Si Ferry could not believe Borna Barisic call for Rangers v Celtic
Si Ferry could not believe that Rangers boss Philippe Clement started Borna Barisic at left-back in the Old Firm derby against Celtic on 11 May.
Ridvan Yilmaz was named on the bench, having only recently returned from a hamstring injury, while the versatile Dujon Sterling was deployed on the right wing.
Rangers went on to lose the game 2-1, with John Lundstram scoring what proved to be a decisive own goal before being sent off.
And Ferry feels Clement made the wrong choice starting Barisic instead of Yilmaz or Sterling, saying on Open Goal (14 May): “Players-wise, [Celtic are] miles ahead.
“See when I’d seen the Rangers team, I couldn’t believe Barisic was playing. I’d have went Ridvan half-fit or I’d have went Sterling left-back. Because Barisic won’t get tight to people [or] be aggressive with people.”
Should Philippe Clement have started Borna Barisic v Celtic?
Barisic did little to justify his manager’s faith at Celtic Park, regardless of the fact that Lundstram’s sending-off reduced the Gers to 10 men for the entirety of the second half.
He mustered just 11 accurate passes at an accuracy of only 61 per cent, created no chances, connected with none of his five long balls and did not make a single tackle [FotMob]. To say he went missing would be an understatement.
Clement rectified his mistake on the hour mark, introducing Yilmaz for the Croatian, but the damage had been done by that stage – although Lundstram bears a significantly greater share of the blame than Barisic.
However, Yilmaz took 25 touches in the 30 minutes he was on the pitch, just one fewer than Barisic managed in an hour – and Rangers had a full complement of players for 45 minutes of that spell.
Barisic’s time at Ibrox looks to be drawing to a close. Based on his performance at Parkhead, he may not start many more games.
In other Rangers news, Fabio Silva was ripped apart for what he did in the Gers loss against Celtic at Parkhead.
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