Rangers skipper James Tavernier last night backed boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst as he insisted the Ibrox dressing room is right behind their under-fire gaffer.
The pressure is mounting on the Dutchman after his side’s painful Champions League campaign endured its latest pasting in Naples. Wednesday’s 3-0 defeat to Luciano Spalletti’s classy Serie A pacesetters means Gers have now lost all five games so far and places them on a course to be crowned the worst ever team to reach the group stages if they lose to Ajax next week.
Patience amongst the support is wearing thin but skipper Tavernier is adamant faith amongst the first team has not wavered despite repeated humiliations from their Group A rivals. He said: “We are always behind the manager. Never once are we not. We have full belief in his tactics and whatever he puts out on match day it is down to us as a team, as players, to go out and put a performance in for him and the fans.
“There have been a few games where it has not been good enough and we have accepted that as a team. We can’t let that lapse into our game. Against Napoli, we never hid away from it. We went toe to toe with them as best we could and tried to play our football and create our chances.
“As long as we do the minimum and the basics – put the effort in and really go toe to toe with opponents I am sure the fans will take to that.”
Giovanni Simeone’s early quick-fire double did the damage at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona before Leo Ostigard wrapped up another sobering defeat for Gers. The end of this brutal Euro campaign can’t come quick enough but Tavernier is determined to bow out on a high against Ajax.
“Yeah, we have to,” he declared. “It is the final game at home in front of our fans so we have got to put in a really big performance for them. We never go into a game to lose, but if you are going to lose you have to leave everything out on the pitch and I felt we left everything out on the pitch on Wednesday night.
“It is those small margins which make a difference - you have to put the ball in the back of the net. It is Champions League, you are playing against the top teams in Europe.
“In this competition you have to capitalise on the chance you make. We know this ourselves. We conceded those two stupid goals in the first-half, but we had two massive chances after that which could have turned the game.
"We have got to take some positives out of the game and the way we have tried to play throughout the 90 minutes. I felt there were some good individual performances. Ridvan Yilmaz and James Sands were a credit to the team. We have to take that kind of belief in the football going forward.”
With John Lundstram ruled out of next week’s clash with Alfred Schreuder’s Eredivisie giants through suspension, Tavernier has urged Rangers’ fringe men to step up as they give it one last go at saving some pride.
He said: “We have got a squad. You can see the boss rotating and people coming in. That is what they are there for. Everyone tries to push each other. Everyone who is asked to start tries to put in a performance for the team and give a good account of themselves.
“James Sands put in a great performance for us in centre mid the other night – that is what it takes. Anyone who is wanting to come into the team has to look at that performance that James put in and carry it out.”
Before Ajax, Gers welcome Aberdeen to Ibrox on Saturday and the captain concedes victory over Him Goodwin’s Dons is a non-negotiable as they desperately strive to keep pace with Celtic at the top of the Premiership.
He said: “Obviously, we are disappointed. There are positives to take and we just have to carry on moving forward. We have got a massive game at the weekend which is a must-win.”
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