Man United v Rangers: Tavernier responds to ‘brutally honest’ McCoist point
James Tavernier admitted he feels he got off to a slow start for Rangers this season and needs to find his form again.
The centre-back has suffered with injury this term which has left him on the sideline for some of the campaign, although he has still been able to contribute to the side to his usual standards.
The Gers have been below the expected levels throughout the league campaign so far as they sit 13 points off Celtic at the top of the table. However, they still have Europa League action ahead of them.
Speaking live on talkSPORT (21 January, 9:35am), Ally McCoist quizzed the Rangers captain about his season as he said: “What about your own form James, are you happy with it? Because people would not believe actually, I’m being brutally honest, your goal-scoring records in that particular position is nothing short of remarkable.
“Are you happy with your own form and do you think, here’s a question for you, in terms of some of the goals going forward, I mean I think that European run is nothing short of sensational.
“Do you ever work, particularly with the likes of Connor Goldson when he was at the club playing centre-back, was he happy with you going forward and him covering that side or whether it a defensive midfielder covering that side to give you the freedom to get forward?”
In response, Tavernier said: “Yeah, me and Connor obviously had a really good relationship. We’d played a good four or five years with each other and we had that understanding, he’d let me just bomb up and down the pitch, especially when Gio [van Bronckhorst] came in, he’d just give us unlimited licence to go forward and that’s when you would have seen us arriving at that back post a lot more.
“But it’s obviously, this season we’re a complete different set-up with the team and it’s just about adapting. Personally, I think I started the season off slow for what I normally am, didn’t get a pre-season like I normally did and started finding some form then got injured so it’s just about finding that form again and pushing the boys on.”
Rangers need to step up in second half of the season
It hasn’t been the easiest season for Tavernier from a personal perspective, given he has suffered with injury and faced some periods on the sidelines.
Furthermore, as the 33-year-old points out himself, he was slow to get going this term due to a lack of pre-season, which partly explains why the Gers as a whole have underwhelmed this campaign.
That being said, the defender has stepped up his game of late and has been able to provide some crucial moments for the Light Blues both in a defensive and attacking sense, which shows how much of an asset he can be to his club.
There is plenty of work to be done under Philippe Clement in the remainder of the campaign, and with the Scottish Premiership surely a pipe dream, European football has to be where the focus goes.
However, it will take the leaders in the group – like Tavernier – to step up and show what they can do if they want to save the Gers this term.
In other Rangers news, Chris Sutton fired a sarcastic dig at the Gers following their 5-0 win over Fraserburgh.
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