James Tavernier breaks post-Aberdeen silence as Rangers captain addresses criticism and Philippe Clement future

Rangers captain James Tavernier insisted he is doing everything in his power to improve results and performances as he addressed the fall-out from the midweek defeat at Aberdeen.

Tavernier faced the media for the first time since the 2-1 loss at Pittodrie on Wednesday that has left Rangers nine points behind both Celtic and the Dons at the top of the William Hill Premiership. The loss - coupled with a recent defeat at Kilmarnock, losing 3-0 in the opening Old Firm match, and failing to reach the Champions League play-offs - has piled pressure onto the shoulders of manager Philippe Clement, who is now facing calls to be sacked.

Tavernier insists, however, that the players remain fully behind the Belgian ahead of the must-win Premier Sports Cup semi-final against Motherwell at Hampden on Sunday.

Rangers captain James Tavernier at full time after the 2-1 defeat by Aberdeen at Pittodrie. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group) | SNS Group

"The players are obviously fully committed to everything around.. the lads want to win games," Tavernier said. "The manager is getting criticism, the team is getting criticism but that happens when you don't get the results that you want and it's down to us as players to improve ourselves and deliver the results that the club want and the fans want.

"We're in it together, collectively, as one team. We'll all put our hands up and be responsible for when the results are going bad. It's a collective team performance, It's not just the starting XI it's the full squad. It's up to us to improve each other, and demand from each other, to get what we want out of the season. We've just got to continue to do that."

Put to him that the players are now in a position of playing for the manager's future, Tavernier replied: "Everyone plays for everyone's future in every single game. You start the season with ambitions and targets of where you want to be and you train every day, and play every game, to get to those targets. You're always playing for a future but at a club like Rangers you have to win things. That's the demand this club has and us a team have to back that up."

Tavernier refused to contemplate the consequences of defeat at Hampden for both the team and Clement. "Our aim is to win on the weekend so we're not thinking any other way as a team or about not winning the game. Our main focus is to get ourselves into a final and that's all we're thinking about.”

Rangers manager Philippe Clement addresses the media after the 2-1 loss to Aberdeen at Pittodrie. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group) | SNS Group

Clement himself is confident that he will retain the backing of the Rangers board despite the mounting pressure after signing a contract extension in August until the summer of 2028. He said: “I’m very confident about that, because that was also the really clear message (from board) to step in, a story for longer term. They knew everything about the (financial) numbers, about what was necessary, and I don’t want to repeat all these things. I think I have said it enough about what consequences it can have (Rangers entering administration in 2012).

“And it’s about small margins, like last season, taking those margins and making it better, better again. Last season, we turned it around in a really short period in that way. I’m convinced that can happen now also. But of course, I wish we took the victory in Aberdeen, that would have been the big step forward. We didn’t manage to do that. But I saw a team that tried until the last second of the game, and we had in the last minute, also the header with Tav (James Tavernier) just past the post.

“So it’s not that the team don’t want or they give up, or anything like that. So we’re going to continue fighting to get results our way and to make things better, and for sure, more consistent, to get more football like we saw against Malmo, against FCSB, more regularly.”

Clement’s message to the doubting fans was to stick with him as he tries to get the Govan outfit back on track. He added: ”I’m going work really hard on that. I’m going do the same as I did last season, and the same as I’m doing now. And I do a little bit more in the club than that moment because there are also a lot of other things to do. But for sure, I’m very confident about that. I feel also how the team works, how they were in the meeting today also. It’s not a team that doesn’t take responsibility. They took responsibility in things, the staff took responsibility, I take responsibility, and we all go forward to make things better.”

James Tavernier promotes Premier Sports coverage of Motherwell v Rangers at Hampden on Sunday. Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group) | SNS Group

Rangers players were met with a furious reaction from irate fans at full-time at Pittodrie and reports on Friday claim that the club has yet to sell-out its full allocation for the Hampden showdown. Tavernier aims to produce performances that can win the supporters back over.

"I totally understand their frustration because ultimately they want to see us win games," the Ibrox skipper said. "There's frustration among ourselves. We never want to go to a place and drop any points and lose games. So you can understand the frustration. But as a captain and squad player for Rangers I'm doing everything in my power, and I know all the players in the deresing room will be doing everything in their power, to put it the performances and results that the fans can be proud of. We can do all the talking we want but we've got to do our talking on the pitch.

"It's part and parcel of football. You're going to get praise and criticism. It's how you deal with it and we had the same situation against Kilmarnock when we dropped points, then we responded really well. It's about keeping those performance levels and results where we want them to be. It's just about us being consistent and in the small finer details, being more clinical when we go forward and more clinical defending as a team. It's small things but they all add up."