Philippe Clement, Head Coach of Rangers FC looks on during the UEFA Europa League 2024/25 League Phase
Six big talking points as Philippe Clement urges Rangers to ‘raise level’ v Olympiacos
Philippe Clement believes it’ll take the best Rangers Europa League performance of the season to overcome Olympiacos.
The Belgian manager has already seen his team secure big wins against Malmo and FCSB in the competition, with the club also losing to Lyon at Ibrox.
But with Olympiacos also winning two of three, and a tough clash in the fiery atmosphere of the Karaiskakis Stadium on the horizon, Philippe Clement reckons Rangers will need to up their game to take all three points.
Here are the big takeaways from the Rangers manager’s press conference as he looks ahead to a tantalising Europa League clash in Greece.
READ MORE: Teenage Rangers star put through paces ahead of Olympiacos test
Philippe Clement the head coach / manager of Rangers celebrates during the UEFA Europa League 2024/25 League Phase MD3 match between Rangers FC and…
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
Tom Lawrence out for up to six weeks
“Tom (Lawrence) got injured in the cup semi-final, like you saw. So he will be out for several weeks. Four to six weeks.
“So he will not be there the next couple of weeks.
“He’s been important. He took the role really well this season, scored several really important goals but not only that, also in the play, also defensive wise.
“But it gives chances to other players to prove themselves. It’s like that in football.
“(Injuries are a) part of football also. We don’t have many for the moment, touch wood.
“We want to continue in that way and it’s with the whole squad to be available and fill in that role.”
Ibrox factor can help Rangers cope with Karaiskakis Stadium
“I’m confident (we can cope with the atmosphere at Olympiacos).
“OK, we have a few guys who are less experienced but we have also enough experienced players in the squad.
“They are used to playing at Ibrox. That helps also. If you have a team that plays in a smaller stadium and to come here it’s different.
“In Malmo it was also a really good atmosphere; that’s what you want. European nights there is always some magic, it’s always something special.
“Different playing styles, different players that you don’t know really well.
“In that way as a player it’s always nice to play in stadiums like this – big stadiums with a lot of crowd – so I think everyone will embrace that and is happy with that.”
Rangers going for three points v Olympiacos
“We have a lot of respect with what they are doing, what they did last season also of course.
“Winning that trophy (Europa Conference League).
“So it’s a big club. They won two times really deservedly against Malmo, against Braga, so we know it’s a really big test tomorrow.
“It’s a big game but we’re looking forward to that and to impose ourselves and to go for a good results.
“And the other games also; there’s not one game that we’re going to throw away.
“We want to play against every opponent to get points otherwise it’s of no use to play this Europa League.
“This is the mentality we want to see in the squad whatever the opponent is. They can have a lot of stars, we’re going to go to get the points.”
Rangers hope to see Dujon Sterling of old
“I’m not sure that he’s ready now for 90 minutes in games. That he needs to prove the next weeks.
“He’s been struggling two months with not a big injury but something that stopped him of really sprinting, really being his normal self, like he was last season.
“Because of that he didn’t have really the level that he had before so that’s why he played less minutes.
“So finally with the medical staff we found a solution how to solve it. It’s solved now, he feels better and that’s why he played better also.
“It’s normal that he will get more minutes if he plays better. Those are the rules in football, in the squad.
“It’s about proving yourself in the trainings and in the games when you come in that you’re ready.
“I hope we can get back the Dujon that we saw last season because in the beginning of the season he almost didn’t play, and I was surprised when I came in the first weeks that he didn’t play, because of what I saw and after he played a lot of minutes.
“So we hope to see that Dujon again.”
Rangers ‘taking steps’ to solve injury crisis
“We need to be realistic about that. I don’t think there’s one squad in the world where there are no injuries.
“That’s a utopia in periods yes, but last season we had in a lot of moments 12 players out. That’s never been the case this season.
“So there are changes made in staff, in the way of working in a lot of things, and we start to see also the benefit out of that.
“For example, John Souttar in his career never played so many minutes that he’s been doing now. Never.
“Before he always had injuries in those moments, or before already.
“There are other examples also in that way. So there are good steps made.
“We still have to make steps to make the team in general more robust so yeah, I’m happy to see some players back.
“Nico (Raskin) also last season he missed a lot of games so we’re happy that we have several of those back.
“Ridvan Yilmaz is also now training with the squad back, Rabbi (Matondo) starts to train with the squad back.
“So the more players we have back the better we will get also with every three days game because it’s a lot of pressure on the bodies that way to perform 200% every three days, so we will need all of them.”
Rangers will need to ‘raise level’ against Olympiacos
“Clearly (we will need a better performance to beat Olympiacos) because they won also against Malmo, and they won against Braga and I rate Braga also high, and they win with 3-0.
“No we need a really big performance of all the squad, all the players starting all the players coming in.
“But I feel also that they’re very hungry to do that and going to this final also gave another part to the group.
“It’s now to confirm that in this game at a higher level against a better opponent to raise our level again.”
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