Philippe Clement has been speaking to the media ahead of Rangers' meeting with St Johnstone. Here is everything he had to say.

What has been the reaction to midweek and is it difficult to pick the players up?

Yeah, they were really down. They were really down after the game and the day after, but it's part of the story in football. You have moments like this and it's even worse when you play a really bad game and you go out. That was not the case. So there were the circumstances and I don't want to go into that again, but it was clear for everybody all over the world. I get so many messages from all over the world about this red card. So that was clear for everybody and it changed the game. But like I said, after the game you cannot turn that back. UEFA will never say ‘OK, we're going to replay the game’. So that's done, that's finished and it's our job. That's my responsibility, but for sure the players also, to react in the next game and to win that one. That's football. Yeah, that's the part of the story of Rangers and that's a part of every club in the world. A few months ago I saw, I don't know if you guys saw that, this documentary ‘99’ about Man U. I was thinking about that the day after our game. So they were really down that first game. Losing the Charity Shield against Arsenal 3-0, not touching a ball, or the feeling of not touching the ball. But they reacted later on as a team with a lot of young players who had to learn that and with several very important players like Roy Keane guiding them. So that's what we need to do the next weeks, the next months, to make the story better and better. And that's what I've seen also the last three weeks also, that the squad is getting better and better.

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Is there a worry that when a disappointment like that comes so early in the season, you're having to pick your players up, like you said, you maybe got negativity amongst the fans. Is that tough to deal with when it comes so early?

If that's early or later on or whatever, it's about looking at all season. It's not only about looking at one game or two weeks or three weeks, it's looking at all season. And there are so many things going on here that is better and better. I see the work in the performance staff or in the medical staff, it's much better than last season. I see these young guys developing. If I see Conor Barron playing now compared already with last season, and there are a lot of things going on and we need to fight every week, every three days, really hard to get the results. It will become better and better because the potential is here. And like I said at the end of the last season, it was the end of a cycle with several players who were over their top. They had their best period here and they were really important for this club. They did great things, although the fans were also not happy about that period because there were not enough trophies. So we had to do something different, something fresh, something new, some new talent to make it better also. So that's what we're doing and we're going to continue that.

Is it proving difficult to manage the impact of Hampden?

No, because I cannot manage that. And I have to say that the fans were amazing after the red card because then you felt the buzz that drives the team and gave them energy. And they were pushing in that way and after the 0-1 it fell away again. So we need to look for that, to find that again also in Hampden, all of us together. But our duty stays to win football games, to win duels, to give good passes, to make the right ones, to show what the fans want to see. That is our job to do. And then I know the fans will follow. And it's like if you've been used to 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years, maybe some people, to be at Ibrox all the time, I understand that in the beginning it feels uncomfortable and you don't feel the same vibe. And that they were disappointed about going there to watch games when they are used to those things all these years. But it's very important to stick together and to be positive, to make it better and to get the best results. Also in this period that we're not at Ibrox, I know everybody behind the scenes is working hard to win every hour that we can go faster back to Ibrox. Everybody wants that, everybody desires that in the club. I cannot ask more. I cannot ask more than that, that everybody is doing that. And I cannot ask more from the fans than that they keep on pushing my team. What they've been doing. Also after the game, the fans were there for the team.

What are your thoughts on there being no away fans at the Old Firm games?

I'm not involved in these talks, but I hope for football games always that there are two sets of fans. But there are some things from the past or some things now. I don't know all the details about that, so I'm not the right person to comment if it was possible now for these first two games or not. But I love to see football where on two sides there are fans. I think it's always better for the project, for the players, for everybody.

Did you feel it made a difference last season?

Yeah, it's a different atmosphere, yeah. It's different. But, yeah, we need to adapt, like we had to adapt in other circumstances also. So it's about not putting focus on that. I try to control the things we can control and to put all the effort in that.

Are you beginning to feel more at home at Hampden?

