5 sobering Rangers realisations for Philippe Clement as derby defeat shows Ibrox boss he needs more in 2024

It’s not unusual to to wake up this morning with a sore head and a promise to make things better in the new year.

But for Philippe Clement, his headache won’t have anything to do with having one too many bringing in the bells at a Hogmanay. Instead, it was being the visitor at an unwelcome party in the east end of Glasgow that would have left him contemplating how he can make improvements in 2024. Not on a personal level, but specifically with his Rangers side as he was given a reality check following a 2-1 derby defeat to Celtic in the final game of last year.

Kilmarnock will first foot the Light Blues at Ibrox on Tuesday as Rangers look to shrug off their Old Firm hangover with Derek McInnes looking to compound their misery by repeating his victory over his old club on the opening day of the season. That ensured a nightmare start to the campaign after so much pre-season hype under Michael Beale.

And it was because of such a horror start that Clement has been cut plenty of slack whenever there has been cause for criticism, albeit that hasn’t been too often given he was unbeaten before Saturday and picked up the Viaplay Cup with a win over Aberdeen at Hampden. But Saturday was a reminder of Rangers’ shortcomings and here, Record Sport looks at some of the main issues that will be occupying Clement’s thoughts since full time at Parkhead.

The most glaring problem is that, in the main, this group of Rangers players lack the quality and desire to match Celtic. And for anyone who didn’t already know, Callum McGregor pretty much made it clear in that leaked video from his post match interview in a Parkhead hospitality suite. "We feel like when we play against them they don’t deal with the intensity," said the Hoops captain.