Rangers have plenty of goalscorers – but for those who don't watch them every week, perhaps the most surprising is that the right-back, James Tavernier, is often one of the biggest threats.
In the Gers' title-winning campaign of 2021/21, Tavernier managed 19 goals in all competitions – 12 in the league. In seven years, he's managed to notch well over 60 goals in Scottish football. And that's fairly unusual for a right-back.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, for example, has just the 12 career goals for Liverpool. Kyle Walker has the same amount across his entire career. While the right-back position has been revolutionised by the likes of Alexander-Arnold, Joao Cancelo and Dani Alves in the past decade, how is Tavernier getting on the scoresheet so often?
For a start, it helped that Steven Gerrard implemented high-flying full-backs while at Ibrox. Gerrard's system allowed for Tavernier to bomb forward and even get into the box often. The Rangers captain has found quite a few goals from the ball landing at his feet just outside the six-yard box: as an excellent striker of the ball, he's netted with his left and right foot.
And about that striking ability – it helps that set-pieces have inflated the tally.
Tavernier is on penalty duty for Rangers, where many of his goals have come. He's also netted free-kicks during his time in Scotland.
“Tav is a huge player,” Gerrard said while at Ibrox. “He doesn’t get the credit he deserves from our own supporters, he doesn’t get the credit he deserves from outside.”
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