Philippe Clement sees Rangers rev up in shadow of Monaco GP track but only one thing can swerve managerial car crash

Half an hour’s drive along the French Riviera coastline from Nice you come to the winding, twisting streets that form the circuit for the Monaco Grand Prix.

It’s on those same leafy avenues Philippe Clement took the first wrong turn of his managerial career as an 18-month stint in Monte Carlo ended with a sudden crash. A year-and-a-half on and he was back on the Cote d’Azur knowing it is now his Rangers reign in danger of stalling.

If the Belgian is to remain in the driver’s seat at Ibrox, he simply has to find a way of getting his team to motor domestically at the same speed they zoom along at in Europe. Thursday was another of those remarkable occasions when a team who have consistently found themselves incapable of overtaking the SPFL’s back markers had no problem hitting top gear abroad. Dismal domestically but this was as clinical a performance as you are likely to see on the continent. A record-equalling seventh game unbeaten away in UEFA competition now has Rangers in pole position for a place in the knockout rounds after reaching the all-important 10-point mark.

Young striker Hamza Igamane announced himself to the Ibrox faithful with a double on his first Euro start after goals from Vaclav Cerny and Mohamed Diomande stunned the French big spenders.

What it means for Clement remains to be seen. One thing for sure is he cannot allow his team to revert to bad habits when they take the road up to Perth for Sunday’s Premiership showdown with St Johnstone.

It’s not much of a surprise these days to see James Tavernier bombed out of Clement’s XI. He turned 33 last month and it has become harder to ignore the feeling his age has finally caught up with him this term. And so, having missed out entirely against Dundee