Philippe Clement enraged as ‘boiling’ Rangers boss says his players are being kicked out of Scottish football

What the Rangers manager said after the 2-1 win over St Johnstone at Ibrox

Rangers manager Philippe Clement during the 2-1 win over St Johnstone at Ibrox. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

Rangers manager Philippe Clement has suggested his players are being kicked out of Scottish football amid fears the in-form John Lundstram could be out for an extended period.

Crucially in terms of the Ibrox side’s hopes of overhauling Celtic at the top, this spell on the sidelines might well include next week’s crunch Old Firm clash at Celtic Park.

The midfielder sustained an ankle injury after a tackle that led – eventually – to St Johnstone forward Diallang Jaiyesimi being red carded after 33 minutes.

The incident was reviewed by VAR and the yellow card originally shown to the player was upgraded to a red, with Rangers already leading 1-0 through substitute Cyriel Dessers. Skipper James Tavernier added a late penalty in the 2-0 win that sees Rangers draw to within two points of Celtic while still having a game in hand over the leaders.

Clement was furious about the recklessness of the Jaiyesimi challenge but also pointed a finger at Daniel Phillips, who sent Keiran Dowell sprawling with a full-blooded tackle in the middle of the park that the Rangers manager suggested was a potential leg-breaker. "The intensity was there to break a leg," he said.

Referee Alan Muir did not take any action and play was allowed to continue. Dowell, indeed, finished the game, completing his first 90 minutes since August. Kemar Roofe, however, was not so lucky, although this was down to misfortune rather than reckless play on the part of the opposition.

The jinxed striker lasted barely 15 minutes before heading down the tunnel to be replaced by Dessers, who opened the scoring soon afterwards. Roofe seemed to pull a muscle while shooting.

“We need to make an assessment on that tomorrow,” said Clement. “I didn’t see him directly after the game.”

As for Lundstram, the manager was still furious at the tackle from Jaiyesimi that saw the St Johnstone player sent off after a review and led to the Ibrox midfielder’s withdrawal at half time.

“It’s another player who is kicked off the pitch, so I am really frustrated with that,” said Clement. “This for me is my main concern after the game – again a player kicked off the pitch. I’m not sure we can get him back before the winter break so that’s not a good situation.”

Asked whether Scottish football was overly physical, with striker Danilo having damaged medial ligaments against Hearts earlier this month, the manager replied that he was too agitated to give a considered view.

“I don’t want to go in on emotions after the game, I am a little boiling so it’s better to cool down and make opinions about leagues or whatever,” he said.

“But it clearly wasn’t a good challenge with your studs forward like that. We had an even worse one later in the game when the guy luckily hit the ball and not my player, the intensity there was to break a leg. Those things are not good for football. It’s his (Lundstram’s) ankle so we will see in the next couple of days what will happen.”