Philippe Clement has held his press conference ahead of the trip to Livingston. Here is everything he had to say.

Is the improvement a result of the results or you working individually with some players?

It is always the work of the players. As a coach, you can give advice, you can build things. It is collective and individual. Several players are also benefiting from the collective things and what the players are doing around them. That is the kind of football we want to see, the movement together, the work together, and there is a lot of emphasis on that in the video sessions and training. As a player, if you are not open for it, not ready for it, not ambitious, you don’t take the lessons and you don’t become better. At the end, it is about the players themselves.

Have you noticed a growth in confidence on a daily basis?

Yes, of course. I see also the evolution in the games. For example, the day before the game, when we did training on the pressing Ross dribbled three players and did a really good action and the team became nervous at that moment. We talked for ten seconds, 15 seconds about that, that it was as good action of Ross but that the pressing had to stay the same. After they felt their confidence. It is not yet that this team is in the situation where they know in every situation what to do. We are still working on that and that is normal. It is three and a half weeks, it is really short. It is important that we have to learn against every formation what we have to do as a team and we are getting better and better. Everything becomes faster, smoother, because it becomes more natural.

Do you have a timescale of when you think it will come together?

I wish it was yesterday! It doesn’t work that way, we are not working with robots or machines. We are working with people and you don’t know what is going to happen, how someone reacts, what is happening in his private life or football. There are so many situations that we don’t control. We like to control everything that we can control in a football club and for the moment it is because the players are really focused, really concentrated in every meeting, that they are making big steps forward in a fast time. I have to say this is the fastest way that a team reacted until now when I was working somewhere, because of their concentration. Maybe also because they come from a low, deep point and they realise they need this.

Have you been surprised by that improvement?

No I don’t have any expectations around that. You can think about that for 100 years but that is all a loss of energy for nothing. If it is four weeks, five weeks, six weeks, two months, you never know from before. But I know if everyone starts to do the things together that we create a good team and that we create a team who creates a lot of chances, that we create a team who doesn’t give away a lot of chances. That is a basic in football. Then it is about fine tuning all the other stuff individually for every player in every position towards their specific qualities and their working points. It is our job and I need to repeat it a lot of times, our job all of us and not my job, all of the staff together because it is not only my story. We work here with a lot of people in this club who help me in a good way, who are on the same line. We need to give the players the tools to get the best out of themselves.

Do you sense you are starting to build momentum here?

What do you mean about momentum? That is something that stops.

Are you in a place where you can build a big winning run?

That is the ambition but I know there will be a day that we fail, that is part of football. I have said it already several times. I want the players and everyone around to be ready for that moment also. The real winners are the ones who react in that moment. I want to postpone it as long as possible. I am not thinking about momentum. I want to create a machine that keeps on going, whoever is playing, whatever the circumstances that we train and work in.

Did all the players come through OK last night?

OK, yes. Not much sleep. It was a late night, difficult with the adrenaline to sleep. That is the same for me also. Yeah, they were tired today but that is normal. Tomorrow we will have one session to prepare for Livingston and on Sunday we need to boost again.

What's your thoughts on artificial surfaces and will it affect your team selection?

My thoughts about that is that it's a different kind of football. You can compare it with other sports like, for example, tennis. You have some guys who win Wimbledon and don't win one other tournament because it's a really specific kind of surface. For me, with artificial, it's the same. The ball bounces different, the way you pass is different, the speed of the ball is different, the way you keep the ball is also different. You cannot go do things like on a normal pitch so you need to adapt but I want a team who will never use these things as an excuse. I said it before Dundee also where we were much too late there with the bus and all these things. I don't want a team that will be stopped by circumstances. If tomorrow, they say we don't need to play on the artificial pitch but on a parking lot we're going to do that because there is only one thing that's important and it's winning games. But I'm not a fan in general because, for me, football needs to be played on grass but I had experience with it in Belgium also with St. Truiden, one team who play on artificial so it's not something new for me.

Are you ahead of schedule in terms of results?

No, I don't have a schedule because in my schedule, in my head, is to win every game so I am always underneath my schedule, that's my life. It's continuing and being ambitious and really wanting to win every game. I don't want to think about the international break now. Only one thing is important now and that is Livingston and taking the three points. You know it's a difficult place to go because of the circumstances because of the football they play so we need to be top to get those three points and all the focus is on that. All the other things that come afterwards, that's still a long way.

Are you expecting some of your long-term injured players to come back and play a role in the games following the international break?

Yes, I think we can get some players back. I hope to get Kemar back after the break. I think he can be really good. He was on the bench now but just for a few minutes and because we lack players because of the European list also. I expect to have Matondo back after the international break, I expect John Souttar back, I expect Raskin back so there is going to be more competition and that's good. Not only competition but also the possibility to rotate because we are ambitious in the four competitions. There will be a lot of games so I can say to the players and I told them already the players who show themselves every day and work hard every day for a long period, for sure they will get chances in games with the programme we have. It's about them showing themselves that they stay ready and they are ready.

Will Scott Wright be available for Livingston?

I don't know but after the break he'll be available for sure.

How beneficial will the break be to spend more time on the training ground?

For me, every day, every minute is useful and we try to get the best out of every minute with all the staff together with the players. Every minute is useful but, of course, you also have players who go on international duty. I'm curious how they'll come back also because we are building a book, page by page every day or every hour and then they go back for 10 days and then they come back sometimes they forget a lot of pages. I'm curious how this will go with the players who go on international duty. That's one of the other things for me to discover in my adventure.

Will you give the players some time off or will you work them hard?

It's very individual that one. There are players who will need to work harder because they're returning from injury or they've played less minutes. There will be players who need more recovery time so it will be a very individual schedule in that way.

Are you still looking to add another coach?

We have time to make a good deliberation about that so no rush. We have a lot of other things to do.

How do you feel Ross McCausland has performed and would you like him to sign a new contract?

He first needs to sign and then I will see!

Is he close to signing?

As long as there is no signature there is no signing for me but it's clear that I'm giving him good chances. He knows that I believe in him for the future so it's about him and his family to make the right choice and I think the right choice is staying here.

Has a contract been offered to him?

We are in talks.