Philippe Clement railed against the notion that his side could be extra motivated by the prospect of winning a trophy ahead of their Viaplay Cup semi-final against Hearts.
The Light Blues have not won the competition since March 2011 and if they get past the Jambos at Hampden Park on Sunday they will face either Aberdeen or Hibernian in the December final, where the first piece of silverware of the season will be up for grabs.
Clement, unbeaten in three games since taking over as boss from Michael Beale last month, had no time for the idea that his players will have additional hunger when they come up against a side that, coincidentally, they beat 2-1 in the cinch Premiership at Ibrox last weekend.
Philippe Clement spoke to the media ahead of Sunday s Semi-Final at Hampden.
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC)
“I hate this ‘extra motivation’,” said the Belgian. “I want that they are motivated for everything. So, if I think, ‘oh, now they are motivated for the semi-final because we can win a cup’, it’s totally the wrong message.
“They need to be motivated every day, every game to show the best of themselves.
“A football career is so short for them, it goes so fast that they need to be motivated to take the best out if every day, they have the best life in the world and that’s what I want to see from my players. And then the other things follow.”
Clement revealed that defender Ben Davies remains a doubt with a “small problem” after missing the 5-0 win at Dundee in midweek and “there is a chance but no guarantee” that attacker Tom Lawrence will return, while John Souttar, Nico Raskin, Rabbi Matondo and Kemar Roofe remain out.
He also repeated his message to the Rangers fans to leave the “dangerous” pyrotechnics at home in future.
The match at Dundee on Wednesday night was delayed by 45 minutes after the Rangers team bus was held up in traffic and then suspended for 18 minutes after Gers supporters let off a large number of flares that triggered fire alarms under the stand.
The Scottish Professional Football League will liaise with police over the “very concerning” pyrotechnic display and the former Genk, Club Brugge and Monaco boss reiterated his thoughts on the matter.
He said: “I was clear what I said after the game but I will repeat it a last time.
“I loved when we came outside for the warm-up in Dundee, you see a lot of Rangers supporters, a lot of atmosphere, songs, chants, support for the team.
“It gives the team energy. The pyro thing we don’t need. It doesn’t give something extra. It is dangerous. So if they give all the other things I will be a very satisfied manager.
“It is good that there is rules because it is such a dangerous thing. I have seen it a lot in the past but it is good that there are strict rules because we need to avoid danger for people.”
