Originally published at: https://www.rangersnews.uk/columnist/rangers-boss-will-be-rueing-treatment-of-barisic-as-celtic-clash-looms/
Steven Gerrard will likely be rueing his handling of Rangers star Borna Barisic, ahead of the League Cup final against Celtic. The Gers boss says he’s unable to guarantee the Croatian international will be fit for the showpiece event, due to a foot injury. “Barisic is a doubt for Sunday – he was limping about…
If Borna doesn’t make Sunday, I would play a 3-5-1-1 formation with Edmunds on, Goldson and Katic at the back. I doubt we will, so Andy Halliday needs to play in a flat back four if Borna is out. Whatever though, we must take the game to the unwashed and play the full width of the park. Keep believing. WATP.
So once again you know more than the manager and staff .It is quite possible that Borna got another kick on his foot on Sunday . He first got it against Hamilton ,so if he had been left out against Feyenoord or Hearts as you are suggesting think of the different results.No second goal in Holland and no first goal against against Hearts .It turned out to be an easy game but the first goal opens the game up .
Flanagans display last night showed why we are reluctant to rest Borna .We need to get cover as soon as possible and get rid of Flanagan and Halliday as soon as possible.
Just because the manager is the manager and the staff are the staff doesn’t make them immune from criticism. By the same token, they’re never going to get everything right. It’s part of my job to give my opinion rather than just singing praises all the time.
No suggestion here that Barisic should have been left out at Feyenoord, it was a massive game. Clearly, he got another kick against Hearts but was already struggling heading into that match, which is the point of the piece. Yes, he assisted the first goal and was excellent, as he has been for some time, but even if we had a passenger at LB, i’d fancy that we would have broken them down and still won handsomely.
He bombs up and down that left flank all game and he played 16 times on the bounce, there’s every chance he was going to pick up an injury at some point and there was no need to take the risk against Hearts. In fairness this isn’t hindsight either, we made the point prior to the Hearts game.
Gerrard ran the risk of needing to throw in Flanagan for two huge games having not even given him any minutes off the bench after a three month spell out injured and it backfired last night. That was clear to see.
Agree that cover is needed asap, can’t have that level of drop off in a position after one injury.
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Our other problem is that our backup CBs have had no gametime, so are not ready for a Cup Final. This is why rotation has a benefit. If one of our CBs had been crocked last night, our chances would be shot.
We need to ensure the squad gets gametime, or sold if considered not good enough
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Utter nonsense, by that argument Tav , Goldson ,and a good few others shouldnt have played against Hearts either .They have all played a lot more games on the trot than Barisic and Tav bombs up and down the wing as least as much as he does. The injury happened against Hamilton so if he was fit to play against Feyenoord and didnt aggravate it then he was fit to play against Hearts . We cannot take any wins for granted as last night proved and you have no way of knowing if we would have beaten Hearts handsomely without that early goal.Personally I would rather have won last night than the final so if he had been fit I would have risked him there as well.The league means everything .
I dont think that the manager is immune from criticism but writing pieces implying that he risked Barisic when he was injured against Hearts is wrong unless you know the facts which you obviously dont .
We are a stage of the season where we cannot afford to make changes in defence just to give people minutes, so any injury there will result in someone coming in cold ,the mistake we have made is having diddies like Flanagan and Halliday as cover , something that needs addressed.
I’m afraid that simply isn’t the same thing. Both Tav and Goldson have had several weeks off in terms of playing time as they don’t go away on international duty. When they have had days off with the feet up and with the family, Barisic has been travelling with Croatia and playing 90 minutes as their first-choice left-back. The guy hasn’t had a rest since September, whereas every other player in the Rangers squad has. Without exception.
I didn’t say Barisic was ‘injured’ when he was picked against Hearts, I argued before the game that it would have been a good call to rest him due to the sheer weight of playing time behind him. It was Gerrard who revealed that he had already been carrying a knock when he picked him, which informed the follow up article! It seems that you think we needed him to beat a dreadful Hearts side, I don’t think we did. It’s a difference of opinion.