James Tavernier delivers Rangers post mortem that goes beyond stock answers – angry skipper pins blame on EVERYONE
Stunned skipper James Tavernier admits his Rangers team have no choice but to brace themselves for a furious fan backlash.
The Ibrox captain and his team are back in the firing line after becoming the first Gers line-up ever to lose a home Scottish Cup tie to lower league opposition. Queen’s Park’s incredible fifth-round triumph means Philippe Clement’s squad are staring at another barren campaign unless they can somehow upset the odds and go the distance in the Europa League.
But with a mood of mutiny on the air around Ibrox, Clement is once again fighting for his job. The anger and resentment that sparked protests last month was quelled when the Belgian’s team managed to sneak into the Europa League’s top eight. But Tavernier accepted there may be no way to calm this latest storm as it threatens to swallow up Gers’ Belgian boss and the club’s players.
He said: “It's unacceptable, simple as that. Can't be losing a game against a Championship team at home, can't be shooting at goal 30-odd times and not being clinical enough.
"And we can't be just allowing maybe a couple of chances against us, then we concede a goal, so it's unacceptable.”
Asked for his response to the barrage of boos that greeted the full-time whistle after Sunday’s 1-0 shocker, he said: “It's rightly so, the reaction that the fans are aggrieved at us, and we've fully got to take it, be responsible for what happened today. It's not good enough. It's another cup competition that now we're out of, and it's not acceptable that we can't be going season after season and not picking up these trophies, so we have to reflect massively.
“Through the season it's been inconsistent, where we have a run of good games, then we hit a speed bump. You can't do that as a Rangers team and as Rangers players, you have to be consistent throughout the season if you want to compete for trophies.”
Tavernier had the chance to bail his team out deep into stoppage time when Rangers were awarded a 95th-minute penalty. But the captain’s nerve cracked as his spot-kick was brilliantly turned away by Spiders saviour Calum Ferrie. “It's not good enough, it's as simple as that,” continued Tavernier. “It's not good enough, we've got to be competing for these trophies, and Sunday was shocking for all of us. I've got to take account of myself on the penalty, and take account of my performance, and everyone else has to do that who was asked to play today. Everyone has to take accountability.”
Rangers still have next month’s Europa League last 16 tie to play for. But domestically it’s all over bar the shouting, with Celtic storming 13 points clear at the top of the Premiership having already picked up the Premier Sports Cup with a December’s penalty shoot-out triumph at Hampden.
But Tavernier can’t hide from the fact his side had more than enough chances to get the job done against Callum Davidson’s Queen’s outfit. They registered 30 shots on goal - with 12 on target.
He said: “It's the inconsistency that I was talking about before. European football is obviously a different game, but you've got to keep that consistency throughout the season if you want to be challenging. We can't be having a couple of chances and we concede of a second phase of a set-piece, and we can't be wasteful in the final third, because there were too many shots and the keepers pulled off some good saves. But we should do more to put that ball in the back of the net with the quality that we have."
