13 vital issues Philippe clement needs to resolve as rangers enters transfer period.

13 vital issues Philippe clement needs to resolve as rangers enters transfer period.

The Belgian manager has been in the Ibrox hot seat for seven months and is expected to make significant changes to his squad this summer. Rangers will see a considerable number of incomings and outgoings this summer, which was unavoidable regardless of the outcome of the impending Scottish Cup final against Old Firm rivals Celtic in only 10 days.

With their Premiership title ambitions effectively dashed for another year, manager Philippe Clement will have a better notion of how he wants his team to look next season and what individuals in certain positions he needs to offer much-needed balance to his roster. The Belgian has spoken at length about his team’s lack of consistency throughout the season, but he is desperate to end on a high and enter the summer transfer window with another trophy to add to their League Cup victory in December.

Clement has been in the Ibrox hot seat for seven months. During that time, he turned the Light Blues into serious title challengers following a rough start to the season under previous manager Michael Beale. Momentum has slowed at a critical juncture, but a cup double would still constitute a great season for the club, which most fans would have eaten your hand off for considering the situation they found themselves in last October.

Once again, Celtic stand in their way, and Clement must find the correct solutions if he is to avoid another defeat at Parkhead. With that in mind, and the cup final approaching, here are 11 urgent questions for Clement to answer as manager and his injury-ravaged squad seek their first derby day victory of the season.

1. Does Celtic have Rangers’ number in Old Firm derbies? These questions will be posed to Clement and his players in the lead-up to the Scottish Cup final. There is evidently some sort of remaining psychological/mental hurdle that the Rangers must overcome. They have repeatedly failed to deliver in critical occasions, most recently at Celtic Park. Clement has been in a familiar predicament during derby games since he took over the club. Hampden is the final chance to get rid of all that animosity this season.

2. Did Celtic simply get better players? Celtic have not been at their best under Brendan Rodgers this season. Their recruitment last summer was sloppy, but it appears like Rangers will fail to capitalize as they prepare for another season without a league title. Celtic have dominated recent derby meetings, but more significantly, they have had difference makers throughout the season, such Callum McGregor, Matt O’Riley, and Kyogo Furuhashi, who can take a game by the scruff of the neck. Rangers haven’t had that, and the biggest regret will be the position they’ve put themselves in since Clement replaced Michael Beale. They haven’t managed to handle high-pressure circumstances and let their opponents back in.

3. Time to detect and correct significant problems. With so much at stake in last week’s derby against Celtic, Rangers managed only one shot on goal throughout the game. That explains everything you need to know. Clement must bear the most of the blame for this, even though he believes that a substantial squad rebuild is essential. He is still working with the players he inherited from Beale, and although he deserves credit for eliciting incremental improvements from those he has, there has been no discernible hint of a definite style in the way he wants his club to conduct business. Another loss against Celtic in the cup final

4. Is Clement capable of making his own mark on the team? The Belgian will have his first real opportunity to sign his own players when the summer transfer window opens next month, but if he fails to demonstrate that his new-look side can play with more swagger and panache rather than lumping the ball long, questions about his future will undoubtedly arise. Clement has put a lot of trust in specific players this season, including John Lundstram, Cyriel Dessers, and Fabio Silva. That may be owing to a lack of choices in certain places due to injury, but why has he placed so little faith in the likes of Nicolas Raskin, a guy many supporters assumed he would look to?