Clement targets improvement in Rangers away form after win over Aberdeen

Philippe Clement said his Rangers side need to take their dominant Ibrox form into their away games after enjoying a 3-0 win over Aberdeen.

Hamza Igamane put the hosts in front in the 13th minute and though Rangers created plentiful chances and hit the woodwork, it took late goals from substitutes Leon Balogun and Cyriel Dessers to deliver a convincing scoreline.

In what has been a rocky campaign for Clement and his players, picking up points on home soil has not been an issue, with only two points dropped at Ibrox. But away games have proven more challenging, with only three victories in the league away from Govan this season.

The Rangers boss was happy to see his side add another three points to their Premiership tally but admitted that the long spell when his side was on top but only a goal to the good had made things a little nervy despite the strong performance.

“It’s important to score this second goal and the third goal to kill the belief of the opponent,” Clement said.

“We tried from the beginning to do that, like we always do, but you need a little bit of luck in these situations.

“We hit the crossbar, we hit the post, a few good saves also, a few blocks on the line, but the most important thing is to keep on creating these chances and to play the football that we want to play.

“You see more and more that the team gets used to each other and the right running lines at the right moments.”

A turnover in players and a defensive injury crisis has not helped Clement with delivering consistency but he says that the players are getting to know each other and that things can improve further.

“It takes time in that way,” he said. “See our offensive four from today, they were not there last season.

“Danilo a few games, I think I had him three or four games or something, and then he was out. So, beginning of the season, a lot of them were also not there.

“And then afterwards, when that part became better and better, then we lost a lot of defenders and we had to shift also a lot of things.

“So, also a lot of praise towards Ridvan (Yilmaz) playing on that side against these clubs. How he’s performing, same way for Clinton Nsiala coming in with no experience at this level.

“And also praise to all the staff working with all these young guys to get them really fast in the story and to learn things really fast, because there’s no room for error here.

“For sure, you guys don’t give anything in that way. So my players know, so that’s the way to go. They need to become better and they’re hungry to become better.

“Now we need to confirm these things in the away games. That’s for me the very important point for the next weeks and months.”

Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin saw his side go a twelfth league game without victory and he said that his struggling side looked “stressed”.

“We weren’t calm and composed enough,” he said. “We were too stressed on the ball.

“We gave it away and played to their strengths.

“We still have a job to find a rhythm and find a way back soon to get results to get out of the other side of this.

“Rangers had more shots but we stayed in the game until the end.

“The players tried and ran for each other until the last minute.

“Every game is important and we need to win on Saturday against Elgin.

“We have to go through and live up to our reputation. We have time to prepare for the next league game and we can get the players settled.”