Philippe Clement responds as new backroom hire mooted

Philippe Clement has ruled out the possibility of appointing a new set-piece coach at Rangers.

Plenty of clubs now hire specialist coaches to take care of set-pieces but Light Blues boss Clement is seemingly not interested in following suit.

In the Scottish Premiership this season, only Dundee (14) have more set-play goals than Rangers (7, joint with St Johnstone) but the Gers are underperforming their xG from set-plays (10.21, Opta Analyst).

Clement, speaking at a news conference in quotes reported by the Rangers Review (16 February), said when asked if he would employ a set-piece coach: “No, because I love set pieces and that is a thing of the past but is also a reason, I think I played a lot of games as I scored a lot of goals from set pieces so I will not give away that part.

“I had a feeling we did not create enough [against Ross County] but if you see the data up to now we are doing quite well but we have only performed scoring goals because we hit the crossbar a few times and the goalkeeper made some really good saves so the goalkeepers have overperformed against us up to now in terms of the data if you speak about expected goals and things like that.

“It would be boring if it could not be better, so we are working on trying to do the right things.”

Rangers next have the chance to improve their set-piece record at St Johnstone on Sunday (18 February).

Philippe Clement won’t hire a Rangers set-piece coach at Ibrox

It is an interesting take from Clement but it does offer an insight into the level of input he clearly likes to have out on the training ground with his Rangers squad.

A lot of managers now do look to employ specialist coaches, we are after all living in era across all sports where marginal gains are crucial in finding the key to success.

So, perhaps it would make sense for Clement to employ someone to look after set-pieces and allow him to focus on other areas of coaching or planning as he looks to bring the Scottish Premiership to Rangers.

By the same token, it is hard not to be impressed by the clear focus he has when it comes to this team. He wants to take control of set-pieces and it looks as though he’ll be damned if he’ll be giving them up any time soon.

He’s doing such a good job at Ibrox that who is anyone to question his methods anyway?