Shock Tavernier reveal may stun some Rangers fans

If one man got it more in the neck than many yesterday, it was James Tavernier.

One gentleman who professed himself a massive Tav fan felt he couldn’t defend the RB any longer after a performance that poor, and given Ibrox Noise haven’t been super flattering of the captain this season either we wanted to look at the facts.

Yes, at layman’s glance Tavernier didn’t appear to excel at Dens Park, but what do the stats say?

Passing level, 81%. Decent.

Key passes, 3. Second highest of the whole team.

Crosses, 10. Accurate, 4. Solid enough.

Long balls, 12. Accurate, 4. Ok.

Tackles, 2. Clearances, 3. Reasonable.

Shots, 1.

Disposessed zero times, and wasted touches? None.

Touches, 93. Second highest behind Bassey at 95.

He also played a vital role in the goal.

Sorry guys, going by the hard facts of the stats, Tavernier didn’t have that bad a game at all.

It wasn’t his greatest all-time display, but the stats, while admittedly not always a full picture of a game of football, nevertheless demonstrate that the captain is still putting a shift in even if it doesn’t look like he is.

Tavernier is a player Rangers fans take completely for granted – the supporters only tend to see mistakes he makes, and the bread and butter stuff he routinely does is completely ignored.

Such as aerial battles. Did you know he was joint top with Aribo for aerials won with 5?

Nathan Patterson is being touted a lot, and the reason is simple – he’s new. Fans are monitoring his play much more than they do Tavernier’s. We’re still discovering Patterson, and all the things he does are being praised in general, because he’s 19 and a youth graduate. He didn’t have his greatest ever match on Wednesday but fans are infinitely more forgiving because he’s not James Tavernier.

What are we saying?

We go with facts, not ‘he wiz p*sh’ from wee Rabbie on Facebook. And the facts reveal Tav isn’t half as awful as fans want to believe he is.

Up to you what you do with that.