Russell Martin downplayed the significance of his decision to bench James Tavernier and Nico Raskin for Tuesday’s Champions League qualifying win over Viktoria Plzen.
The Scottish side cruised to a 3-0 win at Ibrox in the first leg of their third-round tie, thanks to a brace from Djeidi Gassama and a penalty from Cyriel Dessers.
Gassama has now scored four goals in three Champions League matches this season, after finding the net in both of their second-round games against Panathinaikos.
Tavernier and Raskin both came off the bench on Tuesday, three days after Martin lashed out at his squad following a 1-1 Scottish Premiership draw with Motherwell.
However, Martin claimed his changes were related to a need for “freshness” rather than anything performance-based.
“I don’t like the word dropped. I said that to the guys, you don’t get dropped from the team, we’re going to need everyone,” Martin told BBC Scotland.
“People are going to come in, people are going to come out, so we need that freshness.
“It’s not easy to drop anyone, especially players that have been really important to this team for however long, but the decisions are all difficult. One is not tougher than the other.
“You have to do what you think is best for the team to win on the night and, to be fair, they’ve come on and played brilliantly.
“I know there’s a tendency up here for one thing to become a big thing really quickly, and it’s not at all. Tonight was the best team, and Saturday will be a different team again I’m sure.”
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Martin was far from pleased after Saturday’s domestic season-opening draw against Motherwell, claiming some players had to drop their “egos”.
The head coach was far happier with their performance this time around as they inched closer to the Champions League play-off round, where they could face Club Brugge or Salzburg.
Martin added: “I’m really happy with a lot of it. A bit annoyed with the last 15 minutes, since I felt we had the ball too much in our own half, but that’s my job to be demanding of the guys.
“I think from Saturday to today, they took everything on, showed amazing energy at the start of the game, and real moments of quality, actually.
“It’s really difficult to learn a lot of detail and apply it with the right intensity and courage all the time, especially after a tough afternoon on Saturday, so I’m really proud of the team.”
