For example, keeping the clean sheet, what they did in several games, creating the chances and being decisive. So we need to look at ourselves and make things better.

Is the booing from the fans a concern?

No, but it's normal that they're unhappy. There's not one person in the staff or one person of the players who was happy after this game, after losing. So that's normal. The players showed respect towards the fans, the fans showed what they felt about the results, and that's a normal thing. So it's about getting back the results on the pitch, that's the main thing to do, and then the fans go behind you.

The fans were unhappy about the fact there's still no chairman, there's still no CEO. Are these things that would help you if they were solved, or is that not going to solve the issues?

I don't want to go into that because I don't want excuses about pitches, wins, whatever. We need to focus on ourselves, on the team, on the players, on the new players coming in, to get them at their best level, on the players who were here, to get to their best level also, and to play better than we did today. I was not pleased with that game, for sure, the first half. The second half was much better, but then you get this goal against... In the end, if you win this game, what was possible in the second half, and you scored the goal, you can have a totally different feeling. But we didn't do enough to get that feeling, so we need to learn out of that and be stronger on Thursday and the Sunday after, and the weeks to come.

Before the game, Kris Boyd was on TV and he said that this team is weaker than it was last season, and there's a million miles behind Celtic. Is that a fair comment?

I'm not going to go in the comments of everybody who's talking about the team, so I'm not happy with the result. I'm not happy with a lot of parts in the first half, so it's my job to make that better. Kilmarnock always makes it difficult for teams here. Did you need to see more fight from your team? Did they have to battle more? You need to win more duels, which we didn't do enough in the first half. The second half was much better. That's one part. Not only with fights, you win these kinds of games. You need to do much more things than only fight. So all credit to Kilmarnock in the way they do it, and that's why they have also a really good record at home on the pitch here in these circumstances. But we need to adapt. There's no excuse for us.

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What should give fans belief that things can turn?

Yeah, that's what you've seen the last couple of weeks also, and there are a lot of players new here, first time playing at Kilmarnock. So the longer they play here, the more they're used to the circumstances. We get a goal against today where, and it's not pointing at a player, for sure not, but it's just explaining situations where a right full-back steps out, not together with the rest to put the team offside. It's those details that we paid cash today. In another moment, we didn't pay them cash. So the longer this team plays together, the better they will become. And the more they can learn out of the mistakes made and the good moments also, the good things that they did together, what they did already the last couple of weeks. And it's about working hard, working hard, staying together, digging in, and getting results. And that's the only way to get fans behind you, not the other way around.

You mentioned time, you need time. How long do you think it will take? 

So I will be focused on the sportive side to get the best out of this squad, what the squad is now. We spoke about that. To do that in one transfer window was impossible with the finances at this moment. We're going to work really hard with this squad, and there is a lot of potential in this squad. Much more potential than people see maybe for the moment. So a few weeks ago, people spoke also negatively about the pre-season, and after you get the praise also. So it's about working hard with them and making them better. And for sure, getting to know each other on the field in all different circumstances. It's a different kind of game to play at Kilmarnock today than to play the internationals game the last couple of weeks.

Do you accept that these results have to come a lot quickly now because you are six points behind yourself?

Yeah, but the only thing that's important is about winning our own games. That we need to do and to focus on that and to get like that a good vibe again. Getting things better, I think a very positive thing last week was our domestic clean sheet. We don't get a clean sheet today, so we need to take lessons out of that. Why not? Why we didn't score more goals also, and to become better. Is there concern about the six-point gap? No, there's no concern because we need to be focused on ourselves. If you look at the gap all the time, you forget to do what you have to do. It's about us, we need to win games.