There’s a difference between analysing a defeat and just hunting for the same scapegoat every time Rangers drop points. That’s where a lot of the noise around Tav starts to grate. Critique his game, by all means. But acting like one player is the single reason we lose, draw, or look ragged? It’s getting a bit wearing.
The bigger point is pretty obvious: the manager picks him. Week in, week out. And if the club genuinely thought right-back was the glaring priority this window, you’d expect some kind of serious move to change it. If nothing else, the selection tells you what the manager thinks about the options currently at the club.
One bad moment doesn’t erase the rest
Watching the game back in your head, you can name the moments people have latched onto. He gets done for pace once, and it’s ugly, no point pretending otherwise. Then there’s the collision with Butland where the ball pops loose and suddenly it’s panic stations. Those are the clips that do the rounds, the ones folk remember when they’re already raging.
But aside from that, did he actually have a horror show? Not for me. He did a fair bit right, and he didn’t look like someone completely out of his depth for 90 minutes. And if the manager thought he was actively killing us, he’d have hooked him. He didn’t. That tells its own story.
If we’re being honest, the issues were team-wide
This is where the selective outrage starts to look daft. Nobody’s hammering Raskin for losing his feet in the middle of the pitch and, in effect, starting the chain that leads to the first goal. That’s not a dig at Raskin either, because these things happen in football. It’s more about consistency. If you’re going to be forensic, be forensic with everybody.
Truth is, we weren’t good enough as a team on the night. Not sharp enough, not streetwise enough in key moments, and not clinical enough when we needed to calm it down. The opposition looked a decent side, and we didn’t match that level for long enough.
Criticism is fine. Respect should be standard.
Supporters are entitled to be angry after a defeat. That’s part of it. But there’s a line between saying “he should do better there” and piling in with vitriol as if he’s the reason everything’s went wrong.
Tav can be criticised without becoming the automatic fall guy. Because last night, Rangers lost the game for the most familiar reason of all: we weren’t good enough, collectively.
Related Articles
About Rangers News Views
Rangers News Views offers daily Glasgow Rangers coverage including match reaction, transfer analysis, SPFL context, tactical breakdowns and opinion-led articles written by supporters for supporters.
