JAMES Tavernier is a big fan of Formula One but even he gets switched off when Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton are so far ahead of everyone else that it becomes a one-horse race. The Englishman, likely to captain Rangers in Old Firm duty for the first time today, feels the same applies when it comes to the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership table. While he recognises Celtic are in pole position, he senses that the Ibrox side are gathering pace as they go into the final lap. Record his first victory over 90 minutes against Celtic in Govan today to cut the margin to three points with their rivals having a game in hand, and Tavernier feels the identity of the club which reaches the chequered flag first will no longer be a foregone conclusion.
"I watch Formula One, I've been watching some testing at Barcelona,” Tavernier said. "I am a big Hamilton fan, but when Mercedes are just taking off with the title, you always want some competition. You always want a challenge for that title, so it's only healthy for Rangers and Celtic to challenge for the title. If it's this season, it's this season, but if it's next season it has to be healthy for Scottish football. As for the Formula One, I've heard that Ferrari and Red Bull are right behind him so it will make it interesting this year.”
That old adage about careless talk costing lives applies to public pronouncements from participants in the frenzied build-up to Old Firm matches, particularly ones such as today’s, which is effectively a title race eliminator. The backdrop to this one was set by a talk of an almighty roar from the Rangers dressing room when these two historic rivals were paired together again in next month’s Scottish Cup tie. It lays open the charge of arrogance against the Ibrox squad, but Tavernier has a joke prepared to downplay that inquiry.
“What did I think about the roar? I thought it was because of the music I put on after the game, the track I put on,” said Tavernier. “No, you always want to play Celtic, that's the biggest game of the season, as many games as you can play against them the better because they are the games that really test you and a lot of people are watching. I thought it was my track but if it was down to the draw, it's healthy for both clubs to get each other. It was Drake – ‘God's Plan’. That's what I thought the boys were on about.”
With the Ibrox side likely to start with four debutants to this form of Glasgow madness – Russell Martin, Jamie Murphy, Greg Docherty and Sean Goss – and introduce at least one more in the form of Jason Cummings, Tavernier can well recall the emotions which were swirling through his head on his debut in this fixture. It came in the epic penalty shoot-out win in the William Hill Scottish Cup at Hampden Park in April 2016. As much as he savoured it at the time, it is galling for him to think that another eight such clashes have come and gone since he last got the upper hand. No wonder the chance to win more of these matches was explicitly stated when Tavernier signed a contract extension. A contender for Scotland’s player of the season, Tavernier finds himself with two former full backs on his case since Jimmy Nicholl's arrival as assistant manager,.
“We were on a really good stretch that day [April 2016] and obviously we are on a really good stretch now so the similarities are definitely there,” he says. “They have obviously strengthened, as have we. The last game we played against them we do feel we have a good enough squad that we can be effective.
“The low is being on the losing end so often. They are difficult to take, the manner in which we've lost some of them especially - two 5-1s, one of them at home, they're really hard to take. We’ve won one on a penalty shoot-out, got a couple of draws but the rest have been defeats. But I'm here to get the wins. We believe we've got a good enough squad now and I think we’re moving in the right direction.”
If the battle between Tavernier and Daniel Candeias on his flank against Kieran Tierney and perhaps one other on that flank promises to be an eye-catching match-up, what makes this match so fascinating is that both teams have pressure on them. Defeat today, and the league is effectively over.
“They're at the top of the table, they have the most points,” Tavernier says. “But since Graeme Murty took over here, I believe we’ve accumulated more points than them, we’ve been on a really good run. They’re coming off a season where they went undefeated, which is a remarkable thing. Then again, maybe its hard to do two seasons in a row, you see teams like Chelsea winning the Premier League in England, and then the next season differs from that. But Celtic are still picking up points, even if we are right behind them.
“I don’t believe there’s as much pressure on us as is there is on them at the minute, because they have obviously got the title in one hand and it is up to them if they slip. We have to make sure we are breathing right down on them.”
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