Chris Sutton slams Rangers star James Tavernier for having a pea-sized heart

Sutton has continued his criticism of Tavernier, blaming him for both goals Hearts scored on Monday.

The former Celtic striker wanted the Rangers captain to be quick, sense the danger and defend better than he did.

As Sutton believed that the 34-year-old did not do that, he stated that the outgoing Light Blues star has the heart of a pea.

Sutton said: “The Hearts goal sum up the Rangers captain’s time at the club.

“He has a heart the size of a pea, he really does.

“He is bad on both goals. He should react first, smell the danger and block it; he doesn’t.

“Then he is so lax at the second and he has killed his team.”

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This clearly did not sit well with McCormack or Halliday, as they jumped to the rescue of the right-back.

McCormack saw that as Sutton questioning Tavernier’s mentality when all the defender did was make an error for the concession of a goal.

He said on Open Goal: “I’m not having that at all. Does that then mean you’re pea-hearted? That’s questioning your mentality.”

Halliday also did not see the point made by the Sky Sports pundit, and had a go at the critics of the full-back who have attributed the club’s recent failures to him.

“I think it’s harsh,” he stated.

“See if the ball hits off the post, there’s an element of randomness in there.

“If it falls to Tavernier then you’re saying ‘that’s unbelievable positioning’. I thought it was Skov Olsen who was closest (to the ball) anyway.

“Tavernier has had loads of critics and they’re not going to go away, but I never came away from that game thinking he was the problem.

“Rangers having zero identity is a bigger problem to me.”

A four-man shortlist has been drawn up to replace James Tavernier…

We believe Hampus Skoglund is the ideal candidate. Let us know what you think!

Where Sutton is getting it wrong about Tavernier

Sutton always seems to have a bone to pick with Tavernier, and this was the latest example.

A lot went wrong with Rangers on Monday, but the captain was far from the worst player on the pitch

It was the failure of motivation, tactics, as well as a number of subpar individual performances.

Rohl also deserves a fair share of the blame, as at half-time the score was 1-0 in favour of Rangers.

Instead of sending his side out with a clear plan to see out the game and do more of the same, they just looked like a completely different side and ended up losing the game.