Embattled Rangers boss Philippe Clement turns to stats and tells fans 'no other option' after heavy Celtic defeat

The Rangers manager was speaking after his side were soundly beaten 3-0 by the champions in the first Old Firm derby of the season at Parkhead. While nothing is won in September, it already looks ominous for an Ibrox team in the throes of another revamp.

“See you here in May,” was Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers’ arch response to the critics on his return to Celtic last summer amid surprisingly muted scenes.

It was a bold statement and one he came through on. Clement responded to a question about the current gap between Rangers and Celtic by stressing that judgement cannot be made now. “We will see in January,” he said, with reference to when the teams next meet in the league.

Whether Clement, who signed a contract extension as recently as last month, is still here then remains to be seen. It’s certainly hard to see Rangers overhauling their rivals by then, or even looking capable of doing so.

However, Clement, who has spoken of Rangers being in a “new cycle”, is adamant that there are signs of hope. He claimed that what separated the teams was a “difference in efficiency” as he pointed to the bright start made by Rangers prior to being overwhelmed by Callum McGregor and co. 

He pointed to two good chances for Cyriel Dessers and Rabbi Matondo early on, although both were flagged for offside.

“You need to be clinical in these games, if we had gone in front it would have changed the momentum,” he said. “We did good things with the ball to create that, but we need to be more clinical in those moments. It was the same in the second half.” Rangers started brightly after half time but they were already 2-0 down. They also had some late chances after Celtic had gone three goals ahead.

Clement turned to statistics while making his point that it was a closer contest than some might have thought. “At the end, Celtic had 14 shots, we had 13," he said. "They had four on target, we had four on target. 

"But you lose 3-0, that's really a clear result - and a difference in efficiency. And of course, you give them a lot of confidence. If you are 1-0 in front and 2-0 in front, it's always easier to play. But ball possession was also equal today, 47-53 (per cent), between the two teams. But I was not happy with the reaction after the 1-0. It was not good enough.”

"We are just at the start with a new squad," he added. "A new team. In that way, there were really positive things in the beginning of the game, but you need to kill off the game then and to score. And then it can be another dynamic. And of course when it's 3-0, you need to shut up at that moment and accept that you have lost and it was not good enough. So we're going to work really hard over the next couple of months to be much better in January."

Asked whether Rangers fans have to be patient, he said it was the only option. “There's no other choice, of course,” he said. “It's a really big blow to lose 3-0 against Celtic. For all of us, for the fans, it's not something that you want. I also think we didn't reward ourselves in that way. It could have been a 3-2 or a 3-1 or a 3-3 if you have a good, efficient day today.

“But we didn't reward ourselves,” he continued. “We need to work on that and to work on a lot of other things also. But that's normal with so many new players and so many young players. Look at the average age of the starting eleven of Celtic today and our team today.

“So the best is by far yet to come with this squad. I've seen a lot of good things in training, and in the last few games.”