Illustration picture shows the stadium of Kilmarnock ‘Rugby Park’ during a training session of Belgian soccer team Cercle Brugge in Kilmarnock, Sco…Photo by TOM GOYVAERTS/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images
Philippe Clement tells fans major ‘reason’ why Rangers were beaten by Kilmarnock
Rangers manager Philippe Clement faced the music after his team’s dispiriting 1-0 defeat to Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership.
The Gers boss faced an inquest ahead of the club’s Europa League clash with FCSB, Rangers’ ongoing rebuild struggling to inspire frustrated supporters.
As the criticism continues after the defeat at Rugby Park, Philippe Clement took aim at a familiar gripe in Ayrshire which the Belgian manager claims is a big ‘reason’ behind the painful defeat.
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Rangers manager Philippe Clement is seen during the SPL | Premier League match between Rangers FC and St. Johnstone FC at Ibrox Stadium on October …
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Philippe Clement ‘reasons’ Kilmarnock defeat
Rangers will be counting down the minutes until Kilmarnock finally rip up their artificial pitch and replace it with grass at the start of next season.
The Gers have toiled in Ayrshire for the last few seasons with the bobbly, unpredictable artificial surface at Kilmarnock a long-standing bugbear.
When grilled on Rangers’ failure to defeat Kilmarnock on the pitch, Philippe Clement was careful not to present the surface as an ‘excuse’ for the result.
But the Rangers manager did claim the standard of the surface is a ‘reason’ why his ineffective team struggled to play their game in Ayrshire.
“We were not happy with the performance in that way against Kilmarnock,” Clement told the press.
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“And I don’t want to hide behind excuses of the kind of pitch. It’s kind of a reason but I won’t want to use that.
“Not before the game, not after the game, so we’re going to keep on working hard to make things better as fast as possible.
“I don’t want to use that as an excuse because it’s part of the story there.
“It’s not an excuse, we should have won, but we will never play the same football as in Malmo at Kilmarnock.
“We should’ve played in a better way to win the game, but to see really good football there on the pitch, you will not see it.
“I don’t want to hide behind that excuse. It’s about winning and we didn’t win.”
Rangers manager explains why plastic pitches are bad news
It’s not the first time that Philippe Clement has made comments about the use of plastic pitches in Scottish football.
There was a time when one quarter of the country’s top league were using artificial surfaces, with Livingston, Hamilton Academical and Kilmarnock all playing on the plastic.
Steven Gerrard was also a big opponent to plastic pitches during his time in Scotland and Clement has previously echoed the suggestion that such surfaces have no place at the elite level.
The SPFL have since voted to outlaw the surfaces in the Scottish top flight from 2026 and the Rangers manager has previously gone into detail about what makes the surfaces so different.
“I made the comparison with a game of tennis,” said Clement back in February.
“With playing at Wimbledon or playing on a clay court, it’s a little bit like that. Of course it’s different sports.
“The ball goes faster so you need to more precise.
“On a grass pitch when you give a pass it slows down after a while, on an artificial it keeps its speed or it goes even faster along the way. The ball bounces in a totally different way.
“If you give passes in the air or shots at goal you cannot go with your foot underneath the ball like you normally do on a grass pitch so you need to adapt your body towards that.
“Also the way of turning, the way of sprinting, the way of stopping is also different, so that’s a lot of things that are different.
“It is what it is. In the league, there’s a decision that for the moment it’s still possible to play on those surfaces. I don’t think in Premier League it’s still possible, or in La Liga or in the top leagues.”
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