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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Robbie Hanratty

‘One of his worst days’: Tavernier told he must step up and face Rangers criticism

It was another unhappy visit to Celtic Park for Rangers as they fell to a 3-0 defeat on Sunday. 

Goals from Daizen Maeda, Kyogo Furuhashi and Callum McGregor ensured Celtic returned to the Scottish Premiership summit on goal difference, with four wins from their opening four league encounters.

The picture for Rangers looks bleak though, even this early into the new campaign. Philippe Clement’s side failed to cause Celtic many moments of panic, leaving it a quiet afternoon for goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel. 

Five points separate the two Glasgow rivals, and the performance of Gers captain James Tavernier in Glasgow’s East End epitomised Rangers’ current woes, with the Light Blues stalwart evidently struggling to match Maeda throughout the clash.


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That didn’t go unnoticed by former Rangers striker Billy Dodds who unleashed a rant on BBC Sportsound around the right-back’s contributions. 

“He’s had one of his worst days, Tavernier, there’s no doubt,” said a disappointed Dodds.

“You can see mentally it gets to him, his team being defeated, but also individually with how he’s handled Maeda. 

“Since the goal you can see he’s got that head loss, he’s been spun so many times, he doesn’t know how to deepen. He’s rushing his passes now and you can see that he’s a beaten man.”

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