PEP TALK
‘Even Pep Guardiola couldn’t outperform Clement at Rangers,’ explains Graeme Souness as he makes Celtic comparison
He's given his verdict on the club's recruitment
GRAEME SOUNESS reckons even Pep Guardiola couldn't turn things around at Ibrox.
The Rangers legend launched a blistering defence of Philippe Clement as pressure mounts on the under-fire gaffer.
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Clement, 49, admitted in the aftermath of Sunday's 1-1 draw with Dundee United that he had "no credit left in the bank" after falling 11 points behind Celtic in the title race.
But the manager certainly bought himself some time after Thursday's 4-1 rout over Nice.
And Souness, who acted as an advisor for Rangers when they held talks with Clement and other targets, believes the Belgian is still the right man to take the club forward.
The Light Blues legend has even stated that the world's best managers would struggle to dethrone Celtic in this current situation.
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That's despite Souness doubling down on his claim that there isn't much to separate both squads.
He told the Daily Record: "Rangers have a manager who is more than capable of achieving for the club but I don’t care if you had Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp working at Ibrox right now and brought Sir Alex Ferguson out of retirement to help them, I don’t see results being any different.
"This guy they have in charge more than knows what he’s doing. He just needs help in terms of bringing in better players.
“From the outside looking in I have no in depth knowledge of the current situation so I won’t be critical of the structures in place.
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"What I would say is that I don’t care who the manager that is in there right now, I’m not sure he’d be getting any better results with the squad they have.
“I believe Rangers need an injection of money to help the manager to do his job which he’s more than capable of doing if he had the resources.
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"Right now he’s managing a group of players who are behind and I’ll be criticised for saying this but I don’t see any great gulf between the two teams.
"I was at an Old Firm cup final last season and a league game between them last season and didn’t see one team out-footballing the other team,
“What I do see is Celtic having players who do the most important thing and that is being able to consistently put the ball into the net more than Rangers do.
“Celtic have better strikers and the stats bare that out. I don’t see one team dominating another team or any enormous gulf but they have better goalscorer and that can never be underestimated.”
Souness was delighted to see his former club perform like their old selves in Europe on Thursday.
And he believes the arrival of new hero Hamza Igamane could prove their recruitment strategy will pay off.
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He said: “I get frustrated watching games of football when it’s teams I have a strong affection for but the display against Nice was much more like the standard Rangers have set during European games in recent seasons.
“Igamane was excellent and put his hand up as a good option for one of the striking roles and it was great to see.
"You can’t underestimate the achievement of winning in the manner Rangers did in Nice and that should be a shot in the arm for everyone at the club.
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"Recruitment is the most important thing at any football club. Rangers won the league three years ago and reached a European final two years ago.
"Whatever money those achievements generated they will feel disappointed with some of the players they have brought in with that money. Clement has said it will take time for players to find their feet and maybe Igamane is proving to be an example of that.”
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