Former Aberdeen striker, Noel Whelan, has claimed that Rangers will struggle on their left-hand side if Borna Barisic fails to recover from injury in time to face Celtic on Sunday in the Betfred League Cup final.
Whelan was speaking exclusively to Football Insider after watching Rangers stumble to a 2-2 draw with Aberdeen, both goals originating from what would’ve been Barisic’s area of responsibility.
So what has Whelan said?
Whelan’s comments came after Steven Gerrard’s post match interview in which he said the Croatian international remains a doubt for Sunday’s final, when asked about his current form and importance to the Ibrox club, he said:
“Barisic has come on leaps and bounds this season, and looks a different player to the one from last season”.
“He’s a very solid defender and is a big threat going forward on the overlap. You saw against Feyenoord in the Europa League what he can offer in terms of crossing, and a natural left footer there makes such a big difference”.
“Jon Flanagan is a decent defender but he’s a right footer playing at left-back and has to keep checking inside. Barisic was a huge loss against Aberdeen and he will be a huge, huge loss if he doesn’t play against Celtic”.
So is Whelan correct?
Barisic has enjoyed his longest run as undisputed first choice left-back prior to picking up his injury against Hamilton and although fans now recognise the quality he has, his importance to the team was not fully appreciated until he was missing against Aberdeen.
Both of the goals came from poor defending down Rangers left-hand side, something that can’t be said very often this season, not only does Barisic offer excellent attacking qualities but he is finally showing the defensive fortitude that persuaded Gerrard to part with £2.2m when he signed from NK Osijek.
Against Aberdeen Flanagan had several opportunities to either get early crosses into the box and to build attacks but would cut back inside or check onto his right foot to play the cross, into the second half and Flanagan was barely making runs beyond the half-way line making the Light Blues increasingly one dimensional.
The balance that Barisic gives Rangers cannot be underestimated and with 10 assists in 21 appearances this season, his absence leaves a huge hole in their attack from both set-pieces and in open play.
Will Barisic make the starting XI to face Celtic?
Yes
No
Gerrard will be praying that Barisic can battle through the pain barrier to make the cup final, without him, their chances of finally ending Celtic’s dominance of silverware in Scotland are greatly diminished.