JAMES Tavernier last night accepted personal responsibility for the 1-1 draw with Livingston which resulted in Rangers falling four points behind Celtic in the cinch Premiership and offered an unreserved apology to the Ibrox club’s supporters.
The right back, who admitted that he had been to blame for the fourth minute Joel Nouble goal which gave the West Lothian outfit the lead in the league game in Govan, also vowed there would be a reaction to the performance.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s players were booed off the park by their own followers for the second time in four days – the 1-0 home win over Dundee in the Premier Sports Cup quarter-final on Wednesday night had also not been well received - yesterday.
Rangers take on Napoli in the Champions League in Italy on Wednesday night and will, after four straight defeats in Group A, be doing extremely well to get a draw or a victory against the section leaders away.
However, their captain remains determined to put a wretched run of form at home and abroad firmly in the past in the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in midweek.
“We know that is not good enough,” he said. “I have to take the blame for the first goal. It is poor defending by myself. After that they sit in, but we have more than enough time in the game to rectify it.
“Our first-half performance wasn’t good enough. In the second half we changed things and tried to create chances. But rescuing a point is not good enough, especially at home. We are all very disappointed in the changing room.
“We have to look at ourselves. We had an honest chat in the changing room and we need to look at ourselves. We got a point which is never good enough given the standards we set at this club.
“We can only apologise to the fans who watched, but we have to put it right as a team. It is only the boys in the changing room who can change things. The boss sets us out and we have got to deliver. We have not done that and we have let down the fans today.
“We have to have a reaction in midweek though we know it will be a tough game. We need to come out fighting and show a real attitude.”
Asked about being booed by Rangers supporters at half-time and full-time, Tavernier said: “You never want to hear it, but our performance over the 90 minutes wasn’t good enough. They have got every right to boo us off coming off the pitch.”
The English defender, who insisted he is in perfect physical condition despite persistent speculation that he is carrying an injury, pledged to do his utmost to silence Rangers’ critics and get their bid to land the Scottish title back on track.
“Obviously I’m the captain and I have to take the full brunt of it,” he said. “That’s why I’m in the position that I am. We all, including myself, deserve the criticism that we’ve got in the games that we’ve not performed.
“I’m fine. Obviously I’m disappointed with the first goal. I could have done a lot better. But I’ll always try my hardest on the pitch to help the team.
“We’re a changing room that has high demands and we have to demand more going forward. We don’t want any of these performances coming back.
“We just have to concentrate on ourselves. We’ll just go game by game in the league and try to get three points in every game. We can’t focus on them (Celtic), we just have to concentrate on our own performances. And we move on from that.”
