Clement's footballing philosophy

longtallsally said:
We seem to have played the same formation since Gerrard and we were all sick of it after Gio.
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Not true, there is a world of difference to the way we played under Gerrard to what we're watching now.
Even in his first season we could see a system, we were a well oiled machine, even with a squad that contained, Grezda, Middleton, Halliday etc.

Right now we are a long ball shambles of a team.
 
His preferred formation is dependent on having effective wide players, we have spent the last few months playing Sterling and Silva out of necessity. He inherited a team from Beale that could barely fit into a coherent formation, add in the 7 or 8 injuries we have had every game and you can see why he has been forced to play a direct and basic style.

My concern is it will be extremely difficult to fix in one window, we need about 15 out and 10 in which again just highlights how shambolic our recruitment has been for several years.

What we absolutely need to see next season is Clement stamping his identity on the team. We need to see a clear playing style and a new spine of the team implemented with young players that can develop. It is encouraging that so far we have mainly been linked with young athletic players from a wide variety of leagues.
 
the Hearts game showed what he wants to do
fast paced, attacking, pressing
we battered them 5 nil going on 10 nil

we don't have the fit players to do that right now
our attacking options are

Dessers, Silva (played wide as we are short), Roofe (barely fit), McCausland (form off a cliff) & Wright (never had form ever)

our first choice forward line would probably be Sima, Danilo and Cortes - all missing for most of the season
even the one promoted youth (Lovelace) is injured
 
Los Pollos Hermanos said:
He actually rivalled Dessers for some of his sitters, fortunately for him Dessers and Lammers were public enemy 1&2 at the time.
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From what I’ve seen of him I’m not convinced he is what we need. He is maybe at a slightly higher level than Dessers and is at an age where he can still improve but he is not physical enough to hold the ball up and misses a lot of chances.

We need physicality and pace in that position if we are going to continue playing with one striker
 
DadoAlbertz said:
Having seen us on many occasions this year, I am a bit confused as to what the actual footballing identity is with this style. We more often than not revert to long balls which is a complete waste of time with one striker. We don't respond well to a press and it seems like most teams are now aware of this. The football hasn't been good enough and I would expect to see a style by now.

I get we have injuries and he hasn't brought his own players, but surely he would want to implement his own style as soon as possible.

On another note, I'm tired of this formation, it doesn't seem to be working and we don't need two holding midfielders against bang average teams in this league. Dessers and Danilo both look more suited to a two up top, or even Sima, but other than Sima and Cortez, nobody else has embraced those wide positions.

Am I missing something with out style of play? I think I am in the minority now pushing for Cantwell to be in this starting line up. We are so void of creativity and although his numbers are generally poor, you can see he has passion and ability. The whole shape doesn't seem to play to our strengths and why the feck does Scott wright keep getting brought into the biggest games when he isn't good enough for the poorer teams in the league. So tired of feeling demoralised as soon as the team sheet comes out. Sterling right wing is such a poor choice for me when he skillset is so much more suited to other areas.The last section has little to do with style but I felt like venting.

Lastly, I am so sick of the female reported asking the most benign questions imaginable. Why can't we have people ask the questions that everyone else is thinking? Before I even watch it I know the generic pish she will ask. Other countries are so much straighter with their questions, yet we continue with the same "how do you pick the team up after that result" pish. Why don't you ask him something of relevance, does my tits in.
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Genuine question, what were your thoughts on this squad of players the week before Beale got sacked? Or the week before Gio got sacked? Or the week Gerrard left prior to Gio coming in when we got spanked by hibs at Hampden?

Fundamentally this group of players are not good enough. Throw in the injuries and it’s an absolute miracle we were still in this title race this late into the season. Very similar to Liverpool this year.

He can only be properly judged next season. We can criticise some decisions he makes but the over all question about if he’s got it or not is impossible to know due to this group of players.
 
