Backwards Barisic. It all began at Parkhead in February, after Rangers’ Croat international had the most poignantly worst appearance of his Ibrox career, and did next-to-nothing aside passing the ball backwards.
Hence the Backwards Barisic was born.
He was seen vividly gesturing an ‘over the top’ movement to Ryan Kent v Liverpool, seemingly blaming him for not making the runs for the Croat to find, and in Borna’s defence he did actually make 5 of 6 long ball attempts.
So he wasn’t being wasteful when he did get the chances.
But the crowd at Ibrox got exasperated quickly with the left back, with his refusal to drive forward and always electing to go back to McGregor or inside back to Davies.
And there is the problem with him these days.
Ever since that horror show at Parkhead at the start of the year, Barisic has been deeply negative with his movement and passing.
For a fullback formerly coveted for his attacking prowess and flair with crossing, the 29-year old has become notorious for his soft centre, vulnerability and contrast to James Tavernier, whereby the captain always attempts the forward thrust to get the team going.
That night at Parkhead tainted Borna permanently, and he’s lost not only a lot of goodwill from fans, but his own momentum too.
His form this year has been shaky, not dire, but shaky, and that in part is why Rangers went out and replaced him with Yilmaz, despite how it’s not yet worked out.
But there’s a sense the Turk is now ready to replace the Croat, because Barisic’s current form can’t really get much worse.
It’s time for Ridvan and for Barisic to go Backwards onto the bench.
Pick on borna ,it seems to be a popular pastime around certain rangers supporters, watching from afar (i live in toronto and never miss a game) maybe I am missing something ,all I see is a player who loves playing for this club,gives nothing but 110% every game does everthing his manager and fans ask of him does not get any help from a back tracking winger who leaves him out to dry constantly.Yes he lacks that hard crunching tackle at times and could use a little bit of grit at times , but what he does have is heart and plenty of it .You may slag all you want but this man gives everything he has for his club and country ,I would take 10 more of him on my team any day of the week.
Surely from so far away you can see him shying away from thw majority of his challenges? He backs away from 50/50s and runs away from aerial duels. He backed off of Salah in both games allowing him to run at him from the halfway line and shows him into his left to shoot. Can count on the one hand how many times hes turned up since the afore mentioned game at the piggery!
If Borna had a willing runner in front of him we’d see the best of him again – give Sakala or Wright a shot on the left wing and bench Kent instead!
This really needs to happen ASAP. Barisic is so far from what he was at his peak for us and he needs dropped just like when Bassey grabbed his place. Let’s be fair to Borna though, he has done well for us and can still deliver a mean ball into the box. He is by no means spent but benching him would put all the emphasis on him to win his place back for what would surely be his last chance. He certainly isn’t a bad option to have as a sub.
Someone mentioned a ‘ contrast with Tavernier’. Tavernier is the worst right back in Scotland. Doesn’t tackle, is never in correct position, relies on Goldson and Steve Davies to cover when he isn’t where he should be. If we insist on playing Tavernier then look at a right back behind him to defend. His attacks p look at has stopped, he crosses 99 out of 100 to nowhere. Don’t criticise Borna by mentioning Tavernier. Both of them are poor defenders but Borna can cross a dangerous ball, Tavernier doesn’t any more and neither of them take dangerous free of cost anymore
I think the verdict is still out on this one until we actually see what we spent a good sum of cash for in Ridvan Yilmaz. With the price tag he came with a lot of praise for his passing and penetrative runs which we are yet to see at Ibrox. I do hope we have bought a gem but it’s no good having riches on the bench when he should be turning out weekly giving his age
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