Kenny Miller was waxing lyrical about Rangers captain James Tavernier after his performance helped the Glaswegians win 3-1 against Rapid Vienna in their Europa League group on Thursday night.
The Light Blues top Group G after a brace by Alfredo Morelos and a second-half penalty scored by Tavernier, 26, saw Steven Gerrard’s men come from behind to bag an important victory.
As well as converting his spot-kick, Tavernier also assisted Morelos’ first-half equaliser before almost setting up Ovie Ejaria after the break.
Former Rangers and Celtic striker Miller was thoroughly impressed by what the right-back had to show at Ibrox on Thursday night, and he believes that some of his displays are going under the radar lately.
“James is steady. Some of his performances go under-rated because it’s becomes expected of him but I thought he was excellent again tonight. Another assist, almost another assist as well for Ejaria, and that man as well, I thought he was superb throughout the night,” said Miller during BT Sport 3’s live post-match reaction on Thursday night.
OPINION
Miller has a point about Tavernier, but ‘under-rated’ probably isn’t the best way to put it. The 26-year-old seems more under-appreciated more than anything and some fans don’t understand the role that he plays very well. Tavernier gets pelters for his defensive abilities, but who cares when he can attack the way he does? The former Newcastle right-back was rampant on that wing in the second-half and there was even one moment when he made a crucial tackle on Veton Berisha in his own penalty to stop a Rapid Vienna attack. Everyone knows what Tavernier can do and his stats over last season and the early stages of this season shows that he is not under-rated by any stretch of the imagination. In 18 appearances across all competitions this term, Tavernier has already scored six goals and supplied eight assists. Last season he scored nine and set up nine. He is absolutely flying at the moment and should be hailed by the fans for his performances.