James Tavernier dressing room reaction to Quarter Final defeat revealed after penalty miss

Worse than Tavernier v Celtic: Rangers dud is their biggest flop since Lammers

Glasgow Rangers captain James Tavernier has scored 77 of his 97 career penalties outside of shoot-outs, but he was unable to convert on Sunday.

The Light Blues skipper was the first player to step up in the SFA Cup quarter-final shoot-out against Celtic and placed his shot off the crossbar and away from goal.

Whilst Djeidi Gassama also missed his spot-kick later on in the shoot-out, the captain will be particularly disappointed with his miss given his reputation as the penalty taker for the club.

Tavernier, however, was far from the biggest reason why the Scottish Premiership giants failed to qualify for the last four of the competition, because he put in some dangerous set-pieces and open-play crosses that were not converted during extra-time.

The captain came on at the start of extra-time, replacing Dujon Sterling, and could have assisted the winner from one of his balls into the box if his teammates had been more clinical.

Where Rohl got his team selection wrong

Danny Rohl started with the same 4-4-2 formation that he went with in the 2-2 draw with Celtic at Ibrox in the Premiership fixture last week, playing Youssef Chermiti and Ryan Naderi as a front two.

That may have been the German head coach’s first mistake, because it meant that the Gers sometimes had to resort to putting a lot of crosses to create half-chances, rather than working the best chance possible, because they only had two players in midfield.

If Tochi Chukwuani, Thelo Aasgaard, or Nedim Bajrami started as a third central midfielder, Rangers may have created more quality chances from open play, instead of relying on crosses and set plays, to finish the game before it went to extra-time or penalties.

That would have meant that the game would not have been lost on penalties and Tavernier and Gassama would have been spared their blushes.

Rangers should be more frustrated with their failure to score in 90 and 120 minutes, therefore, than the fact that they lost on penalties, and one of the reasons why they failed to do so was because one of their attackers put in a particularly disappointing display.

The Rangers flop who was even worse than James Tavernier

Despite missing a penalty, Tavernier was not the worst player on the pitch for the Gers, as he still offered a threat with his crosses down the right flank in extra time.

Ryan Naderi, meanwhile, scored his penalty in the shoot-out, to his credit, but his play across the 120 minutes before the penalties left a lot to be desired.

His £4.7m move from Hansa Rostock in the winter made him one of the top ten most expensive signings in the club’s history, ahead of the likes of Cyriel Dessers and Mohamed Diomande. The Gers are yet to see much back from the centre-forward since they decided to splash the cash on his services at the end of the January transfer window, with his only two goals coming against Queen’s Park in the SFA Cup.

In Sunday’s loss to Celtic, the German number nine worked hard and put plenty of effort into his performance, which you cannot criticise, but the lack of quality was evident. His touch, his dribbling, and his passing looked a level below the standard required, hence why he was even worse than Tavernier.

Whilst this should not come as a huge surprise, given that he was signed from the third division in Germany, Rangers should expect more from a player they signed for the best part of £5m, as he is fast becoming Ibrox’s biggest flop since Sam Lammers.

Rangers paid £3m to sign Lammers from Atalanta in the summer of 2022 under Michael Beale and, like Naderi, he found the intensity of Scottish football a bit too tough to handle.

The Dutch attacker scored two goals in 31 appearances in all competitions before being sold to FC Twente 12 months after joining the club, leaving as a significant flop.

Naderi is similar to Lammers in the sense that he seems to want to play alongside another striker, because of his lack of mobility and pace, yet has not shown enough quality in that role to justify building the system around him.

The 22-year-old flop has been dominated in his duels in the Premiership, illustrating a lack of physicality and mobility, whilst he has offered next to nothing in the final third, with no goals or assists in five games, looking as ineffective as Lammers once was.

His lack of impact in general play is a cause for concern because the £4.7m signing has struggled in league games and now in the SFA Cup against Celtic, and does not seem to be improving.

Whilst there is still plenty of time for him to turn things around and prove that he is not the next Lammers, Naderi’s start to his career at Ibrox has been disappointing on current evidence.We