Podcaster David Marshall has identified the poor form of Borna Barisic after he was subbed off on Saturday as Rangers secured a 1-0 victory in the Scottish Premiership at Ibrox.
Barisic has featured 17 times the league this campaign for Rangers, starting just 57% of his side’s games in the Scottish Premiership, according to Transfermarkt.
In recent times, Barisic has seen his game time cut even more, and he has been an unused substitute in three out of Rangers’ last five games.
David Marshall spoke on the Heart and Hand podcast and said that after his poor vein of form, he isn’t sure what’s wrong with the Croatian left-back at the moment.
He said: “I don’t know what’s wrong with Borna Barisic now, to be honest. He’s, for me, absolutely lost the shot there at left-back,” Marshall said.
TIF Thoughts on the comments from David Marshall…
Calvin Bassey has emerged as a first-team regular for Rangers this campaign, featuring 35 times in all competitions whilst showing his versatility, as he has played a mixture of games at both left-back and centre-back.
Bassey has produced impressive performances in recent weeks, and Richard Foster spoke on BBC Sportsound to emphasise the defender’s display against Borussia Dortmund.
So with the impressive form of Bassey and the decline of Barisic’s displays, Giovanni van Bronckhorst certainly seems like he has more trust in the 22-year-old over the Croatian.
Barisic is 29 years old and although he has been left out of the side on occasions, he has still shown that he can produce good performances. For example, in February, he was awarded a 7.6 match rating by SofaScore for his displays against Hibernian as well as this weekend against Aberdeen, despite the criticism coming his way.
However, it might take for a move away from Ibrox for Barisic to demonstrate this form more regularly, especially if Bassey continues his fine performances, which could see the Croatian’s game time limited even further.