DadoAlbertz said:
Having seen us on many occasions this year, I am a bit confused as to what the actual footballing identity is with this style. We more often than not revert to long balls which is a complete waste of time with one striker. We don't respond well to a press and it seems like most teams are now aware of this. The football hasn't been good enough and I would expect to see a style by now.

I get we have injuries and he hasn't brought his own players, but surely he would want to implement his own style as soon as possible.

On another note, I'm tired of this formation, it doesn't seem to be working and we don't need two holding midfielders against bang average teams in this league. Dessers and Danilo both look more suited to a two up top, or even Sima, but other than Sima and Cortez, nobody else has embraced those wide positions.

Am I missing something with out style of play? I think I am in the minority now pushing for Cantwell to be in this starting line up. We are so void of creativity and although his numbers are generally poor, you can see he has passion and ability. The whole shape doesn't seem to play to our strengths and why the feck does Scott wright keep getting brought into the biggest games when he isn't good enough for the poorer teams in the league. So tired of feeling demoralised as soon as the team sheet comes out. Sterling right wing is such a poor choice for me when he skillset is so much more suited to other areas.The last section has little to do with style but I felt like venting.

Lastly, I am so sick of the female reported asking the most benign questions imaginable. Why can't we have people ask the questions that everyone else is thinking? Before I even watch it I know the generic pish she will ask. Other countries are so much straighter with their questions, yet we continue with the same "how do you pick the team up after that result" pish. Why don't you ask him something of relevance, does my tits in.
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When the Manager first came in I thought he did have us playing decent football and importantly we were winning games.Then the odd long ball started to appear,I didnt mind that as it mixed things up a bit,but now we seem to be well overplaying that tactic.
I agree about Cantwell,sometimes looking at statistics only tells part of the story.When he is on his game he has a touch of arrogance,he brings other team mates in to the game and he attraxts opposition players to him which leaves space to exploit.
We need more arrogance and aggression in our team,especially against them,I hope the Manager can see this and changes tactics for the Cup Final.
 
renfrewger said:
Not much any manager could do with this team. Long ball stuff was happening under Beale, and with Gio to a lesser extent. Our midfield is knackered, hence that tactic I think. Plus it does seem like Clement focuses more on attacking/direct play with his wingers, of which we've got McCausland and Wright... next season I think we will be a much different team
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I get that to some degree, but he did get something from this team. We performed well initially when he came in, so the quality to win in this league is still there. Something has changed in the dressing room and the drop off is evidence of that
 
We seem to forget the state of this team before he took over, at least he managed to put up some sort of title challenge as it looked like it would of been lost at new year..

The current team look incapable of following plan A let alone plan B,C or D

With Sima out the only person that look capable of scoring was Dessers in this team and that was bad enough

Let's really judge him when he has brought in a few of his on players and has a full pre season with the team
 
JD1872 said:
His preferred formation is dependent on having effective wide players, we have spent the last few months playing Sterling and Silva out of necessity. He inherited a team from Beale that could barely fit into a coherent formation, add in the 7 or 8 injuries we have had every game and you can see why he has been forced to play a direct and basic style.

My concern is it will be extremely difficult to fix in one window, we need about 15 out and 10 in which again just highlights how shambolic our recruitment has been for several years.

What we absolutely need to see next season is Clement stamping his identity on the team. We need to see a clear playing style and a new spine of the team implemented with young players that can develop. It is encouraging that so far we have mainly been linked with young athletic players from a wide variety of leagues.
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Good point, and I agree wholeheartedly.
 
JD1872 said:
From what I’ve seen of him I’m not convinced he is what we need. He is maybe at a slightly higher level than Dessers and is at an age where he can still improve but he is not physical enough to hold the ball up and misses a lot of chances.

