Philippe Clement believes there is still better to come from Rangers after he began his reign at Ibrox with a 4-0 cinch Premiership win over Hibernian.
The 49-year-old Belgian, appointed last Sunday as replacement for Michael Beale, had clearly asked his players to increase the tempo and get the ball forward quicker and they reaped early rewards when attacker Abdallah Sima scored a seventh goal in seven games in the 17th minute.
Belgian midfielder Nicolas Raskin drilled in a second just before the interval, Sima added a third in the 65th minute to make it nine for the season and striker Cyriel Dessers got a close-range goal 10 minutes from time.
Asked if he was impressed by the start to his tenure, the former Genk, Club Brugge and Monaco boss said: “Impressed is a big word. I am happy. I am happy about the result. I am happy that the seeds we planted this week, that the team is trying to do them as well as possible.
“I still saw a lot of details we can make better but I seen a team who stayed well in the structure and made the runs and the tempo we played at.
“The most important thing was the reaction after losing the ball or missing a chance. The reaction was good and that is a crucial apart of modern football.
“It is like the honeymoon. Everything is new. They need to confirm this the next week, the next month.”
On the other hand, Clement was not happy to see left-back Borna Barisic go off with an injury after 10 minutes to be replaced by Ridvan Yilmaz who is not in Rangers’ Europa League squad.
The new Gers boss does not know yet if Barisic will be fit for the game against Sparta Prague on Thursday but noted that Todd Cantwell, Ryan Jack, Kemar Roofe and Danilo were not fit to start the game – Cantwell and Danilo got on in the second half.
Jose Cifuentes returned from international duty with Ecuador with a knock and Tom Lawrence (calf) and Rabbi Matondo (knee) remain out.
Clement said: “On the downside for me, I see a player going off after 10 minutes – we will see (for Sparta Prague), I don’t know the situation.
“I see players who struggled to play 90 minutes also so there are still several players injured or coming back from injury so that is also going to be a main task together with the performance staff, to get everybody at his best physical level to produce this kind of game and better every few days for the next couple of months.
“It is not about one moment then afterwards too tired to do it again three days later.”
The Easter Road side’s six-game unbeaten run – five under Nick Montgomery – came to an end and the Hibs boss said: “It was a tough afternoon. It was a defeat.
“Obviously disappointed with the manner of the first goal. I thought we were building into the game at that point, frustrating them and we’d created a couple of half chances on the counter.
“It’s a disappointing goal to concede. And then they start building a bit of momentum, the fans are buoyed by a new coach coming in.
“The second goal, my view at the time is it was a foul on Joe Newell. That’s my opinion and I’ve watched it back on the video – he gets kicked from behind, into his Achilles before the ball is touched.
“I genuinely thought VAR would have called that back – but it wasn’t to be.
“The second half was difficult, a couple of sloppy turnovers, the pressure was off them and they’ve got quality players.
“They were more clinical than us in the final third today. We lacked a bit of creativity, didn’t generate many chances.
“It wasn’t to be, it’s a defeat and we accept it. We cop it on the chin and move forward.”
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
Clement wants ruthless Rangers after nervy win over Hearts
Rangers boss Philippe Clement called on his team to show greater ruthlessness after they were made to work for a 1-0 win over Hearts in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.
Cyriel Dessers put the Gers ahead after just six minutes at Ibrox, diverting James Tavernier's effort past visiting goalkeeper Craig Gordon.
However, Clement's team failed to build on that quick start and inched over the line amid a tense atmosphere, moving back to within nine points of pacesetters Celtic and Aberdeen.
Speaking after the game, Clement acknowledged his players are fatigued after a gruelling run of fixtures but added they must start taking their chances.
"We made too many wrong choices with the ball and became too sloppy," Clement said.
"It's the end of a very busy period, though, with a lot of travelling and they're all human beings, not robots.
"We missed scoring the second goal and we know that until you get that goal the other team stays in the game, so I want us to kill the belief of the opponent faster.
"I'm very satisfied with the result and the deserved three points. We didn't show the same quality in the second half and we didn't finish off the game. We had a few chances, but it stays nervous until the last second."
Rangers host Dundee United after the international break, while Celtic visit Hearts and Aberdeen travel to St. Mirren.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
