Philippe Clement got off to a “fantastic” start as Rangers boss with a 4-0 thrashing of Hibs which Neil Lennon didn’t see coming.
The former Celtic boss spoke on PLZ Soccer’s The Football Show on 23 October to laud the impact of the new Ibrox boss after securing a “convincing win” in his first game in charge which showed a “different sort of standard” after Michael Beale’s reign fell apart.
Lennon expects the Belgian will be looking to put his “own stamp” on the side after the January transfer window but kicked off his time in charge in ideal fashion, and also singled out two-goal scorer Abdallah Sima for his strong form.
Lennon said: “The best possible start. I didn’t see the result coming because Hibs have been in a decent run of form but it shows that he’s in the building, fresh voice, different sort of standard that he wants to set.
He’s got the response that he was looking for and that’s quite a convincing win, and Sima seems to really in good goalscoring form at the minute, I have to say he took his two goals very well, so good start and he must maintain that now.”
He went on: “You want to put your own stamp on it but you can only do that by getting results and the players starting to believe in the way that you work.
So from Clement’s point of view in his first game to win 4-0 is a fantastic start for him, but I would say he will already be looking at the squad, challenging them, looking at where it needs improving come January.
“So I’d imagine at this stage it will be, ‘bed myself in, get a style of play that will suit the players’, and then put his own stamp on it after January.”
Hope returns
If Clement can continue surprising people with his results then things will be looking distinctly up at Ibrox after a start to the season that did nothing but disappoint following Beale’s raising of hopes over the summer.
The former Club Brugge boss’ early signs suggest he might offer more substance than his predecessor who often did more talking than delivering.
A 4-0 home win where decent opposition are made to look poor is something that has been far too infrequent so far this term, so more of the same for the foreseeable future would lift the mood significantly.
Rangers largely funded the extensive business in the winter via sales but wouldn’t have been expecting to do more significant work so soon.
Just as with Beale a year ago it will be improving the current squad first and foremost, then gradually shaping the team in his own image, which will be the order of the day.
The Englishman started relatively well too but didn’t last 12 months, so his successor still has a long way to go to rescue the situation.
