James Tavernier, the captain of the Rangers, claims he is “strong” enough to withstand criticism from the team’s supporters.
The Ibrox right-back assisted Rangers in opening their Europa League campaign with a 2-0 victory away at Malmo; however, TNT Sports’ line of questioning focused on what transpired during the first Old Firm game this month, in which Celtic upset the Gers 3-0 at Parkhead. After the team’s loss, some Ibrox fans heckled and attacked Tavernier verbally as they made their way back across the city.
When asked about the enraged response to him, Tavernier responded, “It’s part and parcel.” In my role as captain, I am in front. I have to accept the criticism, and when things are going well, we naturally also accept the positive aspects of it.
“No. I’m a strong character and I can always continue no matter what comes my way. The fans obviously showed great support. As a team, we just have to move in the right direction and keep pushing forward.”
Tavernier was impressive as skipper as Rangers defeated Swedish opposition for the first time in the club’s history on Thursday at the Eleda Stadion. “We had the chances to score more but we’re also delighted with the clean sheet,” the Englishman continued. “We knew they would be strong on set-pieces but I felt we dug deep to limit their chances.
“To get two goals away from home, a clean sheet and three points is a good start. We continue to work hard. We get stronger as a team. We have a young squad but they are gelling. It was a good display from us. We saw the fans coming over and we wanted to put a performance in.”
The only downside for manager Philippe Clement was the absence of Moroccan striker Hamza Igamane, who was a glaring omission from the team. Stating his unhappiness at the situation, Clement revealed that “an issue with his passport” stopped him from travelling to Malmo.
“I am clearly not happy with that, there were issues with his passport,” said Clement. “Those are situations that you don’t want to face as a manager but I want to focus on the football and the good things of this day.”
It’s crucial that we make them and that the participants pay attention. We will continue to work on that in order to improve our squad’s calibre and increase our decisiveness. In my opinion, it set a good example for our second objective. A few months prior, McCausland was without power or quality to shoot with his left foot but he has been working every day to improve that with the staff. And because he did that he scored this very important goal.”
