Ibrox View: Rangers ace must step up v Livingston after Killie slump
Rangers Opinion
It’s safe to say the Rangers were below par against Kilmarnock on Wednesday evening.
The late capitulation that allowed Killie to overturn their 1-0 lead not only cost them dearly on the night, but could have dreadful ramifications for their title challenge writ large.
And while it would be remiss to blame any one player for the defeat, it’s fair to say that the absence of Borna Barisic was not helpful in the slightest.
The Croatian was ruled out of the trip to Rugby Park through injury in midweek, and looks set to miss out on the game against Livingston on Saturday afternoon too.
Andy Halliday deputised against Killie, and could well do so again again this weekend, but if he does, he needs to offer more than he did in his last outing.
That’s not to say that there was anything particularly wrong with his performance, but he did manage just the one successful dribble and a cross accuracy of just 50%, as per Wyscout.
In short, Halliday offers little on the front foot, and for a team like Rangers, who are so dependent on the attacking exploits of their full-backs, that’s a serious issue.
To be fair to Halliday, he did try, and there were five progressive runs that didn’t really amount to all that much, but he needs to be smarter in how he operates in an attacking sense.
Replacing Barisic in that regard is no easy task, but if the Gers are to perform better on Saturday than they did in midweek, he will have to up his game.
In other Rangers news, ‘Absolutely amazing’ – Alan Hutton reacts to ‘huge’ reported Gers talks.