---
title: "Rangers: Ally McCoist critical of James Tavernier"
canonical: "https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/rangers-ally-mccoist-critical-of-james-tavernier/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "David Comerford"
section: "Rangers News"
published: "2022-04-24T12:05:43Z"
modified: "2022-04-24T12:05:43Z"
---

# Rangers: Ally McCoist critical of James Tavernier

**Ally McCoist expected better from Rangers right-back James Tavernier against Motherwell on Saturday.**

### The lowdown

Rangers survived an early red card for centre-back Leon Balogun in their 3-1 win at Fir Park, closing the gap at the top of the Scottish Premiership to three points ahead of Celtic’s trip to Ross County on Sunday afternoon.

[Rangers news!](https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/rangers-news-3/)

It was Tavernier who effectively sealed the victory when he converted a penalty on 62 minutes to establish a two-goal cushion.

Even as Giovanni van Bronckhorst [rang the changes](https://www.rangers.co.uk/Article/team-news-gio-makes-changes-for-motherwell-game/1PeLZ6LwXQ9swA4mYRO363) ahead of Thursday’s trip to RB Leipzig for the Europa League semi-final first leg, the skipper played the full 90 minutes for the 32nd time in 34 SPFL matches this season.

### The latest

Speaking live on Sky Sports during the match, the Gers’ [all-time leading goalscorer](https://www.gersnet.co.uk/index.php/online-museum/club-history/494-player-records) McCoist expressed his frustration at a Tavernier cross that was easily dealt with by Motherwell.

“It’s a really poor delivery from someone whose delivery is usually really good,” he said, as quoted by [Ibrox News](https://www.ibroxnews.com/2022/04/23/ally-mccoist-destroys-james-tavernier-for-what-he-did-in-rangers-showdown-v-motherwell/).

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### The verdict

Even though he scored, it’s fair to say that Tavernier could have played better.

The [£6.3million-rated](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/james-tavernier/profil/spieler/62094) star is perhaps his side’s foremost creator, with [a team-high 14 assists](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/rangers/top-scorers/assists) under his belt this season.

But even though he swung in seven crosses, he failed to create a chance on Saturday. Indeed, only two of his deliveries found a team-mate (via [SofaScore](https://www.sofascore.com/rangers-motherwell/WWsbX)).

Overall, 17 of his 51 passes (equating to 33%) and seven of his eight long balls, went astray.

He [lost possession more than any other player on the pitch](https://www.sofascore.com/rangers-motherwell/WWsbX) (29 times, two more than next-worst Borna Barisic).

The [£24,000-per-week](https://salarysport.com/football/scottish-premiership/rangers/) man may hope to be more effective when Rangers travel to Germany for perhaps the biggest game of their season so far.

**In other news, [the stats showed that this trio struggled most vs Motherwell](https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/rangers-fc-news/motherwell-1-3-rangers-barisic-bassey-kamara/).**