James Tavernier makes demand of Rangers team-mates ahead of make or break Celtic clash
Rangers skipper James Tavernier has issued an apology to the club's supporters after a disappointing 2-2 draw against Motherwell.
Rangers captain James Tavernier has called for a strong response of character from his team as they prepare to face arch-rivals Celtic on January 2.
The Gers, who are trailing the Scottish Premiership leaders by 14 points, were held to a 2-2 draw by Motherwell at Fir Park on Sunday, marking another match where their first-half performance was lacking.
Following a Boxing Day defeat to St Mirren, Rangers' fans have grown increasingly critical, with some believing manager Philippe Clement's tenure should end.
Despite the pressure, Clement is seeking his inaugural Old Firm victory after six unsuccessful attempts, including a narrow penalty shootout loss in the Premier Sports Cup final earlier this month.
With a challenging clash at Ibrox on the horizon, Tavernier reflected on the recent cup final: "We were unlucky in the final, going all the way to extra time.
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"So we’re just going to go into this game and we obviously need to address what we need to do before Thursday, and really look at ourselves as men, and as a team, to put things right. It’s obviously an Old Firm, against our biggest rivals and a home game.
"I can only apologise to the supporters because in the past two games, we’ve wasted 90 minutes on two halves where performance level is not us, and that’s unacceptable.
"So you can understand the boos. We set standards and we’ve got to maintain those standards and if we don’t, then they fully have the right to let us know and we knew it wasn’t good enough.
"And this is the thing, we just can’t waste time on the pitch. We’ve got to be at it for 90 minutes.
"If you look at the running stats, I don’t see any of that. You’ve seen that the lads were pushing completely to the end, to the final whistle."
Tavernier also commented on the need for composure and better decision-making: "But it’s small details, about not giving goals away and being more clinical in their box. We maybe rushed a bit too much in the second half when we got level.
"We could have maybe asked different questions, maybe moved the ball a bit more around the box, and it’s just small details like that, that makes a difference."
