Believe it or not but, James Tavernier doesn’t actually have that great a record of scoring penalties for Rangers.
In fact, he has missed almost 20% of the spot kicks he has taken for the Light Blues, scoring 38 and missing nine, his latest failed attempt coming at Dens Park at the weekend, his second of the season.
PENALTY MISS! Tavernier steps up and blasts the ball well over the bar from the spot 😲 pic.twitter.com/ptKRZg5O14
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) March 20, 2022
The thing with Tavernier is that he, at least, misses trying to find the side netting or the top corner, he doesn’t tamely roll the ball into the keepers arms or hit them at a comfortable height for the keeper to save, they have to earn their money, and this is why he should continue to take them.
His last four successful penalties against Borussia Dortmund, Red Star Belgrade and Dundee have all been unsaveable but they all carried a degree of risk, it doesn’t take much for an inch perfect penalty to become one that hits the bar or flies over and he should be commended for continuing to embrace a technique that has served him well.
The miss at Dundee could have been costly but we managed to find a way to win, that Tavernier supplied the cross that led to the first goal and the pass that led to the second says it all about his importance to the team.
There is no reason why the skipper shouldn’t be the man to step up the next time the referee points to the spot, however, if Kemar Roofe is on the pitch, he might have something to say about it, the striker having scored all four of his competitive Rangers penalties, three of which were in games won by a single goal – one thing the Jamaican international is never short of is confidence.