Clement on not focusing on medals and hating 'extra motivation' in cup
- Published
Martin Dowden, BBC Sport Scotland
Philippe Clement has been talking to the media before Rangers' Viaplay Cup semi-final against Hearts on Sunday.
Here are the key points:
Clement insists he “hates” the idea of there being extra motivation as it’s a cup semi-final. “I want that they are motivated for everything. If I think now they are motivated because it’s a semi-final and we can win a cup, it’s totally the wrong message.”
He added: “A football career is so short, so fast gone. They need to be motivated to take the best out of every day. They have the best life in world and that I want to see from my players. And then the other things follow.”
Despite Rangers not winning the League Cup in 12 years, Clement urged his players “not to focus on medals”, saying they will “come if you do good things".
He respects Hampden's history but taking a team there for the first time is irrelevant to him, saying: “It doesn’t matter for me if we play in the national stadium or we need to play on the parking lot. For the team it’s about one thing and that’s winning the games.”
He also believes the players need to be ambitious to be better than the performance in the 5-0 win over Dundee in midweek although he can see they are gaining understanding of what he wants.
John Souttar, Nico Raskin, Rabbi Matondo and Kemar Roofe are unavailable. Tom Lawrence has a chance of a return but that’s not guaranteed. Ben Davies is on the edge but was not risked against Dundee.
