Rangers blow as Philippe Clement left without a single left back

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Rangers blow as Philippe Clement left without a single left back
TOPSHOT - Rangers' Croatian defender Borna Barisic (L) vies with Newcastle United's English defender Kieran Trippier (R) during the pre-season friendly football match between Rangers and Newcastle United at the Ibrox Stadium, in Glasgow, on July 18, 2023. (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP) (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Rangers manager Philippe Clement could be set to suffer the nonsense of his predecessor’s decisions as the Ibrox side prepare to fly to Prague without a single recognised left back in the squad.

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Michael Beale’s appalling call to ditch Ridvan Yilmaz from the European squad has come under fire after Croatia’s Borna Barisic had to withdraw from the Hibs match early through injury, with a worrying lack of timescale for his return, while former Chelsea kid Dujon Sterling is in the squad but of course he’s a RB.

Neither, indeed, can Leon Balogun deputise who was also axed from the same squad, which leaves literally only Ben Davies as the single recognised left-footed defender who can possibly fill in.

It was, of course, one of many utterly baffling calls by Beale, who was miles out of his depth, but we all know that so no point crying over spilled milk – but we’ll just whine at the ridiculousness of picking only 6 defenders total.

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Instead Clement will have to cobble together a defence from Tavernier, Goldson, Souttar, Sterling and Davies, and while three of them did pretty well v Hibs, Prague is a different prospect entirely and will pose a threat to a fully-fit and able defence, never mind a patchwork one without a LB.

Of course, every possibility Clement will go with a back 3 – the new manager is extremely adaptable and knows how to get the best out of the players he has rather than trying to force them into a formation that doesn’t suit what he has at his disposal.

So we’ll see what the boss cobbles together for this one in a couple of days, but there’s no denying the absence of both Barisic and Ridvan really aren’t ideal by a long way.

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