Philippe Clement in danger of damaging debut Rangers defeat v Hibernian if he starts Kemar Roofe, he’s been woeful
New Rangers manager Philippe Clement gets his Ibrox era properly underway on Saturday when he takes on Hibernian and the Belgian should make some key changes in attack to ensure of a comfortable first win.
Clement was announced as the successor to Michael Beale on a deal until 2027 on 15 October.
The Belgian takes over a Rangers side who are already seven points adrift of rivals Celtic in the Scottish Premiership table, meaning he already faces a tall order to wrest the title back to the blue half of Glasgow.
The Belgian will be looking to hit the ground running with his first game against Hibernian on Saturday (21 October) and one of his major tasks will be to get the majority of Beale’s summer signings firing on all cylinders if the Gers are to match it with Celtic again.
And should Clement look at the form of some of his players before he takes his selection decision for the game at Ibrox, he’ll find that one Ibrox regular will be giving him cause for concern should he start him.
Rangers veteran Kemar Roofe has endured a rather disappointing campaign so far this season, scoring just once in his six Scottish Premiership games – such form which became a running theme in the attack that ultimately cost Beale his job.
Also, the underlying stats for the 30-year-old don’t make for pleasing reading and it may point to Clement axing him for Saturday’s crucial tie.
As per SofaScore, Roofe is so far not performing the job he’s been expected to, registering a disappointing 0.2 shots on target per game, 0.7 shots per game and hasn’t even missed a big chance this season which highlights that he’s become an ineffective presence in front of goal.
In fact, in his last start, against St Mirren on 8 October, he failed to register a single shot on target, a single shot off target and barely touched the ball with just eight touches all game, completing two passes in his 61 minutes on the pitch which is incredibly woeful.
If Clement is to get this Rangers group firing on all cylinders again, they’d need to start scoring goals and it appears Roofe isn’t the man to lead the attack in the coming weeks given his disastrous numbers.
The best chance Clement has of recording a resounding and comfortable victory against Hibernian is to call up the returning Danilo or even Cyriel Dessers who appears to offer much more threat than Roofe in front of goal, with his three goals this season.
In other Rangers news, one inconsistent Ibrox defender must improve under Clement all be shown the Auchenhowie exit door in January.