6 things Barry Ferguson is doing as Rangers boss that are different to Philippe Clement as new boss gets off to a flier
Having been desperate to see the axe fall on Philippe Clement after suffering some dire displays in the final days of the Belgian, it’s little wonder Rangers fans have a more positive outlook after witnessing a thrilling comeback win in interim manager Barry Ferguson’s first game in charge.
It’s only a start but there was enough encouragement in the 90 minutes in Ayrshire to offer some hope going forward, albeit other than the Europa League and those two massive last-16 legs against Fenerbahce there is nothing but pride to play for at Ibrox.
However, Ferguson’s former Old Firm rival Neil Lennon described this opportunity as an audition for Ferguson and he knows better than most having been put in an almost identical situation at Celtic 15 years ago when he replaced Tony Mowbray initially on a caretaker basis only to land the job permanent that summer after impressing.
Could Ferguson do the same? It would seem unlikely given the prospector new American owners coming in who have millions at their disposal to aim high. However, he might make their decision that bit more difficult if he impresses in his remaining games. What isn’t in doubt as that the Rangers supporters saw a marked improvement in Ferguson’s dug-out debut from the final days of Clement. Here, Record Sport looks at some of the key differences from that Rugby Park thriller.
Subs standard
Todd Cantwell would be the first to tell you Clement wasn’t scared to make early changes after being brought off early on more than one occasion by the Belgian, most notably after 35 minutes of a Europa League tie against Aris Limassol.
But it wasn’t just Ferguson’s bravery in making the changes against Kilmarnock – it was the fact they worked! Clement desperately tried to avoid a disaster against Queen’s Park when Bailey Rice and Nedim Bajrami were hooked at the break and then Ianis Hagi after an hour but the Spiders then went on to inflict one of the worst results in the club’s history so he failed.
Given how eyebrows had been raised at Ferguson’s appointment due to his lack of top level managerial experience and record in the dug-out in the lower leagues, his in-game management was some that impressed - and in particular his ruthless decision to hook Clinton Nsiala after half an hour.
It wasn’t just the fact he made the substitution but it was the impact it had on the game with Ridvan Yilmaz, who came on for Nsiala, going into right back and captain James Tavernier moving into the heart of defence where he was superb.
Ferguson identified the problem and did something about. It was something his former boss Dick Advocaat was known for, with Craig Moore subbed after 23 minutes of a game against Kilmarnock in which Ferguson played.
How’s about stat
Rangers fans couldn’t bear to listen to Clement’s post match press conferences by the end and in particular when the Belgian was trotting out statistics about number of shots, especially when the opposition were in the second tier as was the case after the Queen’s Park Scottish Cup shocker.
Compare that to this from Ferguson after victory in Ayrshire, when he said: “I won’t get over excited. It was good but there’s lots we need to improve on.” It’s about standards for a man who was used to the highest of them during his own playing days at Ibrox and Ferguson was very clear in his various post match media duties. He’s much more of a straight shooter than Clement and fans can relate to that. It was like Steven Gerrard’s interviews following on from puzzling Pedro Caixinha. And if supporters get a clearer message, the chances are the players are the same.
Pride and passion
This was something you were always going to get from Ferguson given he was a player who wore his heart on his sleeve and led by example. He kicked very ball on the touchline and ordered the players to go to the travelling fans at full time to lap up the celebrations. He didn’t have to beat his chest for supporters to know what this gig means to him and that alone can only take you so far as a manager.
But given that connection had been lost under Clement - and to be fair to the Belgian it was also there in the early days after he replaced Michael Beale - it was important for the club to get it back.
Clement had lost that by the end as he fought a losing battle with this squad of players but Ferguson barking instructions from the Rugby Park touchline was a refreshing sight, similar to the impact Gerrard hard when he first took over.
Turning a corner?
The lack of goals from set-pieces has been a source of frustration this season and Mohamed Diomande’s counter in the Premier Sports Cup final against Celtic was the first in 175 CORNERS. And they hadn’t scored from any in the league until John Souttar’s header against Ross County earlier this month. But Ferguson took just one game to put that right with a goal direct from a corner, albeit Killie’s marking of Cyriel Dessers left a lot to be desired.
Now the next step for Ferguson is to sort out the defending at set pieces which has been a real issue. It was something Clement addressed but the hiring of a set piece specialist coach was never something he entertained. He said: "Would I hire a set-piece coach? No. Because I love set-pieces. That's a thing of the past but it's one of the reason I played a lot of games, because I scored a lot of goals from set-pieces. I had a feeling we didn't create enough but if you see the data until now we're doing quite well but we underperformed in scoring goals because we hit the crossbar a few times and there were really good saves from goalkeepers. The goalkeepers always perform well against us in the data if you speak about expected goals.”
Team character
It’s easy to say Rangers wouldn’t have won the game after going two goals down at Rugby Park had Clement still been charge. But they probably wouldn’t have. They rallied after conceding a couple against Motherwell to salvage a draw over the festive period but it was more points dropped and pushed him closer to the exit.
They went 2-0 down at home to St Mirren in his final game in charge after failing to recover. The last time Rangers came back from two goals down to win was at the end of last season in a 5-2 victory against Dundee but the league was all but done. The truth is they probably wouldn’t have mounted a comeback and it was that character which pleased Ferguson most - and epitomised his own desire as a player.
Forward thinking
It's probably no great surprise given Neil McCann, in his final appearance as a pundit before swapping the studio for the dug-out, had identified the lack of positivity in Rangers' play that they were more attack-minded.
McCann picked out Jefte taking a throw-in back to his defence rather than forward as a sign of their negativity. He added that it would have been an instruction from the manager.
But the Rangers players were much more positive at Rugby Park and you could see their first instinct was forward thinking.
