Allan drops Clement ‘Pressure’ verdict after what he saw in St Mirren v Rangers
Scott Allan believes Philippe Clement is once again under “pressure” after Rangers were defeated 2-1 by St Mirren in their Scottish Premiership clash on Boxing Day.
The Gers once again let their standards slip and seemed to be on the back foot for most of the game, especially in the first half, with Allan noting how the Gers struggled physically.
Philippe Clement’s men have remained second in the table for now but their gap to arch-rivals Celtic has now been increased to 12 points with Aberdeen now also just one point behind them in third place.
Speaking live on BBC Sportscene (26 December) about where the future of the Belgian lies after the Gers’ latest defeat, Allan believes the 50-year-old is once again under some pressure.
“Obviously with the big one coming up [Old Firm derby], I think he’ll [Clement] be under a bit of pressure again, that wasn’t a good performance from Rangers by any stretch,” Allan said.
“I felt St Mirren caused them real problems with their physicality”.
Rangers and Philippe Clement need to buck their ideas up before the Old Firm
Over the last month or so, things have started to look a little brighter at Ibrox but their defeat against the Saints on Thursday shows that the Gers are still more than capable of making a mistake.
While their defeat against Stephen Robinson’s men might have just been a one-off, it feels like the Ibrox outfit should have put on a far better display than what they did.
Of course, there’s still plenty of the season left to go and they’re still well in the mix in the Europa League but it feels like Clement is more than likely going to be judged on his performance in the league by fans more than anything else.
Many expected Rangers to be able to put up a decent title challenge this term but instead, they’ve been miles off the pace and have left a lot to be desired.
Their clash against Celtic on 2 January will be Rangers’ first game of 2025 – with a trip to Motherwell to come first – and if they don’t start by winning, things could start to go south rather quickly for Clement.
In other Rangers news, Chris Jack has issued a “critical” update after the loss to the Saints.
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