Official Rangers partner slams Borna Barisic after Aberdeen draw as Ibrox exits predicted
Philippe Clement has “too much deadwood” still to get rid of from the squad after Rangers were held to a draw at Aberdeen, according to Heart & Hand.
The official Gers partner reacted to the 1-1 result on 26 November via Twitter to single out Borna Barisic as one issue who has used up the patience with him.
It took a 94th-minute James Tavernier penalty to rescue a point at Pittodrie after Bojan Miovski’s first-half opener, as Clement dropped points in the SPFL for the first time.
Heart & Hand wrote: “Should have won but didn’t take our chances. Still too much deadwood that Clement will need to shift.
“And Barisic…I just can’t anymore.”
Unanswered
It felt like Barisic’s days as a Rangers regular were numbered when he was heavily criticised defensively in the 3-0 defeat to Celtic in Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s first Old Firm derby in charge way back on 2 February 2022.
That Rangers are coming up for two years from that defeat with the now-31-year-old still as the de facto top choice suggests it is a problem position.
The Croatian international lost his place to Calvin Bassey as that season went on and the Light Blues then signed Ridvan Yilmaz the following summer after the Nigerian international was sold to Ajax for big money.
While Barisic’s delivery from the left flank is arguably unrivalled by anyone in Scotland, aside from possibly his captain on the other side, his all-round game is often seen as lacking.
Yilmaz might be the solution but the 22-year-old has still played so few games for the club (23) that it is unclear whether he can take over long-term, and he is again being linked to a potential exit.
The improvement in results under Clement was noticeable but with a squad that appeared to be lacking so badly under Michael Beale it is probably going to require further turnover if they revert to type and start dropping points.
A decision on both Yilmaz’s and Barisic’s future is surely necessary sooner rather than later on a sizeable to-do list.
In other Rangers news, Michael Stewart claims the Light Blues are using a deliberate “ploy” that he slammed Aberdeen and Hearts for falling to “big time”.