John Lundstram is looking forward to some much-needed R&R with his nearest and dearest.
After a relentless, frenetic schedule under new Rangers boss Philippe Clement, the Ibrox midfielder is now glad of the chance to take a load off and grab some quality time with his girlfriend and their one-year-old daughter. But the 29-year-old insists it’s been anything but child’s play getting the Light Blues back on track after their disastrous start to the season.
The Gers faithful spat the dummy as Michael Beale’s Rangers reign unravelled inside the first two months of the campaign. But the toys are back in the pram, with Clement now Daddy Cool in Govan having turned this team around. The big Belgian has masterminded a Viaplay Cup triumph, found a route through to the Europa League last 16 and lit a fire under a title race that looked to have already burned itself out by the time he arrived in mid-October.
Last week’s Old Firm defeat means there’s still plenty of graft to be done in the second half of the season but for now Clement wants his men resting up as the winter break begins. Lundstram has taken the opportunity to return home to Liverpool this week, catching up with family and catching a breath too as at last Rangers enjoy a break in the midst of their relentless fixture list.
The hard work begins again next week, however, when Clement takes his team to Spain for a warm-weather training camp and a closed-doors clash with Hertha Berlin. But then, Lundstram insists it’s already been a slog every step of the way under the new gaffer.
The Scouser said: “There is a lot of work that goes into it that people don’t see.
There is so much work that goes into getting these performances, it is not easy to just keep churning them out. People don’t see the little knocks behind the scenes that players are carrying. Tav has been carrying knocks, but people don’t see that.
You really do want to get out on the football pitch even if you are carrying stuff. It is not as easy as that to keep getting results, there is so much work that goes into it.
“It is tough for the lads who have been playing week in, week out because it is just game-recover, game-recover. At La Manga we can really focus on some individual stuff. We’re all at different fitness levels and I am sure the gaffer probably wants to drive that on as well.
“I think now we can build on individual programmes and fitness levels. I’m looking forward to having a little rest and then to get a base level going when we get to Spain. I have no idea what the gaffer has planned for us fitness-wise. But I am sure it is going to be a good week. It is not going to be easy of course, but no-one wants it to be.
Before all that, though, I’m just going to go back home to Liverpool to see some family and spend some time with my little girl. It is hard to have proper family time when you are trying to recover and are getting it in the ear from the missus and are always on the couch.
“You have just got to recover as best you can in between games when they are coming fast. Now it is just about spending some quality time together with my missus and the little one.”
Gers jet out to their plush base at the La Manga Club resort, which sits about a 90-minute drive south of Alicante, on Wednesday. The clash against German second-tier outfit Hertha takes place a week today before the team flies home ahead of another friendly kick-about with Champions League high-flyers Copenhagen at Ibrox on Tuesday, January 16.
And Lundstram hopes the two bounce games will provide Gers with the spring they need once the real stuff gets back underway. That’s what we’re aiming for,” he said. “We want to go as far as we can in every competition.
“As soon as we have a little rest and recovery it will do the lads who are carrying little bumps and knocks here and there good. To get this week off will be nice and then we can get back going in La Manga before the two friendly games.
“I wouldn’t say we’ve overachieved. We have won the League Cup, but we’re expected to do that.
“Yeah, we topped our Europa League group, but we haven’t won anything in that department yet. So we are still striving, still growing. We did great to win the League Cup which was fantastic, but that is just the start. We want to push on now. Nothing is won yet.”
Clement’s achievements since taking over from Beale are all the more remarkable given the injury issues he inherited from the Londoner. But Lundstram hopes the worst of their troubles will soon be over after watching Nico Raskin become the first casualty to emerge from the treatment room as he made his return from a two-month lay-off in Tuesday commanding win over Kilmarnock.
He said: “Anyone who can help us the better, whether it is lads coming back injury wise or signings or lads finding form. All the help we can get is good.”
That win over Killie was just the lift Clement’s team needed after seeing the Belgian’s bubble burst at Parkhead. But Lundstram insists his manager deserves all the praise for re-inflating a team that had fallen flat after its disastrous start to the season.
He said: “The Killie performance was really good. I thought we started great. We came back into it and got the two goals before half-time. I just thought it was a really professional performance. We could have scored more goals of course, we would have really liked that.
“How has the manager got me and the others playing so well? He has just come in and given everyone a lift. Not just myself. He has galvanised the whole building, the staff included. There is a better feeling around the club.
“I don’t know, I am just happier I think. I think that just shows. When you are happier as a player you put in better performances and that has shown.
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