Philippe Clement has doubled down on his reliance on sports science for team selection in the wake of Rangers’ festive disaster.
The Ibrox boss initially rested Danilo for the Boxing Day clash against St Mirren with star midfielder Nicolas Raskin also held in reserve to prevent him from picking up the booking which would have seen him suspended for Thursday’s clash with Celtic.
Having lost that game 2-1, the Belgian then benched Hamza Igamane and Vaclav Cerny for Sunday’s game at Motherwell.
Introduced a half-time, the pair were instrumental in a Rangers coming from two-goals down to take a draw with the young Moroccan scoring twice.
But with the gap to Celtic extending to 14-points over four days, Clement was roundly criticised for not starting vital matches with his strongest team.
Unrepentant yesterday, however, the Rangers boss was adamant that he’d no choice but to manage his players’ game minutes – insisting they were ‘sensible’ decisions.
‘If you’re not an ex-player or an ex-manager, it’s maybe less understandable in that way. It’s very simple,’ he said.
‘Can you tell me one team in the world where a player played this season, all the games, 90 minutes and played international duties?
Philippe Clement has defended his decision to rest key players over the festive period
Rangers skipper James Tavernier has been ruled out of the Old Firm derby on Thursday
‘There’s not one. That’s because of the amount of games and also the difference between 15, 20, 30 years ago and the intensity of the game now. It’s a normal thing.
‘I tried to explain it before the game. Maybe I didn’t do it well enough.
‘Now, apparently, that’s the reason why we drew the game against Motherwell. It’s not the case.
‘And we would have maybe lost more points the next couple of months if Václav and Hamza played, or tried to play, 90 minutes and they got injured for two, three months.
‘With Hamza, it’s also somebody who comes out of a league where he never played at this tempo.
‘He’s coping with that and he’s taking tremendous steps forward in a very short time. So, that’s very positive.
‘But we have a department especially for that. These people are paid for that to check the players every day. It’s not only that. We speak with the players every day.
‘So, it was the only sensible decision to make for this game.
‘Would I love to start with them every game like they’re playing for the moment? Yes, of course I would love to do that.
‘So, I’m not stupid to not do that. It’s for the benefit of the club, of the team and of the players themselves.’
‘People make sometimes conclusions that the sports department makes the decisions about the team. Also, totally not the case. It’s not that I follow everything to the letter.’
James Tavernier will miss the Celtic match after being ruled out for several weeks with a muscle injury with Clement giving Leon Balogun an outside chance of making the derby.
‘We took a scan and there’s clear damage there that (means) he will be out for a few weeks,’ he said of his captain.
Meanwhile, Rangers will pay Aberdeen a fee of £600,000 for midfielder Connor Barron after a SPFL tribunal finalised the details of his transfer to Ibrox.
The midfielder, 22, signed a four-year contract at Ibrox in June after his deal at Pittodrie expired.
The two clubs couldn’t agree on a development fee for the player who had been with the Dons since the age of eight, with the matter passed onto the SPFL tribunal.
Under the SPFL regulations neither club has any right to appeal.
Barron has made 28 appearances in all competitions for Clement’s side this term.
