Ridvan Yilmaz is back!
Finally, after what has seemed like an eternity, one of our most exciting summer signings has returned to action after playing 45 minutes for the B team in the Glasgow Cup.
Playing alongside John Souttar, Leon King and Adam Devine at the back, the four could be reasonably pleased with their efforts after keeping Celtic at bay only to see their teammates capitulate almost immediately and lose three quick goals in the second half.
The Turkey international will now be expected to join the senior squad on Sunday if he suffers no ill effects and, finally, bring a bit of competition for Borna Barisic.
Ironically, the Croatian has played some of his best football for Rangers this season, however, Ridvan’s style of play and build up approach will be much more beneficial especially domestically where the ability to beat someone 1v1 is a huge advantage.
Tom Lawrence won’t be seen again this season but, with Todd Cantwell and Nico Raskin getting up to speed, we could be finishing this season with a team that looks much more like the one that Ross Wilson and Giovanni van Bronckhorst envisaged when the summer transfer window shut.
It’s the small differences that matter and Ridvan’s dribbling ability just offers another depth to our attack, opposition defenders know what Borna can do and set up accordingly. Get out to him quickly and he is only going in one direction, they’ll soon find out though, that with Ridvan, the tighter they get, the more they will play into his hands and they will find themselves chasing his heels.
All we need now is Kemar Roofe, Filip Helander, Rabbi Matondo, Steven Davis and Lawrence back….
Do you even watch Rangers play ? Barisic has the most assists for Rangers this season and his crosses from the left are sometimes our only attacking threat . Since the World Cup break he has been outstanding over lapping down the left and has attacked better than even Tav on the other side. It is good to see Yilmaz back and he may well get a game against Raith but there is no reason to replace Barisic at the moment.
Yes, but as we saw under Gio, relying on cross after cross runs out after a while. It’s all about the style and system. No problem having two quality players competing