On Wednesday night, during his first game as interim manager of Rangers, Barry Ferguson made a crucial substitution that turned the tide for his team.
With 31 minutes on the clock and Rangers trailing 2-0 against Kilmarnock, Ferguson decided to replace Clinton Nsiala. In his place, he introduced Ridvan Yilmaz at right-back, shifting James Tavernier to centre-half. As Ferguson himself put it, the move “worked out pretty well.”
Yilmaz provided a stunning assist for Cyriel Dessers, helping the Rangers striker turn a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead. Meanwhile, Tavernier delivered an “exceptional” performance in the heart of a makeshift defense, which looked far more solid during the final 60 minutes of the match in Ayrshire.
Interestingly, before Philippe Clement occasionally deployed Tavernier in a central defensive role during his final weeks as manager, the Rangers captain had not played in that position since his early days at Rotherham United a decade ago.
Back then, Steve Evans was in charge, leading The Millers to promotion from England’s third tier via the play-offs in 2014.
Speaking to the Scottish Sun, Evans, who hails from Glasgow, expressed no surprise at Tavernier’s remarkable career north of the border a decade later.
James Tavernier’s former boss raves about ‘sensational’ Rangers captain:
“I signed James here as a young man, on loan initially from Newcastle,” Evans recalled. “He’s a very lively boy, very confident. He was just sensational for us here.
“It’s not a surprise to me he’s had the career he’s had. Talented, technically magnificent…”
Evans, a Celtic supporter, couldn’t resist a playful dig at Rangers. He quipped that Tavernier “would be good at Celtic,” even claiming to have told the Rangers skipper as much himself.
Fortunately for Rangers, the highest-scoring defender in British football history has remained loyal to the club, despite many of his teammates moving on in recent years.
Rangers secured a 3-0 victory over Celtic in their most recent Old Firm clash earlier this year. However, Evans believes Tavernier is the only player in Ferguson’s squad who could break into Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic team based on pure talent.
Even that is a close call, given Alistair Johnston’s impressive performances this season.
“If you picked the best of the Celtic team and the best of the Rangers team, for me there’s only one player in the Rangers team who gets into the Celtic team,” Evans added.
“Johnston’s terrific but James Tavernier would be sensational in that Celtic team! He’s phenomenal, although defensively he can improve.”
Barry Ferguson says Tavernier was ‘exceptional’ at Kilmarnock:
They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. But at 33, Tavernier seems to be adding another dimension to his game as he enters the latter stages of his illustrious career.
Philippe Clement believed that transitioning Tavernier to a central defensive role could extend his career by reducing the physical demands of playing as a full-back.
Whether this change becomes permanent remains to be seen. However, on a night when Nsiala and Robin Propper struggled, Tavernier’s standout performance has given Ferguson plenty to consider ahead of Saturday’s match against Motherwell.
“I thought he was exceptional when he went into centre-back,” Ferguson said of Tavernier, as Rangers went on to win 4-2 at Kilmarnock thanks to goals from Dessers, Vaclav Cerny, and Nedim Bajrami.
“At times, during the game when things aren’t going well, you have to make tough decisions. Clinton is young. He will recover from it. But I just felt we had to make the change and obviously it worked out pretty well.”
