Rangers fans have finally turned on Philippe Clement and travel sickness has left him at the end of the road
Rangers’ travel sickness struck again and could well have left Philippe Clement at the end of the road. As it stands, the Light Blues are going nowhere.
The disgruntled Rangers support know that and finally turned on their manager and chanted for him to go after this result, which has left them 15 points behind Celtic. Clement’s toothless team dropped another two points and nobody could argue that Dundee were worth their share of the spoils. Dundee took an early lead through Oluwaseun Adewumi before Vaclav Cerny cancelled it out.
It was a typical Rangers performance that has seen them drop points at St Mirren, Motherwell and Hibs. It leaves Rangers very much second best. The question is will it be the manager who is set to pack his bags? Yes, Rangers had a number of players missing but so did Dundee. The visitors were still miles away from where they need to be under Clement. He did manage to beat Celtic in the last game but games away from Ibrox are now proving a real issue.
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Rangers have won just three league games on the road in the league and taken just two from the last 12 on their travels. Dundee certainly more than matched Rangers and on another night could have won it.
Clement was down to the bare bones, especially in a defensive capacity. It saw Clinton Nsiala handed his first senior start with six players out injured and Nicolas Raskin suspended. Robin Propper was handed the armband for the evening.
Dundee signed Aaron Donnelly for a second time 24 hours before kick-off and he went straight into the starting XI. Tony Docherty made three changes with Lyall Cameron missing and Seb Palmer-Houlden dropping to the bench. Ethan Ingram and Cesar Garza also came in.
There was no pre-match pyro from the visitors in the stands and no early spark from their team on the park, apart from a bit of clever play from Nedim Bajrami that saw him skip past Ryan Astley but he fired over. It was Dundee who lit the spark in this game when the took the lead in the sixth minute.
It was their first attack. Scott Tiffoney burst forward and had a shot that was half-blocked. Josh Mulligan pulled it back for Adewumi, who swept it low past Liam Kelly.
It left the makeshift Rangers backline shaking and looking nervy. Tiffoney swung in a corner and Donnelly got his head on it but it deflected off a Rangers defender and flew wide. Dundee were more ruthless and it showed in the stats for the opening 15 minutes.
Rangers had 81 per cent possession and Dundee had 19. The home side though had seven efforts, compared to Rangers’ one.
That was a Ridvan Yilmaz effort that flew over, although the only statistic that mattered was the fact the scoreline of 1-0 to Dundee. Rangers were sloppy in possession and lacked a cutting edge until they finally came to life in the 34th minute.
Dundee claimed for a penalty when Simon Murray went own under the close attention of Nsiala. It was turned down and Rangers went forward and levelled. Ianis Hagi took a brilliant touch to take it from the keeper.
Igamane managed to beat a couple of players, one with a cheeky nutmeg, to get it through to Cerny, who took it wide past a defender and fired it past Trevor Carson from the narrowest of angles. Referee Calum Scott waited for the VAR check before he let the goal stand.
Simon Murray had the final effort of the half with a free-kick that clipped the wall and dropped behind. The officials left with boos ringing round their ears over the build-up to the equaliser.
Hagi picked up a first-half knock and was replaced at the break by Rabbi Matondo. It was only his second appearance since the start of September. Clement was left wondering how his team hadn’t gone ahead in the 55h minute.
Jefte crossed and Astley slipped as he tried to clear. It gave Cerny a sight of goal but Carson denied him and then the winger sliced his follow-up over the bar. Dundee had the ball in the net when Murray crossed for Adewumi to score again but the flag immediately went up.
VAR verified the decision. It was another away game that wasn’t going to plan and Clement made an attacking change, sending Danilo on for Connor Barron.
Dundee boss Docherty also changed a couple of his front options with Murray and Tiffoney making way for Seb Palmer-Houlden and Julien Vetro. Vetro set up Adewumi who lashed over.
Rangers came close when Jefte was tackled and Mohamed Diomande fired a shot off the bar in the last five minutes. That was it, however, and Dundee easily saw out the game without any real danger.
There were home cheers and away boos when the final whistle went. Dundee celebrated but the Rangers support turned on their team and manager. There were angry chants telling the Belgian to go as he left the pitch with a quick clap but quickly he headed for the away dressing room.
