‘Phenomenal’ – Alex Rae names Rangers trio in Premiership TOTY
Ex-Ibrox midfielder Alex Rae has named current Rangers trio James Tavernier, Borna Barisic, and Alfredo Morelos in his team of the season so far.
The Gers currently find themselves 13 points behind Celtic at the top of the table with a game in hand following a dire slump in form.
But Rae has still been suitably impressed with what he has seen so far from some of Steven Gerrard’s men.
Speaking to the Scottish Sun about Tavernier, he said: “He’s excellent at bombing forward and has phenomenal delivery which has played a part in so many of Rangers’ goals this season.”
Of Barisic, he said: “He performs at good level week-in, week-out and has terrific quality in the final third of the park.”
Referencing Morelos, he added: “He can create individual goals for himself as well as others and his goal to game ratio is excellent.”
Is Rae right to praise this trio?
Absolutely, yes.
The Gers may have dipped in form in recent times, but there have still been some standout performers for Steven Gerrard’s men this term.
Perhaps most interesting here is the inclusion of Tavernier.
The skipper has come in for stick at times this season amid increasing speculation that he could be on his way out of Ibrox this summer, as per Football Insider.
But despite that, he has actually managed to maintain his level of attacking threat pretty well.
Sure, the fact that he has been taken off penalties means that his goal output has fallen from 0.28 to 0.06 per game, as per Wyscout, but in terms of his ability to create goals, he has been pretty consistent.
So far this term, Tavernier has 0.22 assists per game, down from 0.28 per game last term, but his number of crosses per match has risen from 5.22 to 6.77.
Moreover, his total action success rate has only dropped 0.4% across the campaign.
Maybe he does deserve more credit than he’s been getting of late.
In other Rangers news, Ibrox View: Gers surely thrown major lifeline in bid to sign £27.5m-rated starlet.