Barron v Celtic – the truth of how Rangers’ midfielder did | OneFootball

Connor Barron has undeniably been a breath of fresh air at Rangers, with a few fans projecting him as a future Ibrox captain.

He is only 22, having just turned that recently, so he has years on his side – he has also wound up Aberdeen fans incessantly just by moving to Rangers. Great bonus.

But for all the plaudits the boy has rightly received, including a massive call up to the national team, how did he do for the big one v Celtic?

It’s the litmus test for sure, it’s the one we measure all Rangers against, and how did Barron do out there in Parkhead’s cauldron?

He maybe didn’t shine as much as he wanted to, this fixture rather passing him by completely, along with a few others it must be said, and the Sterling Dio trio really didn’t do a lot to impact on the match.

Barron’s passing stats were good, 54 passes, 91% passing level including one key pass. He wasn’t a fail when it came to finding team mates.

He did get the ball a very healthy 66 times, the highest of anyone in a blue shirt aside John Souttar and James Tavernier, so it would be hard to say Barron wasn’t involved.

Unfortunately he just didn’t get his defensive game going, the bit that really defines him. Chasing shadows, Barron only managed a single interception and did nothing else in that sector of his game. This meant he was hugely reduced into a bit of a makeweight.

Barron wasn’t able to hurt Celtic’s midfield because Sterling and Diomande weren’t on the ball enough. He got the most of the ball but Sterling and Dio were far more effective off it, managing 11 defensive contributions between them.

And this was the balance issue. Barron had the most of the ball, but his team mates weren’t doing the same thing, they weren’t getting on it as much.

Instead they were reduced to working off it, while Barron was trying to make things happen on his own.

It was a strange midfield altogether – Dio should be the most creative one, but he didn’t do a thing that way – Sterling was doing the job he can (he was Rangers’ most effective mid) while Barron was supposed to be the defensive terrier but wasn’t doing that.

This was the first time this trio had played together and it clearly didn’t work with the way the manager set it out. We already know he got the defensive line wrong again, he also didn’t configure the midfield either. Celtic won that battle with some ease.

Barron definitely shouldn’t be judged on his display, he did what he was told, and unfortunately it was the wrong thing. Rangers’ midfield was round pegs square holes.

He remains a very good player for Rangers, but he’ll hope he’s better equipped for the next Celtic match.