Yeah, it will never be home. You cannot replace Ibrox. That's impossible. You can make it like a second home. Some people are lucky that they have a second house or a second home. It will be like that. So those are the lucky ones in life. So I think we need to be happy that we could stay in Glasgow. We need to look at it in that way. If we didn't have Hampden, we had to travel much more. The fans had to travel much more and that would have been worse off. The club did everything and together with the SFA to make the difficult situation as good as possible.

There have been reports linking Rabbi Matondo away from the club?

No, I cannot say anything about it. There are so many rumours about players. We had a talk several weeks ago that it's important for the club to sell players and get players. I don't know what's going to happen in the next two weeks. So we will see.

Are you still in a position where players need to leave before you can bring them in?

Yes, that's the case. Some of them know it already for a really long time and they're still in the building. That makes things more difficult. But it is what it is. I cannot put a gun on their heads to get them out of the building. That's also not the idea.

How frustrating is it to be in that position?

It's what I said about all the other things. It's not something I can control. So I don't put any energy in that. All the energy is in the players who are here. The players who will be here. And to get the next result. All the energy is in that.

What have the opening games of the season told you about where your team is?

That we didn't get the results that we deserved. For sure in the Kyiv games. And for sure in this last game. The Hearts game was an equal game. It was the correct result for me. You see also, okay, Robin was not there yet. He was there, but he just signed. He didn't even train. Vaclav trained two times before that. You've seen already the impact that he had in the moments that he played. But he's not ready for 90 minutes yet. We know. So, yeah, it takes time. It's normal. And in that way, it's continuing game by game to do that. And also to see that with this amount of games. Because when you play every three days, for sure when you come to the fourth, fifth game, for some guys, there's some time that's getting into the body that you need to make some kind of rotation also in your squad. So, it's about focusing on that.

How can the club counter the financial gap to Celtic?

No, but it's not only about money. If that's the case, then everywhere in the world, the team with the most money wins every year a title. Of course, it helps a lot. And you see that there are financial differences. And because of that, you have a group of teams winning a lot of things and other teams less. That's also logic. But it's our job to get the best out of the potential that is here. And we were close last season because people maybe forget. But we were close in that way. It's about stepping up now with the new guys coming in, with all the youths, with all the young players. And using that energy also to make a next step and to let them gel together, to let them make connections together on the pitch, off the pitch. It's also a work to be done that we're busy with every hour of the day. It's building a new squad. So that takes time also to get this connection between players and then the other side, getting players back out of the long-term injuries and all those things. I see what I see. I see people working really hard in this building every day without any day of rest. Players, of course, sometimes a day of rest also to recover. But rest in the building, working really hard. And the players also working really hard in the training. And I see the evolution of it. Because at the end, OK, you didn't qualify against Kyiv, but it's not a fair result after the two games. And what happened there? So if everybody who saw the games against Partizan Belgrade knows what the quality is they had, the team did a lot of good things in that game. Do we have some things to improve? Yeah, for sure. Do we need more quality in the squad to make a next step? Also for sure. Everybody knows that, but I know everybody's working really hard for that also.

Is there an update on Ridvan Yilmaz?

Yeah, Ridvan will be out. I don't like to say too much in detail things, but it will be around between four and six weeks. Something like that.

How does the squad look for tomorrow?

Scott Wright also has a smaller problem. Probably he will not be available. Leon Balogun is still in doubt. The rest will be fit.

Will you look at bringing in another left-back?

I don't think we have the assets to do those things now. I think we need to put all the focus on the positions we need for the squad for the rest of the season. Because getting a full back in now and to have Ridvan and Jefte for the rest of the season and three full backs. We have a third one with Robbie Fraser who made a really good evolution the last couple of months. So it's his time also to take chances. And he did really positive things in this pre-season also. So there's also part of the story to give chances to guys coming out of academy. Do we expect them directly to be the best player on the pitch? Also not possible. But they can grow out of that.