Seething Philippe Clement rips Rangers flops apart as he rages 'we threw away 45 minutes'
Philippe Clement says Rangers' first half left him raging at the break - and tore them apart for 'throwing away' 45 minutes.
The visibly angry Ibrox boss spoke to TV cameras after watching his team battle back after going 1-0 down against St Mirren, only to lose it at the death to a brilliant Caolan Boyd-Munce strike. A clanger from Jack Butland gave Oisin Smyth the chance to put Saints ahead after a dreadful first half from Clement's team, and he responded with a pair of subs at the break, throwing on Danilo and Nicolas Raskin.
The Brazilian striker equalised on the hour mark and Rangers pressed for a winner, only for their opponents to find it instead. Boyd-Munce sparked late scenes as any residual Rangers hopes of catching Celtic went out the window in Paisley.
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And a raging Clement said: "We threw away 45 minutes and you create your own problems because of that. So our first half was not acceptable. The way we played, our tempo in the duels, everything as a team was not good enough. And then you get also a goal against where you make a mistake to give away a penalty there.
"So a lot of things went wrong in this first half. I was angry at half time about what I saw in this first half. The reaction in the second half is good.. The team showed what they've been showing in the last weeks, the last two months. Much more quality. Getting the chances, creating the chances, scoring the goal. It should have been more. And then you have that one counter attack and lose goal against at the end of the game. That can happen if you take so many risks like we did at the end of the game.
"We need to play games like we play in the second half. And then, then we have different results like we have in the last couple of weeks, but it's about every three days.
"The team has been consistent he last two months, or even a little bit longer than that. The first half was was not acceptable, was not good enough. Not only from the two players I took off, it was the whole team, I could have done more, more changes than two.
Clement was also asked if Balogun's injury would force him into the transfer market for defensive cover next month, and gave a refreshingly honest answer. "Yeah, that's clear for everyone in the club, everybody knows that it's very necessary," he said.
"But I'm not busy with the window. No, I'm busy with that (performance). We didn't perform in the first half. Very disappointed about that. I'm angry about that, to be honest because you can make wrong passes, or make mistakes. But we were below level in this first half with too many players and that cannot happen. Just"
