BRACED FOR A BRUISING
We expect teams to be aggressive. Hearts will try to rough us up SAYS JAMES TAVERNIER
JAMES TAVERNIER has warned Rangers to brace themselves for the possibility of a ‘rough game’ against Hearts. Beaten 3-2 in a bruising, illtempered defeat to Hibernian at home last weekend, a meeting with the Tynecastle side offers the potential for more capital punishment.
Manager Pedro Caixinha has spent the week detailing the Ibrox side to work on ways to deal with poor refereeing decisions after midfielder Ryan Jack had a red card sustained against Hibs overturned following an appeal on Thursday. Nursing a sense of injustice when Easter Road striker Anthony Stokes ducked dismissal following an early clash with Tavernier, Rangers’ discipline slipped.
Warning they cannot afford to let lightning strike twice in a game against another Edinburgh club, Tavernier admits the Hibs clash descended into ‘madness’.
‘We knew Hibs was going to be a tasty game,’ said the full-back. ‘It was one of those ones when you can get caught up in the madness.
‘When I got fouled early (by Stokes) I lost my head a little bit.
‘Our tempers went higher than they should have. We should have controlled them a little bit better. But we will learn from that.’
Caixinha used training sessions this week to test the coping mechanisms of his players in adversity. Throwing some dubious refereeing decisions into training matches, preparations were geared towards a game with managerless Hearts likely to prove just as rugged as Hibs.
‘We had that last season,’ added Tavernier. ‘Every team tried to do the same. We expect some teams to come at us aggressively.
‘We knew Hibs would come at us like that…
‘We expect certain teams to do that because of what happened the last time we met in the cup final and everything that went on.
‘We always expected them to try and ruffle us up and make it really hard for us. We don’t expect anything less than that.
‘It will be another tough game against Hearts. They will try the rough game.
‘They have got (Kyle) Lafferty up front, a big, tall target man, so they have got different ways they can get up the pitch.
‘But we’ve got Bruno (Alves) at the back and we have got really good, progressive players who can deal with those situations. It should be a good game.’
The verbal afters between Neil Lennon and Rangers management and supporters groups have reverberated most of the week.
Caught up in the Stokes spat which sparked much of the illfeeling, Tavernier is happy to draw a veil over the past.
‘I’m not sure what happened with Stokesy to be honest,’ he admitted. ‘It maybe looked worse than it actually was.
‘The referee calls it, he controls what happens on the pitch. The referee said we’d brought a crowd of players around us and he had no choice but to book us.
‘Ryan going off was a big moment, any red card in any game can change it.
‘We started really well, got an early goal, but then we missed a few chances. We were disappointed to let them back into the game.
‘It’s one of those things that can happen in a game of football and it has cost us a little bit.
‘You can’t dwell on these things, the game has gone.
‘We were disappointed with some of the decisions that were made — but we have to move on.’
Unhappiness with the referee shrouded other elements of the game Rangers cannot ignore. Defending for all three goals was lax. Vulnerable against Motherwell on the opening weekend, a reshaped defence is still finding its feet.
‘We are only two games into the new season,’ shrugged Tavernier. ‘It’s still the start, but yes it’s vital not to drop any more points.
‘We want to win as many games as we can and, playing at home, the fans expect us to win them all.
‘We have to rectify what happened against Hibs against Hearts this weekend.’
Keeping 11 men on the pitch would help. Jack had a one-game ban overturned to allow him to face the Gorgie outfit. Forced to play for an hour a man short, Rangers can’t afford a repeat.
‘If there’s 11 players on the pitch, it’s a more even game and anything can happen,’ added Tavernier. ‘So I suppose we have to be judged in that situation, not when it’s ten v 11.
‘But we’re not looking for excuses, we know where we went wrong and we have to rectify it.’
Harry Forrester, meanwhile, is the latest Mark Warburton signing to leave the club, joining Wimbledon yesterday after falling out of favour under Caixinha.
Amidst expectations the club might struggle to clear some of the deadwood from last season Tavernier believes Rangers are now in a better place.
‘I believe so. We went through a couple of formations at the start of pre-season and we feel that the 4-4-2 is really working well for us,’ he said. ‘The lads have really taken to it well. You can see how quick we have started games. We have been really positive.
‘It is now just about taking those chances. We are taking some chances, but it is about finishing the game off really early and maintaining it after that. I do feel that we are stronger this year.’