Give Tav His Due

Put bluntly: Tav doesn't get the credit he deserves. People love the easy narratives about players who "should've won more", but forget the context. Stick him into better sides, or use him in the right position, and suddenly the story reads very differently.

Talent wasted by surrounding weakness

There’s a tendency to judge a player only by medals and nothing else. That isn’t fair. Tav turned up for teams that were a bit hit-and-miss, sometimes poor, sometimes just okay. That affects everything — confidence, service, the way a manager uses you. The point Stevie_G_new makes is simple: if Tav had landed in stronger squads he wouldn’t have struggled for a start or for influence.

Right-back or on the flank — the tactical case

Talk of sticking him at right-back for a big final isn’t fanciful. If he’d been deployed in a system that suited his strengths — pace, directness, overlap, ability to deliver — he’d have offered something different. Fans mention Advocaat’s era and suggest Tav would have pushed past Porrini or Ricksen for a spot. Whether you agree or not, it’s a fair tactical observation: players can look better or worse depending on how they’re used.

Impact beyond the stat sheet

People bring up goals and assists for good reason. Put Tav alongside strikers like Arveladze, Wallace, Big Cousin and Darcheville and you can imagine his end product getting better simply because the team around him is sharper. The wider point is this: you can’t judge a player in isolation. He helped the club in ways that matter, and fans reckon we’d have missed important milestones without him — that includes suggested runs to big games and colours of silverware mentioned by supporters.

So yeah, be critical if you must, but don’t shrug him off. Context matters. Give Tav his due for what he did here, and think for a second how frightening he might have been in a stronger XI. It changes the conversation fast.

Written by Stevie_G_new: 2 June 2026