Philippe Clement offered a prickly response as he was questioned on Rangers' "fluency and rhythm" potentially being impacted by changes to the starting line up.

The Ibrox boss made seven changes to his starting 11 for the visit of Ayr United in the Scottish Cup.

But Clement refused to agree that the host of changes could pose issues with continuing the rhythm of play at Ibrox.

After the 2-0 victory, Stephen Craigen - on Viaplay Sports - asked the Rangers manager: "Is it difficult sometimes when you make as many changes as you did to keep the fluency and rhythm within the team?"

Clement then flipped the question on the pundit as he reacted: "Did you have the feeling that it changed things?"

Craigen responded: "Well, just after half time in particular it went a little bit flat so you then make substitutions to inject the energy back into the team."

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The Ibrox manager then explained: "So it was more with putting new players fresh in that we could get new energy and that is a positive thing - that everybody is in the story, everybody knows what to do in each position even when they play in another position they know what to do and the machine goes.

"Whoever is playing, whoever has to do that job they do the  job and that is what we need the next couple of months because we are ambitious and we are still in three competitions so we will need all the squad.

"That is the most satisfying thing for me today, all the guys who had less minutes could take more minutes. They could gain rhythm and physical condition and creating connections with the other players also. 

"This will help us to grow in the next couple of months."