Sloppy Rangers gave fans the fear and Philippe Clement blames his PLAYERS for making punters nervous

Philippe Clement has accused his sloppy Rangers stars of giving fans the fear after his side clung on for three points against Hearts at Ibrox.

The Gers boss admitted his side need to start killing teams off after surviving a nerve-shredder second half that followed Cyriel Dessers’ sixth minute opener. The victory claws Rangers back to within nine pains of leaders Celtic and Aberdeen. But their second half performance in particular did little to convince the jittery Ibrox faithful that a corner has been turned with only the width of the post denying Kenneth Vargas an equaliser.

Under fire Gers captain James Tavernier - back in the starting line-up after being benched for the midweek Europa League draw with Olympiacos - was subbed midway through the second half as the pressure started to build. And Clement himself was the target of fierce boos when he chose to substitute Connor Barron at the same time as the skipper.

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Asked about the anxiety filling the ground, the manager said: “I don’t think it was there in the first half. There was a really good atmosphere with the fans really positive behind the team.

“We make the fans nervous by making the wrong choices, it’s more like that because they see one goal difference and if one ball drops wrongly or there’s a mistake then Hearts are back in the game. It’s about us doing better with the ball in those moments.

“In the first half I saw a lot of good things, saw a really good goal comparable with the goal we scored in Olympiakos with finding the right spaces and going from the back until the front making good combination play, good runs and scoring a good goal. We then missed to score the second goal and kill the belief of our opponents. In second half after 30 seconds or a minute you make a mistake and you get a ball against the post in that moment.

"After that it went up and down with more downs than ups. We were too sloppy on the ball and not making the right choices like the first half and Hearts came more into the game without creating good chances but they stay in the game.”

Tavernier returned to the starting line-up after being dropped, for the second time in a month, for Thursday’s draw with Olympiacos. The full back notched an assist when he fired over a low cross that Dessers tapped home. And Clement said he will continue to rotate in the right back area with Dujon Sterling and Neraysho Kasanwirjo pushing for a start;

He said: “It’s every game looking at what’s best for the team to win and to manage that.” Asked his thoughts on the 33-year-old’s performance, Clement added: “It was also in ups and downs. He had a few really good moments, a shot in the second half, unlucky it was blocked, moments defensively it could have been better.

“We will work hard on that with the team. There wasn’t a player who only had highs, it was too many ups and downs. We need more consistency to kill these games off and that’s the most important thing.”

Dessers took his goal tally to 10 for the season with the winner. And he said: ““It's a valuable three points. We struggled a little bit in the second half. It's always difficult after a European away game on Thursday, late night game, long flights, but we got the three points, that's the most important thing.

“It’s always nice to score at Ibrox, just to see the ball in the net. I think it was a good moment for us to score, to go ahead. And ten goals, it's a nice number. I'm happy to get there already now, but I want more.”