Clinton Nsiala is the latest Rangers player to question Philippe Clement’s integrity as a manager at Ibrox.
Rangers bounced back from their Scottish Cup defeat to Queen’s Park by defeating Hearts 3-1 at Tynecastle on Sunday (February), thanks to two own goals from Jamie McCart and a strike from Vaclav Cerny.
Several experts, including Chris Sutton, questioned if the Light Blues deserved to win, but Clement and Co came away with all three points.
They may thank Jack Butland for the win, as he delivered a man-of-the-match performance, with Nsiala a close second.
Clinton Nsiala excels vs Hearts.
Nsiala, who started alongside John Souttar, was a dominant presence in Rangers’ defence, making 16 clearances and two recoveries while winning his single tackle attempt [FotMob]. Eight of the clearances involved his head.
The former AC Milan ace had the most defensive actions in the game (18), while the second-most involved player, Souttar, had six fewer.
The 21-year-old won four of his seven ground duels (57%) and three of his five aerial duels (60%).
Nsiala had 60 touches and completed 29 of 35 passes (83%), including four accurate long balls.
He also completed two of his three dribbling attempts (67 percent).
Philippe Clement’s lack of use of Nsiala,
who joined Rangers from AC Milan in the summer, is surprising given his previous results.
The former Nantes player did not even appear on the bench until the 3-3 Scottish Premiership tie against Hibernian on January 5.
This is despite Souttar and Robin Propper frequently suffering for form in the first half of the season, forcing the Belgian manager to use James Tavernier and Neraysho Kasanwirjo at centre-back on occasion.
Clement’s persistence with Souttar and Propper while ignoring Nsiala reveals everything wrong with him as a manager.
The 50-year-old is a serial offender, as this is not his first time doing this.
In the first part of the season, Clement persisted to place Tavernier in the firing line despite the captain putting numerous subpar performances in a row and having Kasanwirjo and Dujon Sterling available.
Similarly, he remained with Cyriel Dessers for longer than required, forcing Hamza Igamane to wait for a chance.
Although he deserves credit for bringing players like Igamane to the forefront, he is frequently too late.
This could ultimately be the reason Clement is fired as Rangers manager.
