As Rangers’ season enters the pivotal phase, can Borna Barisic remain undaunted?

There were key moments in the concession of a gut-wrenching 88th-minute equaliser during the 2-2 draw with Celtic that told you the Croatian left-back remains plagued by the ghosts of Old Firm past last week.

Barisic, who showed flashes of creativity but at times struggled to find his best deliveries in Sunday’s 2-0 win at Tannadice, has returned to the fold from Qatar with a World Cup bronze medal to treasure for the rest of his life.

Yet when it mattered most for his club, for this writer we saw more telling evidence that mental fragility in crucial split-second decisions cost his team dearly.

Watch Kyogo Furuhashi’s goal back with your finger over the pause button.

Yes, Jota steps inside a struggling James Tavernier far too easily.

Yes, there should be a double-up at that stage of the game and not a one-on-one in the wide area.

Yes, Ryan Jack gets caught with Aaron Mooy stealing the wrong side of him in the box.

And yet, look at Barisic’s position as Jota plays the critical ball down the side.

He has edged back two yards behind Ben Davies making the defensive line a ragged shambles, wrecking any chance of an offside call.

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What follows is a hot mess of a goal and even in the midst of that sorry leveller, Giorgos Giakoumakis has stolen in front of the left-back and would finish if Mooy’s cutback made it through.

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The anatomy of any goal conceded will reveal a litany of little mistakes that caused it. Coaches ask themselves was that error tactical, technical or mental?

For this writer, with Barisic the answer here is the latter, it is without a doubt born in the psychological category.

Haunted by that moment in the 3-0 defeat at Celtic Park when he was back post dreaming as Liel Abada rapped home the killer goal. And his awful display in the subsequent 4-0 mauling of what, in attacking terms, has been an at times stellar Ibrox career.

Barisic drops those two yards because he doesn't want to get done at the back post again and the irony is that he is culpable in the loss of the goal anyway. Not in the glaring fashion of that awful Abada moment when he crouched in despair, wishing Celtic Park would open up and swallow him whole.

This column is not intended as a character assassination of a player I have often been thrilled to watch since his 2.2million capture from Croatian side Osijek back in 2018.

This is a reflection on the clarity and truth behind Beale’s statement that every signing a Scottish manager gets is never the finished article, but always a player that requires work.

With Barisic that means to experience the highs of his superlative crossing, like that treacherous whipped ball for Alfredo Morelos’ headed goal in his first game back against Motherwell after Qatar and Sunday’s cross to Sakala at the back post, you have to endure the defensive lapses witnessed in too many Old Firms.

At the age of 30 with the transfer window open, with 15 months left on his current deal and costly deputy Ridvan Yilmaz plagued by injuries, Borna remains a first 11 pick and a key figure in the dressing room.

In this month of mentality that beckons – with two season-defining cup ties against Aberdeen and St Johnstone looming – and skipper James Tavernier also far from his best, Beale has a conundrum to wrestle with.

When it truly counts, he must find a way to prevent the defensive flaws of both full-backs from outweighing the undoubted menace they will bring at the other end of the pitch.