Borna Barisic has shocker as Rangers win 2-1 v Hibs
Rangers may have continued their unbeaten streak in the Premiership with a 2-1 win against Hibernian at Ibrox on Sunday – but it was by no means straight forward.
Superb goals in each half by Joe Aribo and Ryan Kent handed the Light Blues a comfy lead going into the final stages of the match.
However, Kevin Kisbet’s header late on led to a nervy period that Steven Gerrard’s men had to see out to ensure they won the game and picked up three points.
It was an avoidable goal, especially as Paul McGinn had way too much time and space out of the left to get a cross in for Nisbet to grab Hibs a goal.
Borna Barisic was largely at fault for that with the Croatian left-back struggling to impress defensively against Jack Ross’ Hibs in his 46th appearance of the season.
While Barisic did well going forward due to his crossing, his defensive work left a lot to be desired and it was his shortcomings in that area of his game that led to the nervy finish on Sunday.
Loads of Rangers fans took to Twitter to share that view too. Here is a selection of their tweets:
Michael Stewart even pointed out how Hibs tried to get past Rangers’ defence on BBC Sportsound during the game.
The ex-Hibs midfielder said: “The key to try and get at Rangers is – it’s not easy – but it’s to try and get in behind the full-backs quickly in the transition. Hibs do it very well.”
Hibs did do it well on Sunday because Barisic was so easily exploited on the left.
According to stats by WhoScored, Barisic failed to complete any tackles on Sunday and committed two fouls, picking up a booking in the process.
SofaScore shows that Barisic failed to win any of the two defensive duels he was involved in and lost possession 24 times.
You can also see on the heat map below how advanced Barisic played versus the Hibees.
After going two goals ahead, Barisic should have sat back a bit more and been more alert to the space that was behind him that the away side exploited.
Still, the Gers won but that could have been two points lost due to the insistence of the full-backs pushing too far up the pitch.
In other Rangers news, BT Sport pundits are fuming over what the Gers have decided to take a stance on.