Rangers boss Philippe Clement insists his players must be more clinical in front of goal if they are to overcome Dynamo Kyiv in their Champions League qualifier on Tuesday night.
Clement watched his side beat Motherwell at Hampden yesterday thanks to first-half goals from Cyriel Dessers and the impressive Vaclav Cerny.
The Ibrox boss lavished praise on Cerny, the on-loan Wolfsburg winger who was named man of the match on what was his first start for his new club.
But, despite dominating for much of the 90 minutes, Rangers toiled in the second half and failed to make any further inroads on the scoreboard.
Kyiv will now visit Hampden on Tuesday night, with the tie finely poised at 1-1 following last week’s first leg.
It promises to be a crunch clash with the Ukrainians as Rangers look to advance into the Champions League play-off round, with Clement admitting that his team will need to sharpen up in front of goal.
Rangers boss Philippe Clement wants his side to be more ruthless in front of goal
Vaclav Cerny shone for Rangers against Motherwell and scored the second goal at Hampden
Dessers broke the deadlock early on for Rangers but the hosts also missed chances at Hampden
Asked what sort of performance it will take against Kyiv, he replied: ‘A very big one. Comparable, I think, with Tuesday (in Lublin’s first leg). We will need good efficiency. You will not get 19 shots like today, or nine on target like today.
‘We need to be really efficient in that game. And it’s a team that showed a lot of quality the last couple of weeks.
‘The last couple of years also, by playing together. So, yeah, we need to be on top of our game and to have everybody at their best level.
‘And then to have the 50,000 behind us to push us through the difficult moments.
‘It’s always been crucial at Ibrox, and now it’s important we get it at Hampden also.
‘Although I know that the fans are a little bit further away from the pitch, and that’s different. So I hope that they want to shout a little bit harder then also. It gives so much energy to my team.’
Clement refused to give too much away when asked if Cerny will now start against Kyiv after such an impressive outing yesterday.
But he believes the Czech winger, who also laid on a assist for Dessers in the first leg last week, could be a key weapon for Rangers.
Insisting that Cerny has set the benchmark for his team-mates with the quality of his finishing, Clement said: ‘Of course, and not only that, also in his combination play, like you saw, his assist, but also his defensive work.
‘So he’s an experienced player who can help the team a lot in the way we want to play football.
‘So it’s really positive for him already, two games and a very important assist and now a very good goal. But it’s what we expected from him.
‘That’s why we made a lot of effort to get him here.
‘We have to become better in that also, to be more efficient. I think the quality finishing of Vaclav is proof of that.
‘Of course, we expect much more from him. I also needed to take him off after 55 minutes. So physically he needs to make steps in the next couple of weeks.
‘But like I said already, the past week he came out of four weeks’ holiday after the Euros.
‘But we are a club now who needs to compete directly in the league and in Europe. A lot of leagues have not started yet. A lot of teams are not playing in Europe.
‘So that’s a different case for all these players who have played in the Euros.
Dessers celebrates his opener and the Nigerian also scored against Dynamo Kyiv in midweek
‘For him it’s about being fresh in every minute that he can be. For the moment it was 55 minutes.’
After opening their Premiership campaign with a disappointing draw away at Hearts last weekend, Clement felt his side were far improved yesterday.
Especially during a dominant first half in which Cerny excelled, the Ibrox boss was pleased with the quality of football his team produced.
On what was their first game at Hampden during this temporary spell at the national stadium, Clement added: ‘I saw very positive things today.
Clement was mostly pleased with what he saw from his team in the tight win over Motherwell
‘We started excellently, with good football, with good running actions, with the right choices on the ball.
‘The only thing we missed today I think is to score a third or fourth goal, which we deserved. I thought we were good.’
Meanwhile, Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell was proud of the effort from his injury-hit side.
Motherwell were without seven first-team players but almost snatched a draw when Zach Robinson forced Jack Butland into a brilliant save in the second half.
Kettlewell also questioned why there were just two minutes of added time at the end of the game when he felt his side were in the ascendancy.
He said: ‘I just think back to Zach Robinson’s strike at goal. It’s just a world-class save. We’ve seen him doing that for a period of time.
‘I’m really pleased by the players’ reaction in the second half. I’m never pleased with a defeat but I thought we showed a really good response in that second 45 minutes against a team that I thought were flying for spells in the first half.
‘But I felt there was more than two minutes to be added at the end. That was a real surprise.’