3 days Ago By [email protected] (Graeme Young)
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Hurting James Tavernier is adamant the Rangers dressing room remains firmly behind Philippe Clement but the embattled skipper insists the players aren't running on fumes.
Seething supporters rained down boos on the under-fire boss and his misfiring players at Fir Park after a late salvo could only rescue a 2-2 draw which leaves them 14 points behind arch-rivals Celtic . Rangers host the champions at Ibrox on Thursday and another defeat will have the runaway leaders on the verge of a 13th title in the past 14 seasons. Downbeat Tavernier refused to shirk the magnitude of his team's plight, however, he is adamant Rangers – boasting a dreary record of three away wins out of nine in the Premiership – are standing behind the boss.
The skipper said: "Obviously, he is our manager, and obviously we played (better) towards the end. And we're going to fight for the shirt, and we'll need to look at ourselves and address it." Rangers are losing visuals on their ultimate foe as Celtic race off into the distance, however, Tavernier is unbowed about the prospect of locking horns with the side they haven't defeated in their last seven attempts.
The 33-year-old remains bullish ahead of the visit of Brendan Rodgers' side. He added: "It's an Old Firm, against our biggest rivals in a home game. So we have to go back to what we were doing better at, before these two games, and that's play better as a team, the performance of the team, defend as a team and be clinical.
Its points that we're obviously not happy about, and we're just going to push all the way to the end of the season. "We were unlucky in the final, going all the way to extra time. So we're just going to go into that game, and we obviously need to address what we need to do before Thursday, and really look at ourselves as men, as a team, to put things right.
" Clement revealed sport science was dictating Rangers' selection calls with Vaclav Cerny and Hamza Igamane starting on the bench at Fir Park. Tavernier doesn't see a team grinding to a halt as he backed his team-mates for voicing concerns if they felt below their best. When asked if Rangers were fatigued, Tavernier answered: "Well, if you look at the running stats, I don't see any of that.
"The lads are pushing completely to the end. You've seen that today, that the lads were pushing completely to the end of the final whistle. But it's obviously small details about not giving goals away and obviously being more clinical in their box.
I think we maybe rushed a bit too much in the second half, when obviously we got level, and we could have maybe asked different questions, maybe moved the ball a bit more around the box, and it's just obviously small details like that, what makes a difference. "Obviously you want everyone, everyone to be honest. I think everyone will always be honest in a team and always try to give their all every single time.
It's obviously just, it's the smaller things and how we can obviously concede these goals. We've got to obviously do better." Tavernier has been forced into more apologies than he would like in recent seasons but the skipper wanted fans to know there is genuine remorse from inside the dressing room as he pledged to reverse the "unacceptable" displays blighting another Rangers season.
He said: "I can only apologise to the supporters, because the past two games, we've wasted 90 minutes on two halves where performance level is not us, and that's unacceptable. So you can understand the boos. We set standards, and we've got to maintain them, and if we don't, then they fully have the right to let us know, and we all know that, and we knew it wasn't good enough.
And this is the thing. We just can't waste time on the pitch. We've got to be at it for 90 minutes.
".