We need physicality and pace in that position if we are going to continue playing with one striker
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It will be interesting to see what Clement does with Dessers and Danilo, i think we'll recoup the cash on Dessers as he's ended up with 20+.
Lammers hopefully get our cash back, Danilo we'll probably have to stick with as I doubt anyone will buy a guy just back from serious injury, we're probably the only team who would have right enough.:))
 
The philosophy or style of play is non existent, there are some pretty damning videos online, edited of course and the amount of long balls aimlessly punted forward is absolutely staggering.

Very worrying.
 
ATF1001 said:
We seem to forget the state of this team before he took over, at least he managed to put up some sort of title challenge as it looked like it would of been lost at new year..

The current team look incapable of following plan A let alone plan B,C or D

With Sima out the only person that look capable of scoring was Dessers in this team and that was bad enough

Let's really judge him when he has brought in a few of his on players and has a full pre season with the team
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There is no plan B,C or D.
Early days but it looks like Clement is a one trick pony, 4-2-3-1, that's it, 'do plan A better type'.
 
I take it as a positive that the manager has been willing to sacrifice philosophy and trying to be easy on the eye for doing what gives us the best chance of winning. With this squad, that often means playing it early, in behind, play on percentages, and try to get our attackers one on one with a defender.

Our midfield has been neither overly technical or mobile, and most attackers struggle to link play. Case in point being Sima. He struggled early in the season under Beale’s tactics, but blossomed once we utilised his strength and pace, by playing it in behind. Same with Dessers to an extent, when he drops into that inside right channel space to collect a through ball.

Interested in seeing what players come in. We could really do with some Davis / Kamara / Aribo technical types in the middle to front roles again.
 
ATF1001 said:
We seem to forget the state of this team before he took over, at least he managed to put up some sort of title challenge as it looked like it would of been lost at new year..

The current team look incapable of following plan A let alone plan B,C or D

With Sima out the only person that look capable of scoring was Dessers in this team and that was bad enough

Let's really judge him when he has brought in a few of his on players and has a full pre season with the team
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I think discussing it is healthy, I don't for one second want Clement sacked or anything stupid. He has been the victim of his own over achieving when he came in before the players reverted to type. I think it's fair to question things regardless and understand the thought process behind some weird decision making. I get that Clement clearly knows more about football than any of us, but how many times have you looked at a started lineup this year and predicted the exact issue that caused us to drop points? Because I have on a few occasions. He deserves a couple of transfer windows at least but his footballing identity must start showing through and I really hope it's more attractive to watch than the pish we have suffered recently.
 
Leithloyal said:
Gio, Gerrard and Beale also failed to beat teams of that calibre with this squad. They arguably had better players than we do currently as well.

Keep sacking managers and we’ll never make any significant progress as a club
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Keep getting recruitment wrong (as he have for the last 3 years) and we won't make any progress. But they'll keep increasing our costs for the pleasure.
 
I’m hoping it’s been a case of needs must up til now. There were signs of better football but then we had do
Many injuries and got to a place we just needed results with what we had available
 
PC inherited a shitshow when he arrived - he was gven the reigns to one of the most unbalanced & inept squads I've ever seen
He then suffered wave upon wave of injuries meaning 'first choice' often meant 'fifth choice' - when we didn't even have a third choice

I personally find it close to impossible to summarise PC's 'philosophy' preferred style or even his first choice tactics under the above circumstances
 
Monkey Butler said:
Everything Belgian football fans say about him is the opposite of what this squad is capable of doing:

https://www.reddit.com/r/belgianfootball/comments/17448hl/insight_into_philippe_clement

I suspect there’ll be big changes in terms of personnel in the summer.
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Its quite clear not many people in the thread have read this.

I also think people have completely forgotten where we were when he took over.

Hes been allowed to bring in Cortes, Diomande and Silva to rectify the problems that got Beale the sack.

Silva hasn't shown anything but was a decent punt.
Cortes looked great and as usual has ended up with an injury that's put him out for the season.
Diomande looks tidy and could be a good player if he was surrounded by similar quality.

He dragged us back into a title race, won us a cup and have the potential for the Scottish Cup as well.

