IT may be hard for the Rangers supporters who travelled for Vienna and braved the sub-zero temperatures of the Austrian midwinter only to see their team beaten by Rapid and fail to secure a place in the knockout rounds of the Europa League to draw any positives from the experience right now.
Steven Gerrard and his players were certainly still raw in the wake of the narrow and painful defeat in their final Group G game in the Allianz Stadium on Thursday night as they returned to training in Glasgow yesterday morning.
Yet, James Tavernier, who played in all 14 of the Ibrox club’s outings in Europe in the 2018/19 campaign, somehow managed to put a positive spin on their exit as he reflected on their run and looked ahead to the remainder of the season.
The right back and captain has turned his attentions immediately to the Ladbrokes Premiership. He is confident Rangers can resurrect their faltering Scottish title bid in the coming months now they just have the league to concentrate on. But he would like to see them reproduce their European form domestically.
He feels Rangers, who were knocked off top spot in the league by Celtic last week after losing to Aberdeen at home and drawing with Dundee away, can take encouragement from their continental displays in the last five months.
The defender predicted they can apply pressure on their city rivals, who they play for the second time this season at Ibrox a fortnight today, if they can scale the same sort of heights on the home front.
“I want us to take the levels we have shown in European football into the league,” he said. “We need to show that level of desire, the hungriness, the energy and that concentration in every single game.
“If we had done that we would have beaten Aberdeen and Dundee. You can’t just flick a switch and perform at the top level. It is always going to be a different occasion when you play against teams that are going to be open in European football compared to lower block teams.
“But if we take the defensive game from last night into the remainder of the season we have got a good chance to get a lot of points.
“We definitely need to improve our league performances. We have dropped too many points already due to bad performances from ourselves. That has to change. And for this weekend.
“There is another cup to come this season and we have the league. We are nearly at the halfway point there.
“We have show a level of consistency. If we take the European performances into the league then we have a fighting chance. But if we take the defensive game from last night into the remainder of the season we have got a good chance to get a lot of points.
“It is still close in the league at the minute and the gaffer will probably bring in some new faces in January that could make us even stronger. Hopefully, injured players will come back into the team, too.
“We just have to see off these next five games and try and take as many points as we can. We just have to give everything now until the last game against Celtic before the winter break. We have to give everything we have got, empty the tank in every single game and then we’ll get a little break. If we do empty the tank in those matches then hopefully we will get the rewards.”
Gerrard stressed the importance of retaining the services of Tavernier, who was the subject of a failed bid from West Brom earlier this year and has frequently been linked with a move back to his homeland, immediately after the defeat to Rapid on Thursday night.
The defender, who signed a contract extension tying him to the Ibrox club until 2022 back in February, stressed being involved in the Europa League this season and the incredible backing he and his team mates have received from their supporters, around 10,000 of whom travelled to Vienna, had made him keen for more.
“I have got unfinished business here,” he said. “I had a taste of European football. There is so much Rangers can offer to me as a player – cups, European football and obviously working under the gaffer has been exceptional this season. I just want to continue working hard. I am fully focused on Rangers.
“I haven’t experienced anything of this magnitude. The European nights have been out of the this world, especially at home. You saw on Thursday night, when 10,000 fans travelled and only a couple of thousand got into the stadium, what it meant to people.
“There were thousands of fans out in the streets and around the stadium cheering us on. That is why I came to this club. The fans are exceptional. It is just disappointing that we couldn’t get a result for ourselves or the fans.”
Rangers only lost two games - to Spartak Moscow and Rapid Vienna away - in Group G and still failed to go through to the knockout rounds of the competition.
But Tavernier feels a failure to win their home matches against Spartak and Villarreal ultimately cost them the place in the last 32 they were hoping for.
“Obviously we beat Rapid, but I think we could have taken advantage of Spartak,” he said. “We showed up well in defence and thought our attacking players could get us a goal. It was a frustrating night. Then we scored three goals against them in Moscow and still ended up getting beaten. Maybe those two games against Spartak could have changed the dynamic.”
Meanwhile, Tavernier has admitted he was delighted to see his younger brother Marcus, who is a winger with Middlesbrough and the England Under-20 side, linked with a move to Manchester United.
“I’m extremely proud of what he is doing at the minute,” he said. “He has been given a few chances and has taken them. He is doing really well. He is working really hard.
“I’m just devastated that if he is to be playing against Burton in the quarter-finals (of the Carabao Cup next week), I won’t be able to make it because I’ve got Hibs the next day.
“I’ve probably been there and done it all. Misbehaving and not concentrating. It’s all experience. I will always speak to him if he needs it. He has got a good head on him so he should be fine.”
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