James Tavernier insists Rangers simply have to step up their performance levels.
The Ibrox captain is delighted at the sequence of results which have been racked up under new boss Michael Beale. Victory over Partick Thistle was their 12th in 13 games since the Englishman took charge. It was another big step towards silverware for the Light Blues as they successfully continued the defence of their trophy. However, while the win was a positive, the paucity of the performance did not please the skipper.
Tavernier’s team trailed 1-0 at the interval after a sub-standard opening-period display. Improvements were forthcoming after the break and enough done to win the controversial last-16 tie but the overall showing was not enough to satisfy. Tav wants both as he said: “It’s a positive that we’re getting results without hitting the top gear of consistency over 90 minutes.
“That’s to come but we can’t keep saying it week after week. It needs to be there. We’ve all been together a long time and we know what the manager wants us to do, we need to be really at it and be really consistent over the 90 minutes.
“I believe it’s down to the players. We’re all good players and we know what the boss wants us to do but it’s about executing it on the pitch. We need to do that for 90 minutes because if we take the foot off the gas and get sloppy in our play, we’re going to make it harder for ourselves.
“We’ve done that at times in the last few weeks. Hearts was a great example of that, we played well throughout the game. We’ve got to learn and deliver, we can’t continue to be like this.
“We’re getting the results we want. In that sense, it’s improvement. But we know there’s still room for improvement. We’re through to the next round but it’s the level of performance that’s really disappointing. We made it really hard for ourselves which we didn’t need to.”
As Tavernier says, getting into tonight’s quarter-final draw was the only thing that really mattered at the end of the contest at Ibrox. But Beale’s boys were pushed to the limit by a Championship side in an afternoon of hot debate and controversy.
Trailing to a contentious spot-kick given against Antonio Colak, the Croatian responded with a leveller before Malik Tillman got involved. The on-loan Bayern Munich ace won a penalty which Tavernier had saved before the incident which sparked a melee at Rangers’ second goal.
The USA international, however, was absolved of blame afterwards and his captain said: “Malik is a young, honest lad. He was down when the ball went out of play, so I don’t think he knew what was happening.”
Beale made the call for Thistle to be allowed to equalise unchallenged with Scott Tiffoney left free to level. Allan McGregor wasn’t convinced he should stand aside but Tavernier had no reservations as he said: “No, it was the right thing to do. Rangers have got a high level of standard.
“It’s not something Allan wants to hear. He’s a proud keeper who never wants to concede but it was the right thing to do. It’s Rangers and we’ve a high level of standards that we try to set every single day. We knew we had more than enough to finish off the game and get through.”
Tavernier’s team got there in the end but he reiterated: “As I said, it was just disappointing that the level of performance wasn’t there because we’ve shown consistency in terms of results. We have spells of really good play but we almost take our foot off the gas and make it harder for ourselves and need to continue working to display that through the 90 minutes. There’s work to be done and we’re improving all the time but it’s those small margins when we need to keep that consistency of performance up.”
It was never over until the final whistle was sounded as dogged Thistle kept pushing until the finale, but Rangers were solid. Tavernier said: “When it’s getting close to the end and you’ve taken the lead, you know they’re going to pile bodies forward but the main thing is we’ve seen the games out.
“That’s the positive thing. We’ve soaked up the best we can and not conceded. It’s just about learning from it and really trying to maybe not get too anxious.”
While Tillman was the man who hogged the talking points and secured the sponsors’ Man of the Match Award, Rangers got a strong contribution from recent signing Nicolas Raskin. The Belgian playmaker showed ability through the contest on his first club start before withdrawn late in the match with a superb assist for Colak’s headed leveller.
Tavernier said: “He’s another great lad who has settled in well. He got an assist for Tony’s goal but it probably wasn’t the afternoon I wanted to give him with the way we all played. But credit to him. He had a good game and, hopefully, he can build on that.”
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