Philippe Clement admits he did not see Rangers’ woeful first-half performance in the 2-1 defeat at St Mirren coming as he revealed his half-time anger.
The Light Blues went into the Boxing Day fixture in Paisley 11 games unbeaten in 90 minutes but deservedly trailed at the break to an Oisin Smyth penalty.
The Gers boss brought on midfielder Nico Raskin and Brazilian striker Danilo at the start of the second half and got the response he wanted when Danilo levelled in the 61st minute, but the home side steadied and substitute Caolan Boyd-Munce drove in a dramatic winner in added time to leave Rangers 12 points behind leaders Celtic.
“We cannot play like we played in the first half, that’s below the level,” said Clement
“It’s below par for everybody in the team. And that’s not the mentality you can accept at Rangers. That’s why I was so angry at half-time also.
“We had enough chances after that goal also to score more.
“Of course, you need to take a lot of risk in the last 10 minutes. And in that way, you get a second goal against.
“But we dominated all the second half. We had the ball all the time.
“Even in the first half, we had the ball. We didn’t do enough with it.
“They didn’t give it in the first half, that’s clear. We lost the game there, that’s why I was so angry at half-time also.
“We played far below our level in every sense, on the ball, without the ball, in the duels, in movements, in everything.
“So I made two changes and it’s not about the two guys, it was the whole team.
“I could have made eight or nine changes. And there you lose the game because in the second half you see the football you want to see, you see the intensity, the duels, the chances you want to see.
“The only thing that we missed there is to score two, three, four goals, which we could have done.
“It’s not a tactical thing because there was no big change in tactics in the second half. It’s about quality, intensity.
“And that’s the frustrating part, that I didn’t see that one coming or nobody saw that one coming, if you see the consistency over the last two months.
“But players need to learn that the level they showed in the first half is not acceptable at Rangers. You cannot have that.”
Clement said defender Leon Balogun would be assessed on Friday, adding: “It’s never a good sign if a player comes off in the first half.”
The win was St Mirren’s third in a row with a late goal and their first league success over Rangers since 2011 and it took them up to fifth place in the table.
Asked if it was the best win of the season, boss Stephen Robinson said: “I think considering the level of opponent then of course.
“The last three matches have gone similar ways. We’ve been excellent first half, deservedly taken the lead then had a lapse of concentration for period of time. But the response – we changed the shape slightly to stop waves of attacks – and the subs deserve credit as well.
“The team’s response to equalising and being under pressure shows the character of the squad.
“I’m delighted for the players. They got their rewards for the first half of quality. We moved the ball well and caused Rangers problems and pressed them aggressively. We started the second half with a bit of fear, gave the ball away, but we made changes and they carried out instructions.
“We were excellent first half, they were better in the opening 15 minutes of the second which is expected.
“But our response meant we deserved to win.”
