Here's everything Philippe Clement had to say at his press conference ahead of Rangers' trip to face Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership.

Can you give us an update on your squad, please? Who is available and who is not?

Tom Lawrence and John Souttar will be available. We need to see tomorrow if it's for 90 minutes or not. Oscar Cortes is still not, but in a good way doing his rehab. Rabbi Matondo is also still not, but also in a good way doing already warm-ups with the team and then being outside with the physios. Ridvan Yilmaz doing some parts of the training with the squad, but not fit enough yet. Danilo is on his way back, but not in his best form of course, but he's getting better and better. 

You will have Ianis back from suspension?

Of course, the more players we have, the better it is. Also with this amount of games, you see every game. There are some people with niggles and small things, so we need to take everything into account.

What sort of game are you expecting up there?

A big battle. A team that plays really physical football with fast transitions using their speed in front. A very collective team with a very good team mentality. So in that way, not so many differences from what it was last season when we went there. It was quite similar in that way, but in another formation with some other players also.

Obviously, there's a gap between yourselves and Celtic and Aberdeen so early into the season. How much importance do you place on this match in that context?

We're not busy with that, because like you say, it's early in the season. It's about us. It's about us taking the points. We need to take the points, we need to focus on that. We're now, after this game, one-quarter of the season or something. Last season, we came back, we were in front, and at the end, you don't get a title. So it's about us taking the points. It's all about that. And not looking at the others, because you lose time and energy for nothing about that. It's about us taking as many points as possible and raising our levels.

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Have you told your players what sort of atmosphere they can expect up there in the rivalry between the clubs?

I spoke already about something, but of course, we have one boy in the building who was there before with Connor. We have also several players who played there before. We have other new ones, so it's my task also and I did today to speak about circumstances and the way a team will perform, how they will play against us. So, yeah, they know.

Are you confident Connor will be able to handle any criticism that comes his way from the Aberdeen fans?

I worked with a lot of young players in my career. As a player and as a manager, he's one of the most mature that I've met at that age. So, it will be for him the first time like that. But I'm sure he's ready for that and he's just focused on football. That's his strong point also. He's only busy with football and with his ambitions to become better and become important for this club. So, I don't have any doubts about that.

Is this a game you feel you have to win tomorrow night? 

We have to win every game. We have to win the first game of the season and we have to win the last game of the season. So, there's no difference in that. We always want to win every game.

What would that win do? Not only for the league table but for the confidence and belief of this team?

There is a lot of confidence and belief in the team. It would help from the outside maybe [a win against Aberdeen]. The perception around the team and the evolution that the team is making. In that way, it can help a lot. All the team has the confidence to go there to get a good result. But also a lot of respect to Aberdeen and what they've been doing at the beginning of the season. And how they've played and how they took their points. So, it's going to be a huge battle. Like they showed also against other good teams in the league that they played really well.

You talk about the perception of the team. Is the outside perception maybe different from what you see? Do you think there's a bit of a disparity between the outside view and the view inside?

About the idea of what the squad is now and what it will be in a couple of months? Yeah, for sure. But that's normal. That's normal because people who don't see everything that's going on in the building. How people are training. How they are reacting. How they are playing. And you're not busy with that process. You only look at the results or one moment. And even then it can be one moment really good. Oh, this is a really good player. And next week he doesn't score and he's a really bad player. I think Cerny is a really good example in that way. Two, three weeks ago he was for some people a really bad player. And then he scored five goals in four games. So, it's important as a player, as a manager, as a club not to believe those emotions. Because if you do that, you will never create stability.

Philippe, you say it will be a big battle and quite similar to matches last season. But what's different is Aberdeen's form and the results…

They played really well last season in that game that we played there. I speak about that particular game at that moment. So, it was a tough battle that moment to get a result there. It will be that kind of game also again. With a slightly different formation, they played between the back and that moment. But it's also really direct. Using the base in front. Going into transitions and in the set-pieces really strong. And with a few really good signings that they made also to make more stability than last season. It's a really good team. So, a lot of respect to them.

Do you approach the match as you would any other this season? 

Every game has another approach. So, every game it's different. The style, the strong points of an opponent to take them out. And also where to find spaces for ourselves. So, in that way, you need to find every game different things also. To win the game and to stop opponents. So, this is another opponent than St. Mirren was. But St. Mirren was another opponent to Bucharest. It's all season like that.

If you look at the form and results, people may be tempted to think that Aberdeen are perhaps favourites going into this match…

I don't speak about favourites before games, after games. I never do. I never said it about us also. It's just about tomorrow. Who's the best team? Or who's the team who gets the points? And we're going to go full throttle to get the three points. That's our mindset.

How pleased have you been with Nico Rakin in the last couple of games? 

Yes, for sure. And it's an important part in that way. It's a player that we missed nine months. And we had several of those. Danilo is also on that list. Oscar Cortes is also on that list. So, it's important to have these kinds of players back fit, medical staff, performance staff. All the staff did a lot of job to get there. It was also a lot of job to get Nico to adapt to the story of football now. And he's taking it in a good way and showing good performances. We knew it was a good player. That we knew from before. But it needs to settle into the team also. And to be complementary with all the other players. It's not to just put 11 good players on the pitch and then play a good game. It's about doing things together.

Are you excited? You spoke about confirmation before. Are you excited to see how the team reacts?

Yes, that's a really big test. I think it's one of the biggest that you can have in this league. To go to Aberdeen now. So, yes, it's a really good challenge. And that's what you need with the team. To overcome these challenges. And then to overcome them. And to grow out of them.

Do you get excited to see how they'll react? Are you looking forward to that kind of thing?

I'm looking forward to that, but I'm not excited by that. I'm excited by winning trophies. Then I get excited. Before that, never. So, I want to see this team grow. I want to see them fight hard together. I want to see them work hard every day to become better. I want to see players who are ambitious. I want to see players who want to be part of a team. Not thinking only about themselves. Because we need a bigger squad. 11, 14, 15 players. It's different when you play in a team where you only have the domestic games. You have much more rest. You can do it with a smaller squad. We need a bigger squad because we have the European games also. And they are more than ever before. Now this season. So, you need a rotation. So, you need everybody to be ready for the job. Ready for the team. All the time. With all the egos. With all the importance. Because playing a good game and then the next game not playing to be fresh for the next one. It's not always easy. So, in that way, this group is behaving really well for the moment. And I will be very firm on that also. Because that's what you need to be successful in four competitions. And we're working hard on that. And in that way, it's exciting to see all the dynamics. How everybody reacts. How everybody behaves. I think it's good. The example that Nana, for example, did. After the game or before the game. I don't know. After the game. How Tav spoke with him. That's what we needed. So, we need to continue in that way all season. Then really good things will come out of this team.