On Thursday afternoon, the Official Rangers Twitter released footage of James Tavernier in a press conference, previewing Sunday’s League Cup semi-final against Hearts.
Heading into the presser, the Rangers skipper thought he and his teammates would be going up against an opposition managed by Craig Levein.
However, as Tav was answering the media’s questions, it was confirmed to him by journalists in the room that Levein had been relieved of his duties as boss of the Jambos [Heartsfc.co.uk].
Rangers skipper responds to Levein sacking
“It doesn’t really affect us too much,” claimed Tavernier. “You can get teams that respond really well to people being sacked, it’s obviously not great news. But, we knew it was going to be a tough game this weekend – they put in a really tough game against us at Tynecastle.”
“We know if we deliver the same performance as we did last night, we’ll have a real good footing in the game.”
“They’ve got the same players,” continued Tav, when asked if Rangers will now prepare differently. “We’re just going to focus on ourselves and we’ll try and do the most we can to see what they’re going to do, but if we deliver the gameplan that the gaffer gives us then we should have a good result this weekend.”
Verdict
These questions were sprung upon the captain in the middle of the presser and were dealt with well.
It’s dangerous to speculate about rival clubs amidst upheaval, and who knows how this will affect Hearts ahead of the weekend.
Just a fortnight ago, Levein motivated his side to secure a draw against the Gers in Edinburgh. Yet, outside of that, they have been on a rotten run of form and lost 1-0 to St Johnstone last night, a side who hadn’t won all season prior to the weekend.
We’ll have to wait and see how the change impacts on performance for the Jambos, but Tavernier’s right, if Rangers do things well on the day, it won’t matter.
