Three Rangers players who must improve in 2020, including struggling summer signing

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Steven Gerrard’s Rangers are flying high in the Scottish Premiership and the Europa League but not every player is performing to his very best.

With a Europa League knockout tie to look forward to and a genuine title race for the first time in almost a decade, 2019/20 is shaping up to be a season to remember for Rangers.

But if Steven Gerrard wants to turn his merry band of nearly-men into a modern-day group of Ibrox legends, he could do with these three under-performing stars stepping up to the plate in the new year.

James Tavernier

It may seem more than a little harsh to single out a club captain with 12 assists to his name for anything other than glowing praise, but the fact that Tavernier continues to split the Ibrox faithful into two distinct camps tells it’s own story.

For all those who adore the long-serving skipper for his pinpoint crosses and inch-perfect set-pieces (no full-back in Britain sets up his team-mates so regularly), the critics will point at an unwelcome tendency to make costly mistakes on the big occasions.

Taverner has already cost Rangers with defensive lapses against Hearts and Young Boys. And that’s without mentioning the three penalties he’s missed in 2019/20 alone.

Jordan Jones

Jones’ time in royal blue started badly and has gone downhill from there. Left out of Steven Gerrard’s Europa League squad in September, just weeks after the most petulant of red cards against Celtic, Jones’ Man of the Match performance during the early season thrashing of Midtjylland feels like light years ago.

To make matters worse, the Northern Ireland winger has not been seen in over three months thanks to a troublesome knee injury. And, when he returns to full fitness, he faces one hell of a fight to overhaul Ryan Kent, Sheyi Ojo, Brandon Barker and Joe Aribo and reclaim his place in the starting XI.

Scott Arfield

The enduring enigma of Rangers’ best squad in almost a decade.

On his day, the Canadian international provides a cerebral link between midfield and attack a la Steven Naismith in his early-decade heyday. But Arfield’s performances this season have been more akin to an Ibrox-era Niko Kranjcar than Naismith at his fleet-footed peak.

Three goals and three assists in 31 games simply isn’t good enough and, unless he finds some form in the final third, the versatile and dynamic Aribo could soon consign 31-year-old Arfield to a bench-warming role on a full-time basis.