Rangers defender Borna Barisic leads SPFL ahead of Celtic signing Aaron Mooy in Opta attack stat
Borna Barisic is the surprise leader in a key attacking stat according to Opta, with the Rangers defender leading Celtic midfielder Aaron Mooy.
The Croatian has come in for heavy criticism repeatedly over the last year but tops the charts in the Scottish Premiership for passing accuracy in the final third.
The 29-year-old has three assists so far this year in 13 appearances across all competitions, and while his defending often leaves something to be desired he is the unlikely best in the league for this one area going forward.
Opta’s Australia and New Zealand focused Opta Jason posted on their official Twitter account stats looking at Socceroos man Mooy and wrote: “89% – Aaron Mooy (Socceroos) has a passing accuracy of 89% on passes ending in the final third for CelticFC in the 2022/23 spfl Premiership, the second best rate of any player to log at least 15 passes in this area (Borna Barisic – 90% for Rangers). Positioning.”
Unexpected
It is always nice for Gers fans to see one of their players at the top of the charts in proficiency of a certain area of the game, especially if it is a Celtic man behind them.
And Barisic’s strengths are arguably more geared towards attack than they are defence which is not always a recipe for success with a defender.
His crossing is at times unrivalled, and clearly his passing in the final third is safe even if the stat doesn’t specify how dangerous the passes are or how many chances come from them.
But it is high profile errors of positioning and concentration at that tends to let him down, most notably in the heavy defeats at Parkhead this season and last.
He was comprehensively outplayed in the previous campaign by Calvin Bassey who consigned him to the bench, before the Nigeria international’s big-money move to Ajax in the summer elevated Barisic back to starter.
His inconsistency has left fans expecting to see more of summer arrival Ridvan Yilmaz, whose distinct lack of action is a proving a bone of contention among others with regards to the strength of the recruitment.
That the Hoops have scored 25 goals to the Gers 16 suggests that whatever Barisic is doing is not contributing to the same level of output where it really matters, so while the stat is a positive surprise there is plenty of work to be done at Ibrox even if the gap at the top of the table is only two points.
In other Rangers news, the club have been accused of “urinating into the wind” as they ineffectively try to fight their corner.