GIOVANNI VAN BRONCKHORST has defended his Rangers selection calls after all seven of his summer signings were snubbed for the Champions League defeat to Napoli.
The Italians clinched a 3-0 victory on Wednesday night as James Sands saw red and Rangers were left on the end of a harsh defeat after an encouraging performance.
But the starting line-up that Van Bronckhorst picked has raised questions over the Ibrox squad as five of his new recruits - minus the injured John Souttar and Tom Lawrence - took up a spot on the bench for must-win Group A encounter.
Five of those that started against the Serie A giants featured in Steven Gerrard's first European encounter four years ago and criticism of the transfer strategy overseen by Van Bronckhorst and Ross Wilson continues to build this term.
Van Bronckhorst said: “I always pick the team who I think will win the game. I am not going to pick 11 players and say: ‘Okay, I’ll put three new signings in and four who have been here for 10 years’.
"It doesn’t work like that. I have my two eyes, I can see how their performances are, I can see how they train.
"I don’t look at new signings or players who have been here for a longer number of years, I just pick the best 11 for the game. I think the starting 11 played really well.”
Van Bronckhorst introduced Antonio Colak, Rabbi Matondo and Malik Tillman in the second half as Rangers attempted to salvage something from their second group clash.
But there was no action for Ben Davies and he was overlooked when Van Bronckhorst introduced Leon King in a tactical reshuffle after the dismissal of Sands.
Van Bronckhorst said: “Ben Davies? Why do I have to talk about Ben Davies? He has been injured, he is just back in training.
"I put players in who I think will be ready to play. That is why I put Leon in first.
"He defends really well, he defended really well in the second-half against Ajax. That is why I put him in and why Ben didn’t start.”
