Ferguson: Rangers star would have made GVB ‘livid’ on Saturday, angered Ibrox duo

Barry Ferguson has told Go Radio that defender Borna Barisic would have made Giovanni van Bronckhorst “absolutely livid” for not challenging Nicky Devlin – while identifying two Rangers players that were fuming with him on the pitch.

Rangers secured a 2-1 win over Livingston at the Tony Macaroni Stadium on Saturday, but it certainly did not go all their own way. Jon Nouble gave Livi the lead, chipping Jon McLaughlin inside 10 minutes.

Goals from Scott Arfield and James Tavernier saw Rangers turn the game on its head in the last 20 minutes. But there were two, if not three glaring mistakes in the lead up to the Livingston goal, as Nouble finished well.

The biggest, was Barisic backing off Nicky Devlin. He was not marking anyone, so it is unclear as to why he did it. It allowed Devlin to find Nouble, outmuscling Souttar, and chipping McLaughlin – arguably too far off his line.

Souttar did not last the entire match and was taken off, replaced by James Sands. Barry Ferguson thinks £5m-rated Barisic would have made van Bronckhorsy “livid”, and noticed Tavernier and Connor Goldson were fuming with him.

“I can see why GVB will have been absolutely livid. He’s got to go and meet that ball and you can see Tavernier and Goldson having a pop at him. The second phase, Rangers have got to defend better – but it is a free header.”

Rightly so. There is no viable explanation for Barasic to have pulled out of the aerial duel with Devlin. There are no signs to suggest that he is particularly poor in the air. Perhaps, some miscommunication.

It is a mistake from Barisic and while Souttar is outmuscled and McLaughlin a yard too much off his line, it is a brilliant finish. Barisic, though, has hardly made a good start to defending his place in the side, with Ridvan Yilmaz signed.

Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images

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