Daniel Feliciano

Wed 10 August 2022 11:40, UK

Keith Jackson has labelled Rangers duo James Sands and Borna Barisic as a “wobbly axis of errors”, despite Rangers defeating USG 3-0 on Tuesday.

The Gers overturned a 2-0 first leg deficit at Ibrox to set up a Champions League qualifier clash with Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven over the next two weeks for a place in the group stages.

But after Giovanni van Bronckhorst selected the two defenders on the left hand side of his defence, Jackson wrote in the Daily Record [August 10] that he was worried for them before the game.

“And, perhaps most concerning of all, the wobbly axis of errors between James Sands and Borna Barisic – which was so exposed during the first leg – was reinstated on the left side of the Dutchman’s back four,” he said.

“Plenty then for the Rangers fans to chew nervously on as they made their way back home for a night under the lights, having relished this midweek routine last season.”

Ultimately a clean sheet and goals from James Tavernier, Antonio Colak and Malik Tillman mean their £40m financial package is still safe for now.

Nervy

Jackson normally doesn’t speak the most sense, but he’s right that plenty of fans were nervous before the game about the defensive lineup.

Barisic has proven over the last 12 months or so that relying on him to be first-choice is a risk because of how prone he is to errors, while Sands has hardly pulled up any trees since joining last January on loan.

But with John Souttar out and Ridvan Yilmaz still getting up to speed after joining from Besiktas, the boss had little choice but to go with it.

They performed relatively well too throughout the game, and will no doubt improve with more game time but it’s still hard to say that they are good enough to be relied upon as first choice.

Ultimately it’s a squad game and Van Bronckhorst must trust the players he has at his disposal and hope they repay him with top performances.

In other Rangers news, Ally McCoist shares stunning stat as he hails “unbelievable” win vs USG