Philippe Clement hits Rangers roadblock as Celtic hear familiar sound of Ibrox bottle crashing

59 points from a possible 72. 19 wins, two draws and three defeats in the Premiership.

It’s not a bad record but Philippe Clement can only work with the tools he’s got. When Rangers’ season appeared dead and buried by October, he somehow managed to resurrect a squad of no-hopers by transforming them into title hopefuls.

It’s still too soon to kill off their chances of becoming champions, but Celtic are now the clear favourites. Four wins from their next four games and three-in-a-row is in the bag for the Hoops with a game to spare. The reality is the league championship should have been out of sight by now but Brendan Rodgers’ side made hard work of it.

Clement deserves credit for the work he’s done since inheriting the mess left behind by Michael Beale. He’s eradicated the toxic atmosphere in the stands and made the fans believe again. Yes, the away support may have vented their fury in Dingwall yesterday, but that’s just the frustration of seeing their side choke at the prospect of going toe-to-toe with Celtic in a title race – again.

Without a doubt, the Ibrox club’s biggest Achilles heel is the fact they don’t have an out-and-out goalscorer. You can’t fault Cyriel Dessers’ effort but the Nigerian needs five chances before he puts the ball in the back of the net. He can’t be trusted and was equally responsible as the dodgy backline for yesterday’s catastrophic defeat in Dingwall after missing yet another sitter.

He’s done well to score 17 goals in his debut campaign but the 29-year-old simply isn’t the answer. He never has been and never will be. Had Rangers had a proper number nine up front they’d probably be in the driving seat for the title and still in Europe. The big mistake was not finding the money to sign a prolific striker in January.

Lawrence Shankland would have walked down the M8 if Gers stumped up the £4/5million it would’ve taken to prize him away from Hearts. Instead, they’ve relied on an enigma up front and a Wolves loanee who spends more time rolling about on the deck than he does making any sort of meaningful contribution.

Clement didn’t have the winter funds due to predecessor Beale’s reckless spending spree and that could now prove costly. The Belgian looks to have reached a roadblock with this crop of players having squeezed everything he can out of them. Two wins in their last seven games doesn’t make for good reading and it looks like Rangers are running out of steam as we near the finishing line.

Question marks have always hung over this team’s ability to handle the pressure when the going gets tough. But once again, it looks like their bottle has crashed just when the title was in their sights. Regardless if Rangers defy the odds by ending 2023/24 as Premiership winners, Clement will put his own stamp on the team this summer and there can be no room for sent

imentality