Clement's alarming 9 in 18 Rangers record raises questions

Then, James Tavernier led the willing precession of players to take the acclaim of a jubilant away end, raising a fist in celebration. Yesterday, Rangers edged meekly to acknowledge those who’d remained with boos heard over the home crowd and blaring PA system, celebrating Kilmarnock's 1-0 win. The eyes fixed on supporters urging them down the tunnel, the minds surely wandering to contemplate, how has it come to this?

The annual Ibrox cycle of playing catch-up before the clocks turn back has returned. Aberdeen and Celtic’s 2-2 draw the day prior opened the door for Philippe Clement’s side to start a daunting month in victory and cut the gap at the top to three. Instead, that deficit now stands at six. The reason for anger over apathy come the full-time whistle was simple - Rangers didn’t get a result and their performance hardly merited one. 

(Image: Craig Williamson - SNS Group)

Rangers remain a club engulfed by crisis and off-pitch uncertainty with football hardly appeasing the mood. A year in, and despite the ongoing injuries that are a fact of life at Ibrox these days, the product ought to be better under Clement. If you’re not first in Glasgow you’re last and the good-will required to stay in a job when not winning can so quickly dissipate. There’s an acceptance of not winning at a club like Rangers only when a clear route to changing that pattern is visible. Supporters only swallow the pain if the process is worth it in the long term. When they begin to sense their toil is pointless, a lot of pent-up frustration returns. That, in effect, is the issue that Clement faces with a trip to Aberdeen a week on Wednesday presenting the very real possibility of dropping nine points behind the North-East outfit, as well as Celtic, before November.

After five league matches away from home Rangers have scored only once - a record shared with Ross County. Celtic, by contrast, have amassed 13. The Ibrox outfit’s xG difference is 0.79 again far lower than the league leader’s 1.68. xG difference measures the value of chances teams create minus the value of the chances they concede. The trends support what the eyes see - not only are Rangers performing poorly, the data doesn’t yet show a way out. Under the bonnet reflects what’s seen up top.

(Image: StatsBomb) Those trends are far worse for Clement’s men play away from home. Although the Belgian was keen to draw on the positives of recent weeks, speaking post-match, his side’s -0.04xG difference on the road doesn't leave much room for optimism. 

That was very much the story at Rugby Park. Yes, the visitors somewhat shaded the underlying numbers. Equally, anyone in attendance will have felt the obvious - if a goal was going to come it looked as though Derek McInnes’ side would be responsible for scoring it. Outside of set pieces, Rangers managed just 0.53xG, before Hamza Igamane's last 0.15xG effort they'd managed one open play shot inside the box that wasn't blocked. They controlled a lot of the ball without controlling the game and left the outcome in a state of vulnerability that one ball behind the defence could expose.

(Image: StatsBomb) Asked post-match what should encourage supporters that things can trend in the right direction, Clement said: “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.

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“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 [for] today. In another moment, we didn't pay [for them]. So the longer this team plays together, the better they will become.”

Continuing in a later answer, Clement insisted: “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.”

Much has been made in recent weeks of the manager’s pre-season declaration that the autumn months would see a better version of this Rangers side, as he rebutted on Friday: “I said that moment you will see a better Rangers team in October, November than in August. That was logical. You've seen already a better Rangers team in September than in August.”

​Good work has still been done in the most recent transfer window to lower this squad’s age and wages and there’s an acknowledgement internally of the need to add ‘marquee’ signings in key positions. Prior to yesterday, Clement’s team had picked up four straight clean-sheet victories following a 3-0 defeat in the September Old Firm. Aberdeen’s ability to earn a 2-2 draw at Parkhead in Jimmy Thelin’s first attempt hardly helps the optics, however. The difficulty Clement faces is not small margins falling in favour of the opposition at present, far from it. Beyond results, it is the nature of performances that troubles those watching on. When his side travel to Pittodrie a week on Wednesday, where is the belief of a result coming from externally?

Cyriel Dessers’ unsuitability for games that require a striker to link with his back to goal is glaringly apparent. Yesterday half of the Nigerian’s passes were misplaced. Far from the only culprit in an attacking unit that’s lacking pace and power out wide, the calls to tweak and change system will persist.

(Image: Alan Harvey - SNS Group) Initially, it was direct football that offered Rangers a domestic template under Clement. Fast play exposing space behind defences simultaneously led the team to not lose possession in dangerous areas, while the element of surprise was helpful. Clement’s team were aggressive and intentional but now, in transitioning to a style of play that progresses the ball at a slower pace, Rangers are struggling to break teams down. Bar a well-timed rotation to set James Tavernier racing down the inside channel no attacking pattern produced fruit yesterday lunchtime.

When Clement led his side to victory over Kilmarnock here in February it was an 18th win in 20 matches. Since that day he’s managed 18 league matches winning nine, losing five and drawing four.

The Belgian has received firm backing from those inside the club all summer and there is no suggestion at present that such sentiment shall change. After all, without a director of football figure or CEO in position, who would make that change? It is a product of Rangers’ constant change and chaos at an executive level that leaves them ill-prepared to safeguard this area. That point would stand if Clement had completed a treble and accepted an offer elsewhere in an alternative world. 

Since Rangers followed up their 2-1 win at Rugby Park in February with a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Motherwell the bubble has burst. It was the moment they hit the wall and the remnants of the collision are still felt months on. Performances, let alone results, like yesterday's do little to suggest that more are not around the corner.