Rangers: James Tavernier and Connor Goldson don’t ‘expect’ to beat Celtic to the title
Celtic will expect to win the league because they’ve done it so many times before while Rangers veterans like James Tavernier and Connor Goldson don’t have enough belief, says Tam McManus.
Speaking on PLZ Soccer’s The Football Show on 15 April the former Hibs striker said Brendan Rodgers’ side are now favourites to win the SPFL after the Light Blues were unexpectedly beaten 3-2 at Ross County over the weekend.
And in highlighting the relatively sparse trophy record of the Ibrox pair he claimed that their Parkhead counterparts would have the extra drive to see the title race through.
McManus said (5m 30s): “I think Celtic have so many players in that dressing room who have been over the course and distance, and the manager.
“Brendan, his comments saying, ‘This is a moment in the season we relish, we want this pressure. We expect to win the leagues and we expect to win championships.’
“James Tavernier, Connor Goldson, six years at Rangers, three trophies. Do they expect to win the league? I don’t think they do. I think Callum McGregor and James Forrest, they’ll be expecting to go and win the league now.”
Have Rangers blown SPFL title challenge after Ross County?
For however much longer Tavernier and Goldson’s Ibrox careers last it will always be a stick to beat them, and certain others, with that they haven’t got the title resumés that some of their Celtic counterparts have.
To an extent that’s not fair in that they both joined a Rangers team which was building its way back towards a title challenge after years in the wilderness, with Tavernier even signing when the Light Blues were in the second tier, while both might also point to the infamously curtailed Covid-19 campaign.
So while there is some truth to the fact that there probably is more familiarity with seeing out a title race at Celtic Park it has simply been a different challenge to lead a side that has had to rediscover what it means to stay on top.
That said, even they would likely accept they should have won more trophies between them in recent seasons, but had the right recruitment been done around them by the Ibrox board after Steven Gerrard led them to 55 both could have more medals.
So it would be unfair to trash their achievements at Ibrox, as there is sometimes a drive to do, when things take a turn for the worse, and it could certainly be argued that at times it is only them, and especially Tavernier, who has been anywhere near standard.
However they have both gone off the boil alarmingly, the captain in the past couple of weeks, and Goldson for more like a couple of months, and with other key men joining them in losing form, including John Lundstram and even Jack Butland it has quickly become an emergency.
And yet, it was only six weeks ago that Rodgers looked like he was going off the rails despite seemingly having the title in the bag within the opening months of the campaign, while it is debatable how much a bit-part Forrest is going to contribute in the final weeks no matter how many title’s he has to his name.
McGregor’s return in the Old Firm derby draw was seen as part of the reason why Rangers fought back from their disastrous start to snatch a point last week, so things can change fast.
Philippe Clement had led his side to a 100% record in all competitions through January and February, showing there is a capability to win every game over a long stretch.
Do that over the next month and the Belgian will still win a treble, while Tavernier and Goldson will almost double the trophy haul, but the response now has to be instant or it will then be too late.
In other Rangers news, a player Clement was supposed to have wrapped up to come in this summer is “sold” on signing elsewhere instead.
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