The players have reverted to type and have been putting in the kind of performances that have seen off the last 3 managers.

I'll wait to see how ruthless he is in the summer and judge him this time next year.
 
JD1872 said:
His preferred formation is dependent on having effective wide players, we have spent the last few months playing Sterling and Silva out of necessity. He inherited a team from Beale that could barely fit into a coherent formation, add in the 7 or 8 injuries we have had every game and you can see why he has been forced to play a direct and basic style.

My concern is it will be extremely difficult to fix in one window, we need about 15 out and 10 in which again just highlights how shambolic our recruitment has been for several years.

What we absolutely need to see next season is Clement stamping his identity on the team. We need to see a clear playing style and a new spine of the team implemented with young players that can develop. It is encouraging that so far we have mainly been linked with young athletic players from a wide variety of leagues.
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I think the manager should of realised we didn’t have any wingers and came up with a different formation though, it’s been square pegs in round holes for months
 
Cooper's left peg said:
It's a mess and absolutely awful to watch - and is not successful in any way shape or form.

He has one window to sort this shite out.
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It's not Advocatt 98 here mate.

If that's the general attitude of the collective support we'll have 2 managers every season.

There was a clear and notable difference till March time. The wheels fell off after key injuries and the same players having to constantly go again.

Recruitment will be key.

We'll save minimum 120k a week on those leaving after their contracts expire.

Add in sales from Lammers, Hagi, Lawrence, Tav, Goldson, Davies and Matondo we'll probably have saved 250k a week.

We'll see what they can come up with.
 
As usual the players shit the bed but it's the managers fault, half a dozen different managers, same players but somehow every single manager has made them turn to absolute muck when the pressure is on.

We have a team full of players who don't give a shit about the club so they don't find that extra bit of effort you get when you care about something. We need to be more ruthless and stop babying players.

The fact in 2024 and Scott Wright is still taking the field really does defy belief and tells you where we are as a club and now we are ran. If we don't have a youth player that is better than Scott Wright then the academy is in trouble.
 
Henry Hill said:
I’m hoping it’s been a case of needs must up til now. There were signs of better football but then we had do
Many injuries and got to a place we just needed results with what we had available
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Definitely not a case of needs must.

He’s been shoehorning players into the apparently solitary system that he plays, instead of trying something different that works for the players available.
 
Currently a bit like watching John Beck’s Preston North End team from the 90’s. The only difference being, they were successful as they pumped long balls with a target man and a quick striker playing off them and cashed in. We pump long balls up to Dessers, who is worse than being a man down and simply can’t even be arsed to close down centre backs.
 
ICA_86 said:
Definitely not a case of needs must.

He’s been shoehorning players into the apparently solitary system that he plays, instead of trying something different that works for the players available.
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Correct. We all know this squads limitations but are we really at the stage where we're justifying that all we can do with them is hoofball into the channels as a tactic ? Sorry, but that's horseshit and a cop out for me.

Clement isn't a jobber manager. We've saw how good and effective he can be. For five months he found solution after solution for every problem that came his way. But all of sudden we're given him a free pass because the squad is hated and we're almost willing to apportion every single bit of blame their way ?
 
We were all over the place defensively on Saturday. Watching the highlights and seeing how much time and space they got infront of our goal is very concerning, alarm bells are creeping in for me, hope im wrong
 
the architect said:
Genuine question, what were your thoughts on this squad of players the week before Beale got sacked? Or the week before Gio got sacked? Or the week Gerrard left prior to Gio coming in when we got spanked by hibs at Hampden?

Fundamentally this group of players are not good enough. Throw in the injuries and it’s an absolute miracle we were still in this title race this late into the season. Very similar to Liverpool this year.

He can only be properly judged next season. We can criticise some decisions he makes but the over all question about if he’s got it or not is impossible to know due to this group of players.
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we also seem to manage to have key players out long term
 
As fast as he got these payers into winning, it's been as fast as getting them into losing. He seems to be an in-play manager, that's his strong point. His starting lined ups are very questionable to say the least.

