Rangers captain James Tavernier gave up his penalty duties for the League Cup final, with Alfredo Morelos being handed the responsibility by manager Steven Gerrard.
However, with the Colombian having missed the crucial spot-kick in the 1-0 defeat to Celtic on Sunday, a number of Rangers supporters on Twitter feel that Tavernier should have taken the penalty instead:
Penalty was the turning point absolute madness from tav ??♂️??♂️??♂️??♂️??♂️
— Jack Balfour (@j_balf) December 8, 2019
What a disaster class from Morelos, why wasn’t Tavernier taking that pen ffs he’s our penalty taker?? Next time we play them Defoe has to start and not Morelos
— Ewan (@EwanRoss55) December 8, 2019
thats what everyone get take tav of penalties
— steven mcarthur (@stevenm38720009) December 8, 2019
We got a 1-0 loss with an offside goal and battered them stay loyal our day is coming. All the Tav knockers happy he didn’t take penalty then?
— Sandy McIver (@AJMLSRFC) December 8, 2019
Club captain, penalty taker, should of taken the penalty as the leader he’s meant to be. Take responsibility and start performing like a rangers captain should!!
— Dan Mac (@danielmacd1992) December 8, 2019
Why give up the penalty ??♂️
— Simo (@LawSimpson76) December 8, 2019
Not Rangers Captain material.
— The Risk Pirate (@TheRiskPirate) December 8, 2019
TAV shoulda took the pen he’s scored more pens than any other player in the league why just why?..wee Alfie is amazing but don’t ever give him the most important pen this season it makes no sense pure raging man
— A???????L???????D???????O (@YodaOnXbox) December 8, 2019
It’s very harsh to criticise Tavernier for this as Gerrard would have likely made the final call. The right-back has missed a number of penalties this season so he would have been criticised no matter what.
Of course, the captain has the ultimate responsibility in these situations, but with Morelos in such a rich vein of form, no supporter would have questioned the decision before the match.
In any case, the Gers had enough chances in open play for the penalty not to have mattered. The Light Blues will need to lick their wounds and get back to winning ways when they face Young Boys on Thursday.