Philippe Clement, a former head coach at Club Bruges and Monaco, has been named as Rangers’ new manager.
Clement replaces Michael Beale as the manager of Rangers, who are currently seven points behind Celtic in the Scottish Premiership and fighting to advance from their Europa League group.
Here, BBC Scotland examines the tasks ahead of the new Ibrox manager.
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Address the injury issues
There is a significant issue for the incoming manager to address regarding the number of injuries Rangers have had in the past. Perhaps this is a topic best left to the medical team.
They cannot afford to have so many players injured when they are contending on both the local and European fronts.
Forward In the act of scoring against St. Johnstone last month, Danilo suffered a serious cheekbone fracture, while midfielder Tom Lawrence, who had just lately returned from a long-term injury, experienced a setback.
Young attacker Zak Lovelace made a difference against St. Mirren; his cross resulted in the penalty that gave Rangers the lead, but he later left the field on a stretcher with his thigh braced.
Ryan Jack and Todd Cantwell of the midfield have had minor injuries, while Rabbi Matondo of the wing has a knee issue.
A recent interview in which Clement emphasized his new eating regimen, which includes decreasing carbohydrates and sweets, and lauded the virtues of “a healthy mind in a healthy body,” may have given some indication of his interest in fitness.
Strategies that work for the team
Since Steven Gerrard took over as manager in 2018, Rangers have mostly stuck to a 4-3-3 shape.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Beale, the successors, engaged on
But regardless of the system employed, Rangers have struggled on both sides of the field.
The Ibrox team has developed defensive weaknesses since its league-leading season of 2020–21, when they allowed just 13 goals overall, conceding an average of one goal per game this season.
However, scoring goals may be the team’s biggest problem this season.
Summer enlistments Fans have questioned why Antonio Colak, Alfredo Morelos, and Fashion Sakala were all transferred out during the same transfer window after Cyriel Dessers and Sam Lammers struggled to score goals.
Lovelace and Ross McCausland’s participation on the field in recent games demonstrates the lengths to which interim manager Steven Davis has tried to locate
The Belgian prefers to build his teams from the back and focus on possession. He wants his sides to ‘push’ the opposition forward in order to open up space behind them for speedy attackers to take advantage of.
Clement will be hoping that the team he inherits will be able to apply his preferred strategies and help Rangers score more frequently.
Immediately add the silverware.
Given Rangers’ sizable fan following and investment, two titles in two and a half years is a disappointing return.
Over the previous seven years, all Scottish teams have struggled to stop Celtic from winning any of the available trophies, but Rangers have significantly more resources at their disposal and have a particularly terrible cup record.
In the previous five years, the Ibrox team has been in three cup finals.
The Scottish Cup also gets up in earnest in the new year, even though Celtic will be heavy favorites to win the league title given their seven-point advantage.
In addition to having won the Belgian league title once with Genk and twice with Club Bruges, Clement also has a history of managing teams to domestic cup victories—once with the former and three times with the latter.
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