Philippe Clement takes comfort from Rangers numbers but worrying trend shows he's heading in same direction as Beale

Philippe Clement likes to take comfort from the numbers after a disappointing result.

The Rangers boss trudged into the Parkhead media room and began trotting out the stats sheet detailing the story of yet another Old Firm loss. His side, he declared, had managed just one less shot than Brendan Rodgers’ jubilant champions, hit the target the same number of times and almost matched them in the possession stakes.

The trouble is that none of that came close to adding up to the result he and his club’s supporters crave. And you can bet the Ibrox faithful will take no solace at all from the figures laying out just how far behind they’ve now fallen their bitter rivals. They make for bleak reading. Gers have lifted three of the last 30 domestic trophies versus Celtic’s count of 22.

It’s now two derbies wins in the last 16. The Parkhead side, meantime, have won 11 in that period. And when it comes to the all-time record in the fixtures, the Light Blues have now seen Celtic steal ahead with their 170th win having led the race for decades.

As for Clement, he’s now gone five head-to-heads with the Hoops and is still no nearer to a first victory. His number isn’t up yet, certainly not after the Ibrox board in their wisdom decided to dish out a new four-year deal earlier this month. But Clement doesn’t need to be a mathematician to know improvements are required eventually if he’s to avoid being subtracted from the Ibrox equation.

The Belgian boss said: “We started the game really well. We had two really good opportunities, with Cyriel Dessers coming free in front of goal and Rabbi Matondo with a free header. So you need to be clinical in those games, and to come in front, it changes the momentum.

“It would have helped the team a lot