Rangers boss Philippe Clement praised his players for a hard-fought win at St Johnstone — but admitted their performance wasn’t ‘sexy’ enough and lacked style.

The Ibrox side laboured to a 1-0 victory in Perth, with an own goal from Saints midfielder Jason Holt proving to be the difference.

It was an uninspiring display just three days after Rangers dismantled Nice 4-1 in France in the Europa League.

Clement, who confirmed that defender Nana Kasanwirjo could miss the rest of the season following surgery, said: ‘It was a well-deserved victory. We had domination of all the game and only gave one shot on target away.

‘But you need to score more goals to be more sexy — and be more of what we want to be for our fans. To have more entertainment that way, and kill the belief of our opponents.

‘That’s still a working point for us. I still saw a lot of positive things with the squad, with players growing and becoming better. 

Clement admitted that Rangers' well-deserved victory could have been more entertaining

Clement admitted that Rangers’ well-deserved victory could have been more entertaining

James Tavernier celebrates after St Johnstone's Jason Holt turns the ball into his own net

James Tavernier celebrates after St Johnstone's Jason Holt turns the ball into his own net

James Tavernier celebrates after St Johnstone’s Jason Holt turns the ball into his own net

Nana Kasanwirjo could be out for the season with an injury picked up on international duty

Nana Kasanwirjo could be out for the season with an injury picked up on international duty

Nana Kasanwirjo could be out for the season with an injury picked up on international duty

‘It’s important after a big European trip — and a big victory — to react directly domestically, and that was the case today.

‘But there are a lot of teams in the world that don’t score three or four goals every week. 

‘We have also been unlucky in the last few weeks that we have played against goalkeepers who have had the games of their lives.’

Clement, whose team remain 11 points behind leaders Celtic, added: ‘You can’t say after a big win in Nice that the team doesn’t score enough goals. But sometimes it’s there and sometimes it’s less.

‘The team kept pushing so, in the end, I’m happy with the result.

‘It’s also crucial to not concede chances, so we have for the second time in a row only one shot on target from the opponent.’ 

Kasanwirjo has been out of action since picking up a knee injury playing for the Netherlands Under-21s last month.

It now looks like his campaign could be over, with Clement confirming that the 22-year-old Dutchman will miss the next four to six months.

On loan from Feyenoord, Kasanwirjo will return to his parent club to embark on a rehab process, with Rangers still having an option to buy him next summer.

‘The operation for Nana was good, but he will be at least out for four to six months,’ said Clement, who now has James Tavernier and Dujon Sterling as the main options at right-back.

‘So we cannot count on him. We will see at the end of the season how things go. 

‘We have an agreement with Feyenoord that he will do his rehab there.

‘I will stay in touch with Nana, who was really disappointed not to continue the work he’s been doing.

‘He loves the club, he loves the dressing room, he even loves the staff — that doesn’t happen much! 

‘So we will see at the end of the season how it will be with him, but we can’t count on him the next couple of months.’

Asked why Sterling missed out against St Johnstone, Clement said: ‘That’s unlucky, because it’s not a real injury. It’s a blocked nerve. So he has to go to the specialist to unblock it, to get treatment around that.

‘Because of that, he was not available today. We will see if he’s available on Wednesday or not (to face Kilmarnock). 

‘It’s not a long-term thing, but those things happen. It’s nothing to do with training.’ 

Tavernier has been rotated in and out of the team over the past month or so, and Clement praised the impact of his club captain after he came back in to start.

The right-back played a big part in the move which saw the unfortunate Holt turn the ball into his own net against his former club.

‘Yeah, he can get all the credit today, for sure,’ said Clement. ‘That’s the Tav I want to see, who’s decisive on the ball, but also decisive in the defensive actions.

‘That’s what I want to see the rest of the season. And maybe people from outside, they see a player’s age and they write people off really fast.

‘He showed today that he’s still a very important player for this season and that he can make the difference in a lot of games.’

Asked whether reducing Tavernier’s game time could be a good thing, Clement replied: ‘I’m convinced about that, yes.

‘Nobody is (happy) if they’re not playing, but that’s part of football.

‘I had the luck that it didn’t happen too much with me because I was a centre-back. That’s different, but it’s part of football.

‘In modern football, you see it more and more. And this will be the season with the most amount of games ever in a short period. So we will need this rotation and everybody to be happy in that way.’

St Johnstone boss Simo Valakari admitted: ‘There were a lot of promising moments for us, a lot of heart and soul, but we maybe didn’t make the right decisions with our final ball at times. We want to attack and be on the front foot. We don’t want to just play safe football. But we are still working on a lot of things.’

***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk