Michael Stewart reacts to Todd Cantwell controversy after St Mirren win as Rangers boss Philippe Clement ‘batters them with a stick’
Michael Stewart is impressed with how Rangers boss Philippe Clement has handled players he is unhappy with after the 2-0 win over St Mirren.
The BBC pundit reacted on Sportscene on 3 December after Todd Cantwell responded to being hooked before half time in midweek against Aris Limassol to assist both of Abdallah Sima’s goals in the 2-0 win back in the SPFL.
Stewart felt that showed the manager knows how to “batter them with a stick” but also how to “dangle the carrot” and compared the ex-Norwich player being given the start in his preferred position to a previous situation where the Belgian had been “going crazy” at Cyriel Dessers before having his arm around him soon after.
Stewart said (7.54pm): “For me the big thing with Philippe Clement, when you look at him he looks like a guy who is not going to suffer fools gladly, he’s going to say to the players what he thinks.
“He’s not going to try and mollycoddle them, but equally when he’s battered them with a stick he knows how to dangle the carrot.
“[This was] a case to Todd Cantwell, ‘Right, it’s done. There’s the game, go and play.’ I think he’s got a very good measure on that.
“Think back to the semi-final at Hampden [vs Hearts] just last month I remember late on Dessers had come on and he wasn’t chasing or closing down, you could see [Clement] on the touchline going crazy, then as soon as the final whistle went he was on the park and had his arm round Dessers.
“I thought that just epitomised him as a manager understanding where players might perhaps want to sulk and feel, ‘I’m getting picked on here’. It’s not about that, it’s about the reason why and the clarity.
“Giving Todd Cantwell the position there to go and play, in the central area as well not out on the wing, that was almost giving him a bit and expecting something back, and I think he got that.”
Authority
There is a school of thought that Clement’s style of management is exactly what this squad needs after a perception that Giovanni van Bronckhorst was too easy on players and Michael Beale was too concerned about being popular.
It seemed to work today as Cantwell bounced back from what would have been a humiliating experience in Europe to show some tentative signs of his best work.
Clement has to take responsibility for playing Cantwell out wide in order to fit the ineffective Sam Lammers in the middle when he had the rapidly-developing Ross McCausland on the bench, but at the very least he realised that error and dropped the Dutchman in order to play the other two in position.
Both were good on the day, and even Dessers played an important role in the opener, so perhaps the manager’s methods have had an effect, but he is still going to need to coax a lot more of a response out of plenty of others.
A relatively comfortable 2-0 win can’t be sniffed at after two dismal draws but it was hardly a sparkling display and showed the limitations of this squad.
Stewart’s assessment of the Ibrox manager seems to be largely accurate and is probably the right style for this period, but there are still a lot of improvements to be made.
In other Rangers news, a “magnificent” Light Blues ace wowed one BBC Sport pundit with what he did in the St Mirren win.