Rangers left back Borna Barisic has effectively admitted he felt low under former manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst and felt there was no faith in him from the former boss, something he now feels is fully back under Michael Beale.
The Croat’s form tumbled under Gio, culminating in that horror 45 at Parkhead for which he was absolutely slaughtered and made a gigantic scapegoat – yes, his performance was not great, but fans were deeply unforgiving of it and would have had him lynched if it was legal.
His confidence crashed after that and he was a shadow of his old self for the bulk of the rest of 2022.
But under Beale? We’ve seen the old Borna back, and he explained that he promised he’d be a lot better if his new manager put faith in him the way the ex-manager did not.
He said:
“Yeah, I had a conversation. It was a like a 15 or 20 minute conversation about everything. Not only about football. We made some deals. That’s true. I have a very good relationship with him and that’s a big help to me. I feel good, I feel motivated, I feel comfortable. The way the manager gives me some things – I won’t tell you what, it’s behind the doors – means I am trying to give him it back on the pitch. I think that’s the way how it should be.”
And then further clarified that, yes, he’d had faith restored in him and he was playing better as a result.
We weren’t keen on Malik Tillman slaughtering Giovanni a few weeks ago, calling out ‘negative’ football, but Borna is different. He’s given us a lot for almost four years now, and we have a respect for him that we don’t for the American. Tillman has a long way to go before he badmouths Rangers managers and gets slack from this site for it, Borna was a lot more discreet plus has earned the right to express himself a little.
There’s no wonder Borna is back to his best – the system suits him, and his manager believes in him. Borna remains Scotland’s best left back, even if he had a dodgy 2022.