Big call: Clement must boldly ditch 5/10 Rangers star who dropped Old Firm shocker – opinion

The Light Blues defender had a challenging Sunday afternoon at Ibrox.

In a pivotal match in the Scottish Premiership title race, Glasgow Rangers came back to tie their bitter rivals 3-3 at Ibrox on Sunday.

Daizen Maeda and Matt O’Riley’s goals put Philippe Clement’s team behind 2-0 at the break. However, in the second half, James Tavernier’s penalty and an Abdallah Sima deflection goal gave the team a 2-0 lead.

Adam Idah then gave the opposition the lead nearly immediately following Sima’s goal, but Rabbi Matondo’s incredible goal in stoppage time gave Rangers a point.

The Gers will now pursue Celtic throughout the remainder of the 2023–24 season in an attempt to win the title, as they failed to rise to the big occasion.

Rangers at Ibrox put in a lot of lacklustre displays all across the pitch. However, captain James Tavernier is one player who has to be bravely benched ahead of Wednesday night’s match against Dundee. The manager would be taking a risk with that decision.

The way James Tavernier performed versus Celtic

With a crucial error in the first thirty seconds, the Light Blues captain gave his colleagues the worst possible start and set the tone for the rest of the team.

Whether it was back to Jack Butland or out of play for a throw-in, he seemed to have plenty of time to collect and clear the ball. However, he took far too long, which allowed Maeda to swoop in and make the block that redirected the ball into the back of the net to give the opposition the advantage.

Then, in the build-up to Celtic’s opportunity to win a corner, Tavernier was again caught dozing off on the ball by Maeda, which resulted in Connor Goldson’s handball that gave O’Riley the penalty.

The table above illustrates just how wasteful the seasoned defender was when he had the ball—he turned it over to Celtic an astonishing 28 times without giving any of his teammates a “big chance.”

Journalist Jonny McFarlane of RangersReview gave him a match rating of 5/10 and called the Englishman’s first-half performance “shocking.” This seems reasonable considering how poorly he performed both in and out of possession during open play.

Naturally, the captain scored from the spot himself with a fantastic strike into the top corner, but his performance was not compensated for.

To demonstrate that no player can escape criticism or get away with, as McFarlane put it, awful performances, Clement needs to make a bold decision and bench Tavernier.

The skipper might be replaced by Dujon Sterling, who won ten of his twelve ground duels at Ibrox. This would create room for Borna Barisic, or Ridvan Yilmaz if he is available, to take his place on the left.

Considering that the English defender has started every one of the league’s thirty-one games this season, the manager’s move would be striking, but it could also set a precedent and intimidate other regular starters, making sure they don’t let their game slip in the final stretch of the season, as Tavernier’s Old Firm shocker did.

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