James Tavernier’s Rangers teammates have varied in the extreme.
He’s had highly successful ones such as Alfredo Morelos and Allan McGregor, and some not so including Joey Barton and Russell Martin.
Yet, was Fabio Cardoso the man Tavernier was referencing when he spoke about players who “couldn’t take” scrutiny? The Rangers captain was touching on all things new under Steven Gerrard this season. He told the Daily Record how much the club has transformed since the Liverpool man came in the door.
It’s around a year since Rangers were woefully knocked out of the Betfred Cup semi-finals by Motherwell. This weekend they’ll look to rectify that against Aberdeen at Hampden.
And Tavernier made an interesting remark ahead of the contest when he touched on last season’s comparison to now.
“I’m mentally tough and always been able to handle the scrutiny but it can be hard when everything is getting aimed at you and some lads can’t take it. Maybe that was a little bit of a factor last season but it’s in the past now.”
“Can’t take it”
From the moment he walked in the door at Ibrox, Cardoso was a disaster. Disguising as a centre-back, he couldn’t defend and was terrible against players with an element of pace.
The likes of Simon Murray, Leigh Griffiths, and Louis Moult gave him the runaround. If you’re going to be a successful Rangers defender, that just simply can’t happen.
The most telling factor about him, however, was what he said when he left. Cardoso believed he was “disrespected” during his time at Rangers, and stated that Scottish teams “don’t play football”. It was a scathing attack on the game up here, and he showed incredible bitterness and resentment towards the league.
Thankfully for everyone, he’s now out the door. He showed he couldn’t take criticism and didn’t have the character or bottle to be a Rangers player. He could easily be the man Tavernier was referencing when talking about players who couldn’t deal with stick.
Rangers dodged a bullet with this one in the end, but not before having to endure a little suffering. Finally, however, it looks like the Gers have now got proper leaders in the back-line as opposed to pretenders.
Connor Goldson and Nikola Katic initially came in and shored up Gers defensively. The emergence of Joe Worrall has also been a real boost this season. All three look far better defenders than Cardoso was at Ibrox.
