CLEMENT: SUCCESSORS ADD VOOM TO THE SQUAD
When they host Hearts in the Scottish Premiership tomorrow afternoon, Philippe Clement wants his squad to harness the intensity of the Ibrox fans.
The manager of the Gers claims to have seen firsthand how the fans can motivate players to perform at their highest level in recent games and hopes for more of the same in this important league match.
“Hearts are a team with a lot of quality, they are well-organized, they rely on a very important player to score more than 50% of their goals, and they have the third best defense in the league which proves they are well-organized,” Clement told the media during this afternoon’s pre-match press conference.
For us, it will be about taking down that wall, asserting our dominance without appearing naive, and avoiding set pieces and transitions since they are equally skilled at those things.
We have to play our normal game and to have our fantastic fans behind us in Ibrox is also a major thing. It gave us a lot of energy in the last couple of games, so I expect a crowd who is really supporting the team from the warm-up until the end of the game and to push the players towards their best level.
The manager is pleased with the defense’s recent performance, as there have been just eight league goals given up under Clement and 43 goals scored in 18 league games.
He affirms that the team as a whole is responsible and says he continues to witness the group’s development both in practice and during games.
“It is crucial because if you give shots, chances, and goals away, you give opponents hope and belief,” Clement went on. I envision a football squad that is dominant and aggressive, but that never strays from our system to avoid giving up easy points.
“That is a challenge with so many people in attack to not give away chances, but the players understand the story and they are doing that better and better, but it doesn’t mean we won’t get shots against. I don’t expect the game tomorrow where we don’t get shots against, this cannot be the case against a team of the quality of Hearts, but we are also really ambitious to defend really well and that starts with my striker. It is not only about scoring goals, but they also have to do a lot of other things.
We will continue in this manner through the end of the season because they don’t just develop via playing games; they also grow via training and pushing themselves, their teammates, and one another. The number of points that other teams have truly doesn’t interest me. All we need to do is strive to be as ambitious as possible to win every game.
The manager provided an update on his squad with Todd Cantwell set to be out for three to four weeks with a hamstring injury, while Kemar Roofe will return to the squad.
He continued: “Todd will be out for a few weeks, of course that is a disappointment for him and for the team because he was in really good form, but it is part of football. We coped with those things in the last couple of months, so it is about other players stepping up and showing the right things for the team.
“On the other side, Kemar trained a few times this week with the group, and he will be in the selection also tomorrow. He will be back in the squad, he won’t play one half or something. It will be for not too many minutes, but it can maybe be important that at the end of the game you can put him with his goalscoring qualities and experience.”
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