James Tavernier may have missed out on being credited with Rangers’ winner in Perth but his boss believes the Ibrox skipper deserves all the plaudits.
It’s been a difficult campaign for the captain with his performances levels on the slide at a time when anger is rising around Govan. But fair play, he didn’t let his team down after being drafted back into Philippe Clement’s line-up on Sunday. Now 33, it’s only reasonable to expect his legs might not quite be as sharp as they once were.
Having been rested in draw with Dundee United and Thursday’s Europa League hammering of Nice, the break clearly did him a power of good as Tavernier returned against St Johnstone and put on a rejuvenated show. Solid defensively, he was back to being an attacking outlet too as he put former Ibrox team-mate Jason Holt under pressure at the back post. That forced the Saints midfielder to bundle into his own net from Ianis Hagi’s hooked cross, with the goal sealing an away day win at McDiarmid.
Clement may have got it wrong suggesting the goal belonged to his captain but he was right to heap praise on the defender. The Belgian boss said: “Yeah, he can get all the credit today, for sure.
“And that’s the Tav I want to see, who’s decisive on the ball, but he’s also decisive in the defensive actions. Scoring the goal is something extra, of course, but you see already if your right full-back is scoring on the goalline, that says also something about the intentions of our team today and how to play.
“So yeah, that’s what I want to see the rest of the season. And maybe people from outside, they see at a player’s age and they write people really fast off. He showed today that he’s still a very important player for this season and that he can make the difference in a lot of games.”
Tavernier might not have enjoyed being dropped lately but Clement is certain it will benefit him in the long run. He added: “I’m convinced about that, yes. Is the player happy with that? Probably not.
“Like nobody is if they’re not playing, but that’s part of football. I had the luck that it didn’t happen too much with me because I was a centre-back. That’s different, but it’s part of football.
“And for sure in modern football, you see it more and more. And this season will be the season with the most amount of games ever in a short period. So we will need this rotation and everybody to be happy in that way.”
Also returning to the Rangers XI was Hagi. The Romanian’s last start came as Gers closed out the 2022/23 season with a 3-0 win at St Mirren.
He spent the following year on loan in Spain while this term has been disrupted by all manner of set-backs, from contract rows to suspension and European ineligibility. But he showed in glimpses that he might just be the man to provide this toothless Gers line-up with the spark they’ve been so badly missing of late.
Asked what he made of Hagi’s performance, Clement said: “That he was good on the ball, that he created things, that he worked hard for the team, that he gave the assist also for the goal.
“So that’s also an important one for offensive players to get stats. It was positive. But I don’t give chances out of nothing, it’s because of what he’s been doing in the training and the way he came in against Dundee United.
“So it’s good to have another offensive option because we still miss a lot of players in our offensive third, with Tom Lawrence, with Oscar Cortes, with Rabbi Matondo. So it’s important that Ianis is there now.”
Clement was clearly irked by the criticism he’s had to face this term given the lack of options he’s had to work with in the attacking third. “We’ve been struggling with that, that’s true,” he said. “It’s good that you say it now, because a few weeks ago maybe you didn’t say it in that way.
“No, it’s important because we have every three days game. So you need some freshness to do all the work, to be decisive.
“There’s not one team in the world where the offensive players are every game playing 90 minutes every three days, because after a while you lose your legs and you lose this freshness to be decisive. So it’s important that we can make a kind of rotation for sure in those positions.”
Robin Propper wasn’t looking too fresh after being hooked at half-time. It’s not the first he’s faced that indignity this term, with the Dutchman himself admitting he has underestimated the physical challenge in Scotland.
But Clement insists his latest early finish was injury enforced. “Yes, he got a knock on his knee in the first-half and he was struggling with that,” explained the Gers boss. “And he’s also sick after the game [on Thursday], so he felt really bad.
“And Leon Balogun is ready, we know. So I was in doubt already to start with Leon or not today. We will make rotation also in those positions, that it won’t be the same centre-back every time.”