Philippe Clement Rangers presser in full as squad 'imbalance' provides intriguing January transfer clue

Philippe Clement says he is halfway through assessing his Rangers side ahead of January shopping.

The Belgian is still undefeated since taking over as boss and can take a major step towards European football post-Christmas by beating Aris Limassol at Ibrox in the Europa League on Thursday. Already though, fans are thinking of the New Year after a summer shopping spree carried out by Michael Beale came with more misses than hits.

Speaking ahead of Rangers' latest continental tussle, Clement says he will take the next five weeks to assess the squad, although admits he is top-heavy in some areas and lights in others. He explained: "It is still five weeks at least until January so I am only halfway on the journey to really make good decisions around that. There are a few players that I didn’t even see yet on the pitch to play games or who have trained two or three times in the five weeks.

"To make a clear opinion about all the squad, it is not realistic to do it now for the moment. Of course we have ideas and we have talked about that and we are looking at things as a club because there is also an imbalance to the squad.

"In some positions we have a lot of players and in others some not. Those are things to look towards for January and the rest it is going to be very interesting in the next five weeks how all the players will perform."

Talk of IFAB introducing sin bins to the game has been aired this week, and it's split opinion with fans amid VAR creating controversy with a slate of debatable calls. But Clement reckon matches are already being grinded to a halt by stoppages and this latest suggestion doesn't come with his approval.

He said: "That for me is a difficult thing because I think it becomes a little bit a circus