I dont see much philosophy here but he seems to have a knack for us to stay in touch, which to me means he needs better players.

He nearly done against them on Sunday against the odds, we nearly got the draw at the end
 
Bluerhap said:
He has an attacking philosophy that the squad at present are not fit or robust enough mentally to carry out. He should be allowed to build his own team before judgement. Gerrard was given five transfer windows to build his team. We can’t just go changing managers every season. I’m hoping with new players and a good pre season we will see a different Rangers next season.
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Good managers get the best out of what is available to them and are flexible. You can't just have a set philosophy incase the players can't or won't adapt to it. I'm willing to see what he can do with his own players though.
 
gersandproud said:
PC inherited a shitshow when he arrived - he was gven the reigns to one of the most unbalanced & inept squads I've ever seen
He then suffered wave upon wave of injuries meaning 'first choice' often meant 'fifth choice' - when we didn't even have a third choice

I personally find it close to impossible to summarise PC's 'philosophy' preferred style or even his first choice tactics under the above circumstances
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That beat Betis away from home?
 
the architect said:
Genuine question, what were your thoughts on this squad of players the week before Beale got sacked? Or the week before Gio got sacked? Or the week Gerrard left prior to Gio coming in when we got spanked by hibs at Hampden?

Fundamentally this group of players are not good enough. Throw in the injuries and it’s an absolute miracle we were still in this title race this late into the season. Very similar to Liverpool this year.

He can only be properly judged next season. We can criticise some decisions he makes but the over all question about if he’s got it or not is impossible to know due to this group of players.
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I felt very similar, they were horseshit. Clement did get a tune out of them initially and we know we have enough quality to win many of the games we haven't this season. I am not for a second wanting the manager out, far from it. All I want is some encouragement in the way we go about our football. The pace is painful, there is no bite, no fluidity and no confidence. This formation clearly doesn't have the correct players right now so why doesn't he change it until he can bring the right personnel? We are the definition of insanity, same mistakes every time. Every manager falling into the same traps as the last. We are the man utd of Scotland at the moment, doesn't seem to matter who the manager is because it always comes back to the same issues. We need a clear out and I really hope he is backed. I do think another issue is fitness. The fitness levels when Beale left were shocking and he likely needs a good preseason to rectify this. This may also account for the injuries. I think people on here take offence and people being critical of the manager but you need criticism to improve and move forward.
 
We will need to see after one or two transfer windows what defines a Clement style; just like with any other manager.
 
I dont think hes the man for the job i see no signs of a style of play or structure off the ball.



He needs to find a way to win this cup final buy himself time.
 
When he arrived, I think Clements digs at fitness on a number of occasions is a clue to his frustration which restricted his way of playing. Key players like Roofe, Jack, sima, coupled with Raskin, Matondo, Danilo, Yilmaz l injuries. On top of that, poor recruitment and a promising player in Cortez being sidelined. The form of Barisic, Tav, Goldson etc taking a dive and it's a cluster fekk for any manager. Take the equivalent out the Beggars team and I wonder how they would have faired. Not defending many of his selections re Sterling etc but it's sure a lot to cope with
 
Los Pollos Hermanos said:
Not true, there is a world of difference to the way we played under Gerrard to what we're watching now.
Even in his first season we could see a system, we were a well oiled machine, even with a squad that contained, Grezda, Middleton, Halliday etc.

Right now we are a long ball shambles of a team.
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I stuck up for Gerrard even when we had poor results because i could see a plan and progresssion.



Gerrard made us hard to play against and tight defensively i see none of that now.
 
chilebear said:
I think hes using the players to the best he can.
I think and I hope well play in a completely way next season
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This ^

There is a core group of players in our squad who should've been moved on a year or 2 ago.
After our run to Seville, this group of players hit their peak, and the trend was always going downwards after that.

