Philippe Clement will demand his players get on the front foot from the first whistle in a bid to finally defeat Celtic in this afternoon’s Premier Sports Cup final.
Rangers head to Hampden as the big underdogs to retain the trophy after failing to beat their rivals in their last seven meetings, but buoyed by a strong midweek performance in the Europa League tie against Spurs .
Clement’s team started the game positively and maintained an optimistic pace throughout the 90 minutes, barely giving their visitors a second of respite.
The Ibrox boss wants to see a similar approach today, having ruled out the idea of trying to frustrate Celtic and is instead relishing the prospect of going toe-to-toe with Brendan Rodgers’ side in the hope of securing a first win of Old Firm from May 2023. .
He said: ‘I always want to start on the front foot and win duels. You can’t be dominant and you can’t win games if you’re not in that frame of mind.
‘Because then you just defend. And you need to suffer all the time and it’s not what we want. We want to create something. I never parked the bus even once in my entire career.
Clement wants to see his team attack Celtic from the first whistle in the League Cup final
“You want the team (to play positively), so it’s important to start like that, otherwise it’s very difficult to make the change during the game.
“There are some really good teams in the world. And coaches with a totally different philosophy that I respect a lot because they win a lot of trophies doing that, with the philosophy of defending, sitting, waiting. And when they fall behind, change. Some do that. But it’s not the type of football I want to play.”
Rangers put pressure on Celtic when the teams met in last season’s Scottish Cup final, but were defeated by Adam Idah’s 90th-minute goal. Clement downplayed the relevance of that meeting given the subsequent review of his playing team, but admitted that Celtic look stronger this season than last.
“Different players, different game,” the Belgian said of that setback at Hampden in May. “On our side there are a lot of different players, but on the Celtic side there is not that much difference. But they have a bigger team with more depth than last season. That’s why they have been better than last season.
‘That is also a reality that we know. So we also need to be better. But we have a totally different squad than at that moment. That’s how it is now with this team, getting the best out of them.
‘It’s about wanting to win every game, every competition, everything you play for. We’re busy lifting the trophy. That’s the only thing we’re busy with in our minds.
‘We are all focused on that game, the next one. It’s huge, beautiful and you feel a lot of enthusiasm about it. From our fans, from the other side too. “They are really good games and two teams that want to play to win.”
Clement revealed that Rangers have been practicing penalties for months, something that could prove invaluable if the final stretch exceeds 120 minutes.
Rangers controlled much of the game against Spurs in midweek and Clement wants to see more of the same.
Since captain and regular catcher James Tavernier is not guaranteed to start in the finals, there is merit in making sure all players are comfortable in that scenario.
“We’re practicing penalties, but we’ve been doing it all season,” the coach said. ‘We have a list in the dressing room and I told the players we will do it regularly.
‘The player who is last in the first week of January will receive a sanction for it! “So we’re not going to do that especially for this game, it’s been happening since the beginning of the season.”
One player who will almost certainly start the final is Nico Raskin, who enhanced his burgeoning reputation with a man-of-the-match contribution against Spurs.
“It’s a very important role because you need to keep the balance in the team when you attack and when you defend,” Clement explained. “Nico can play both roles very well.
But it is also very important to maintain balance in the team. It was something we needed to rebuild, because last season we had two experienced players there who knew when to do what.
Vaclav Cerny impressed again in Europe with Clement’s team
“With the younger midfield, we had to work on that, to improve it again. Find this balance, make him understand when to do what for the team. Nico is taking really big steps in that sense. So I’m very happy with the evolution what he’s doing.”
l Philippe Clement was anticipating exclusive live coverage of the Premier Sports Cup final. Premier Sports is available to stream from premiersports.com or via your TV provider on Sky, Virgin TV and Amazon Prime as an additional subscription.