‘Dundee lives rent free in this man’s head, and it’s hilarious’

By Editor - 16th Apr 2024, 08:23pm

Philippe Clement suffered a rather unexpected and potentially catastrophic defeat at the hands of Don Cowie and his Ross County side at the weekend. Now he’s really feeling the heat of this year’s Scottish Premiership title race. For months now the mainstream media have been reporting on how zen-like the Belgian waffler is and how nothing that happens seems to faze the Messiah-in-waiting.

An absolute pasting

Well that all changed considerably last Sunday when his team crashed to a 3-2 defeat to the Staggies at Victoria Park; not so much a loss, but rather an absolute pasting from the team that sits in the relegation play-off zone and has been struggling all season long. Despite going a goal up through their usual major slice of luck, their performance in that first half was clearly shouting out that they were on the ropes.

Curse could have struck once more

Even though they lost that goal in just 21 seconds a couple of weeks ago to Brendan Rodgers and his team, Clement’s rag-tag bunch of misfits nearly conceded instantly again in the Highlands, when George Harmon was left unmarked more or less at the back post and had it not been for an Abdallah Sima intervention, then that curse could have struck once more for second time in two weeks.

Lacklustre football

That lacklustre football was played by the away side for most of the game and it was hardly surprising when County managed to get the equalising goal, and then it was only a matter of time before the second came. The surprise was that they were allowed to score a third. I don’t think anybody watching was prepared for that. The ease with which the home side cut through Clement’s team was something that can only be described as frightening. Had it been Celtic they were facing that Sunday, it could have been cricket score for sure.

Ross County interim manager Don Cowie looks towards theRangers manager Philippe Clement as the final whistle sounds. Clement did not shake hands with Cowie at full-time. Photo Stuart Wallace/Shutterstock

This guy is ready to crack

In the aftermath of that taboo subject of any Ibrox side losing a game of football and the officials blatantly letting it happen, Clement has been spouting some nonsense whenever he has appeared in front of the media. It looks like this guy is ready to crack under the heat. Brendan Rodgers turned the dial a little more in his post-match interviews following his side’s win over St Mirren on Saturday – claiming he would rather have points on the board and his team sitting pretty at the top of the League.

Josh Sims of Ross County celebrates with team mates Jack Baldwin and Simon Murray of Ross County after scoring to give Ross County a 3-1 lead. Photo Stuart Wallace/Shutterstock

The postponed game

The Belgian coach keeps talking over and over again about the postponed game and how it has impacted his team so severely this past few weeks. It didn’t seem to be a major issue when both he and his team – and the legions of supporters to that end – were celebrating their 3-3 draw with the Champions as if they’d won the title already. It’s very odd that, isn’t it? In his latest madcap interview, he has claimed that Dundee have a “free ride” when the two sides face-off at Dens Park tomorrow night. Obviously just an oversight that Tony Docherty’s team can still claim a European place which would be massive for the Dees.

What a man.

🗣️’It’s a different situation if we’d played a week ago, with the pressure on’

Rangers manager Philippe Clement says Dundee have a “free ride” against his side tomorrow now that they have secured top six ⤵️#BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/h9FlMGwQi5

— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) April 16, 2024