Massive renovation needed this summer.
Back Clement, give him his stamp on the team, and we go from there with a young hungry group of players with a few hard nuts thrown in for good measure.

Oh how I long for a Rangers captain who would have had squad players up against the wall at half time on Saturday. Something which has been missing for years.
 
SDF said:
Correct. We all know this squads limitations but are we really at the stage where we're justifying that all we can do with them is hoofball into the channels as a tactic ? Sorry, but that's horseshit and a cop out for me.

Clement isn't a jobber manager. We've saw how good and effective he can be. For five months he found solution after solution for every problem that came his way. But all of sudden we're given him a free pass because the squad is hated and we're almost willing to apportion every single bit of blame their way ?
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I’m baffled by the whole thing.

See if we’re at the stage where all the flare players are injured and we’re just going to have to pack a midfield, keep it narrow and play a bit more direct to get the wins - that’s absolutely fine, but make it clear that you’ve decided that’s going to be your approach until better options return.

I’ll keep going back to it, but at one point we had three/four fit centre backs, no natural wingers and two attacking fullbacks. How we didn’t once consider a 3-4-3 or a 3-5-2 is just beyond me, instead we’ve continued to shoehorn players into a 4-2-3-1 and hit long balls.

The tactical issues are 100% on Clement.
 
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Clement surely must have a football philosophy having won various titles and cups in Belgium. Also capped 38 times by Belguim who are always in top ten ranked international teams, some of their philosophy must rub off on him.

Perhaps, he doesn't have his own or type of player required to implement his style/philosophy over the last 8 months.
 
renfrewger said:
I'm not so sure, on paper these players absolutely should be beating those teams, but we seem to have a uniquely strange mentality issue in our team, and has happened under Beale, Gio and Gerrard especially in his first 2 seasons

Not saying Clement is faultless, but in each of those games individual player mistakes were our downfall
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This, experienced pro's making inexplicable decisions and errors.

At times our players just cannot do the basics, it must be so frustrating for any coach.
 
He’s went man for man off the ball against them the same way gio beat them in the semi.

The difference is we had Bassey, Kent, aribo, Ramsey starting who could match them physically.

Lawrence and silva being asked to track runners is a shambles. Silva is a striker and never tracked a runner in his life.
 
Snakehips said:
I take it as a positive that the manager has been willing to sacrifice philosophy and trying to be easy on the eye for doing what gives us the best chance of winning. With this squad, that often means playing it early, in behind, play on percentages, and try to get our attackers one on one with a defender.

Our midfield has been neither overly technical or mobile, and most attackers struggle to link play. Case in point being Sima. He struggled early in the season under Beale’s tactics, but blossomed once we utilised his strength and pace, by playing it in behind. Same with Dessers to an extent, when he drops into that inside right channel space to collect a through ball.

Interested in seeing what players come in. We could really do with some Davis / Kamara / Aribo technical types in the middle to front roles again.
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You make a good point. I am eager to see how we shape up in pre season and that will give us a good idea of what his actual style of play will look like.
 
ICA_86 said:
All they had to do was beat Ross County, Motherwell and Dundee.

Plenty of managers could have done that with this squad.
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Said that to my mates.

Absolutely no excuses for losing to those sides, despite the state of our squad.

Too many making excuses for PC and blaming it all on the players, imo.
 
HandsomeHead said:
There was a philosophy and style of play for quite some time - pressing hard, passing at pace, looking to use our width, lots of movement in the middle, etc. We were all gushing about it and the manager initially and it’s why we were winning games.

To overlook that is unfair and unhelpful.

What we really should be asking, IMO, is why have we stopped doing all the good things we were doing and how do we get back to that next season?
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That’s actually very fair
 
Eddie Doc said:
Good managers get the best out of what is available to them and are flexible. You can't just have a set philosophy incase the players can't or won't adapt to it. I'm willing to see what he can do with his own players though.
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I think he IS getting the maximum out of this group

The ones that are available are just not very good
 
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