Vaclav Cerny's long Rangers week to blame for fan spat as Kieran Dowell makes ruthless demand
A long week for Vaclav Cerny was probably to blame for the backwards pass the drew the ire of the Rangers support.
They let the Czech know their feelings during Sunday's 1-0 victory over Hibs. And his decision to bite back was even more ill-advised than going into reverse while in possession. Kieran Dowell understands that there is ALWAYS a demand for Rangers players to be on the front foot, no matter the circumstances. But on this occasion, he could also see it from Cerny's point of view, but it will go down as a lesson learned.
“Obviously after a tough week, going to Malmo in midweek, it was one of those games that you have to grind out in the end. There were a lot of tired legs," hen said. "Credit to a lot of the lads, they had to put in a shift this week. Like I said, it was all about grinding out the results and we did that in the end.”
Asked if some of the new arrivals, such as Cerny, need to become accustomed to the demands of the support Dowell said: “I don't know, I don't know. I think maybe in the moment, he's probably had a long week himself. He might have felt a bit leggy and thought, ‘I can't do that one,’.
“But we all know coming to this club that the demand is to play forward and try and score goals and attack. I think that the manager is of the same mindset as that. So I'm not sure what happened with Vaclav, maybe it was just a moment in the game, but we're all on the same page that we want to go forward whenever possible.”
Cerny may have kept possession at a critical stage in a match which was on a knife’s edge. But Dowell has been around the club long enough to know that won’t cut it when the fans are demanding so much more.
Asked if Rangers need to adopt a more ruthless, relentless approach to winning football matches he went on: “Yeah, I think so, yeah. I think since the manager has come in, that's the way he wants to play football.
“But again, on Sunday there were times where he probably felt he just needed to get a bit more control of the game in their half. So it's different options for different moments in the game. But yeah, definitely at this club, that's what you want to be doing.”
Dowell, of course, has had a lot of time to acclimatise to his surroundings over the last year or so, having spent most of it sitting in the same stands as the supporters. But, bit by bit, he’s beginning to break into Clement’s plans and he produced another cameo from the bench on Sunday after replacing Nicolas Raskin at half time.
He said: “I’m just looking to take as many chances as I can and build a bit of rhythm in my performances. Obviously it's well known, the last year has been tough. So any game time on the pitch I can get and I’m buzzing with.
“To be honest, it's a cliche answer but I'll play anywhere for the team. I've always seen myself growing up as one of those from three behind the striker.
“I've probably played a lot more as a centre midfielder since coming to Rangers, through injuries and opportunities and stuff like that. Like I said earlier, it was great to be on the pitch. We did want to go a bit more attacking, which is probably why you can bring me on to link that midfielder to attack.
“But yeah, I enjoy playing centre midfielder as well. It's another position I've learnt since coming here.”