Philippe Clement dangles Rangers carrot after brandishing stick as pundit dissects Cantwell and Dessers examples
Michael Stewart has been impressed with Clement's no nonsense approach tempered with incentives for underperforming stars.
Michael Stewart reckons Philippe Clement has struck a perfect Rangers balance in battering his underperforming stars with a stick before dangling the carrot.
Todd Cantwell is the latest case in point. He was hooked after just 35 minutes against Aris Limassol in midweek for failing to take on and execute instructions. He kept his starting place against St Mirren on Sunday and was deployed in his favoured central role. And he repaid Clement with two assists for Abdallah Sima as the hosts won 2-0.
And Stewart has noticed a pattern when it comes to how Clement demands more, before giving his guys an incentive to go and produce. The Sportscene pundit recalled another example with the much maligned Cyriel Dessers as he said: "The big thing with Philippe Clement, when you look at him, he looks like a guy who won't suffer fools gladly. He's going to say to the players what he thinks; he's not going to mollycoddle them.
"But equally, when he's battered them with a stick, he knows how to dangle the carrot. That's a case of with Todd Cantwell: 'Right, it's done, there's the game, go and play.' he's got a very good measure on that.
"I think back to the semi-final at Hampden just last month. Late on in the game, Dessers had come on and he wasn't chasing or closing down the game. You could see him (Clement) on the touchline, he was going crazy. but as soon as the final whistle went, he was on the park and he had his arm round Dessers and he was talking to him about where to be on the pitch and what to do.
"That just epitomised him as a manager and understanding when players might want to just sulk and feel as if they're being picked on. It's not about that, it's more about the reasons why and the clarity.
"Playing Todd Cantwell in that central area and not sticking him out wide, that was almost giving a bit to him and expecting something back. I think he got that from his performance."