A bold call – Stevie G under pressure to make dramatic Rangers change
St Johnstone v Rangers - Scottish Premiership - McDiarmid Park Rangers Captain James Tavernier left is substituted off the pitch for teammate Nathan Patterson right during the Scottish Premiership match at McDiarmid Park, Perth. Picture date: Wednesday April 21, 2021. Use subject to restrictions. Editorial use only, no commercial use without prior consent from rights holder. PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xRobxCaseyx 59324818
Is it time for Nathan Patterson to get that run in the first team at Ibrox?
While the young RB isn’t imperious, at 19 he’s showing every sign of becoming it, and is by a distance the best Auchenhowie graduate since Billy Gilmour, and it’s safe to say James Tavernier’s place is beginning to hang by a very shoogly hook.
The captain has struggled pretty much since January, his level going down a noticeable level (as the whole side’s did post new year as always), but at no point has the ex-Wigan man looked close to returning to that level.
True, his stats are really not that bad, in fact far from it, but if Nathan Patterson pinching his place v Hibs was supposed to provoke a reaction from him, it failed. We scored Tavernier 6/10, as being just ‘there’ and having next-to-no impact, anonymous in effect.
Well Patterson might have been raw, but he’s had big impact, for his country and for his club.
His assist opened the scoring for Rangers v Hibs, and he assisted the winner v the Faroes too.
He is quite simply the best Scottish RB in existence now, and the best RB in Scotland by a distance.
Only absolute blind loyalty to Tavernier will keep the Englishman in his slot, because he’s absolutely second best now.
Tavernier got far, far too comfortable in his position, and got immune – and he has simply not responded to the threat of Patterson, possibly through arrogance of thinking he can’t be replaced.
And when he did get dropped, Tav presumably decided it was just a symbolic rest and he’d be back.
Well, he was – and he failed to live up to the response his manager wanted.
Nathan Patterson, now, is Rangers’ best option for RB. Tavernier is relegated to deputy in our eyes, and we’d imagine the eyes of most people with eyes.
If Steven Gerrard continues the loyalty with his captain, then it could worryingly demonstrate the very kind of favouritism with the likes of Rob Kiernan and others that effectively ended up getting Mark Warburton fired.
We need our manager to rise above this pals’ act.
Put Patterson in and grow a pair, Stevie.