Ibrox View: Rangers skipper Tavernier must get back to basics to improve creative output
James Tavernier had a dip in form this season.
The skipper struggled to recapture the electric form that saw him bag 17 goals and 20 assists in 2018/19, with the full-back instead managing just three strikes and 15 assists this term.
And a closer look at the stats hardly makes that fall in output surprising.
For one thing, the captain’s shot accuracy has fallen by 22.4%, as per Wyscout.
Moreover, his crossing accuracy and dribble success rate have dropped by 13.2% and 2.7% respectively.
And the disparity is much more noticeable when you look at his respective shot maps.
Above is a visualisation of his efforts on goal from this term.
Compared to his shot map from last season, pictured above, there is a much lower concentration of shots from around the edge of the area.
There are potentially two reasons for this.
One is that he simply isn’t shooting enough, but given the fact that his shots per game ratio has dropped by just 0.14 – or one whole shot every 7.14 matches – it seems that is quite unlikely.
The other potential cause is that he is overplaying things, trying too hard to get into good positions and overcooking things as a result.
Given that his dribbles success rate has dropped but his number of progressive runs per game has gone up, this seems more plausible.
We see a similar thing with his crossing.
Above is a pass map from a Europa League qualifier last July when he registered just one successful cross out of 13. [The blue arrow travelling towards his own goal was a cross that the keeper collected comfortably.]
It’s no coincidence that the only delivery to find a man was also the one he put in from the deepest position.
Good players don’t become bad players overnight, but there are certain small changes they might make in their game that can make big differences.
On the evidence of this, the best thing Tavernier can do moving into next season is to get back to basics.
Keep things simple, don’t overplay chances, and don’t be afraid to have a crack from range every once in a while.
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