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Philippe Clement praised Rangers for the way they dealt with a \u201ctricky\u201d trip to Livingston as he called on the Scottish football authorities to consider implementing Sunday evening kick-off times for teams playing in Europe on a Thursday.<\/p>\n
The Rangers boss watched his team run out comfortable 2-0 winners at the Tony Macaroni Arena less than 72 hours after an energy-sapping 2-1 victory over Sparta Prague in the Europa League.<\/p>\n
Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibernian and the Ibrox side have all had to contend with playing domestic matches on Sunday afternoons after Thursday night European fixtures this term, and Clement feels Scotland should follow the lead of other leagues by allowing teams more recovery time in such situations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s better for Scottish football to do it that way,\u201d said the Belgian. \u201cThey do it in Belgium and in other leagues.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who have never played may think, \u2018what is the difference between six hours or eight hours more?\u2019 but it\u2019s a big difference in the recovery of a body, these hours of sleep and recovery because it\u2019s a really short time for players to recover.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe play every three days, we will have a schedule of 12 games in about 38 days (after the international break) so recovery is an important part of it. The food, the drink, the cryo, when to sleep.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important I think in every league that teams that play in Europe on Thursday evening play on the Sunday evening. In a lot of leagues, that\u2019s done so it\u2019s maybe something we can see in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clement made four changes for the Livingston game and admitted his team selection was influenced by the gruelling impact of the Sparta match.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, because for example, Danilo did 1,300 metres of high-intensity runs on Thursday so if I let him start today I take a risk, for example,\u201d he said. \u201cOf course, I looked at that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The win at Livingston came courtesy of a first-half goal from Cyriel Dessers and a second-half penalty from James Tavernier, who had missed an earlier spot-kick. Rangers also had first-half goals from Connor Goldson and Ross McCausland \u2013 on his first start \u2013 ruled out following VAR reviews.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a tricky game, with the circumstances with the (plastic) pitch which is not an advantage for us with the football we want to play,\u201d said Clement.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso kick-off at 12 o\u2019clock after a European night. Also having European success and then playing domestically, it\u2019s sometimes dangerous in the heads of the players.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the team showed a really good mentality and the right spirit to play a very mature game because we didn\u2019t give away anything and we deserved to win, clearly.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso when you miss a penalty and a goal is disallowed, sometimes you get in dangerous games for losing points because the circumstances are not on your side. At the end, it\u2019s a very positive afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Livingston go into the international break after suffering a fifth consecutive defeat. Manager David Martindale \u2013 who rued a \u201cdisappointing\u201d first-half performance \u2013 is unfazed by their current predicament.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not an abnormal situation for us,\u201d he said. \u201cYes, we are bottom of the league on goal difference, but we have gone on spells where we\u2019ve not won a game in five in most seasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just need to get back on track. I am not big on stats or data, it\u2019s about one game at a time and what we can control. Hopefully that will lead to performances, which leads to results.\u201d<\/p>\n