Ridvan Yilmaz given thumping SPL start to Rangers career | OneFootball

So Ridvan Yilmaz managed his first start as a Rangers player, and it’s only fair we review it honestly.

We at Ibrox Noise dismissed Borna Barisic as soon as the Turk was signed – you don’t add a £5M international if you don’t intend to play him.

But we have to admit, the Croat may have life in him yet if Ridvan doesn’t adapt quickly, because while it was only his debut, he was a rabbit in headlights and looked visibly shaken by the pace and physicality of the SPL.

His first involvement of the game was to be brushed aside, in a move which nearly led to a shock Killie opener inside 20 seconds of the match.

And this set the tone for his game.

He was defensively weak, positionally a mess, and physically uprooted by every Killie attack.

He was rated by whoscored as Rangers’ weakest starter by a distance, with just Scott Arfield’s cameo scoring less than the left back – Ridvan scored 6.35 with his replacement Barisic getting 6.49.

This wasn’t good from Yilmaz, whose slight frame and short height already look a massive, massive disadvantage for the physical rigours of the SPL.

In a more attacking sense he did get forward a fair bit, attempting 6 crosses (none were remotely accurate) and that pattern also applied to attempting key passes, of which none were accurate.

He lost the ball 15 times, which is not terrifying (Lawrence lost it 22 times and Tav lost it 32 times) but he will definitely feel like he could have done better.

All is not lost – Ridvan has been given a thumping introduction to the SPL, and he will know this isn’t Kansas any more.

It’s up to the lad to adjust and get up to speed for the next outing, because Borna is sitting right there waiting for the new boy to slip up.

It’s a healthy problem for Gio to have.