Jim Goodwin is not surprised Connor Barron has adapted so well to life at Ibrox because he reckons his style is tailor-made for Rangers.
The Irishman worked closely with the midfielder when they were together at Aberdeen and has always rated him highly. Philippe Clement moved to sign Barron on freedom of contract over the summer from the Dons and the Light Blues are now waiting for a Scottish Professional Football Association tribunal to set a transfer fee.
Goodwin has watched the youngster go into Rangers, hold down a starting berth and also force his way into Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad. He will now be trying to make sure his Dundee United team can stop Rangers and Barron shining again at Ibrox on Saturday. “Connor has a little bit of everything,” Goodwin claimed. “Out of possession, he is willing to get stuck in and make tackles.
“In possession, he has a great range of passing. So, it hasn’t surprised me to see him doing so well at Rangers. In a team like Rangers that, in the main, has more possession than the opposition, that suits the type of player Connor is. He wants to be on the ball.
“I’m delighted for Connor. I caught up with him after the game at Tannadice last time we played. He’s a great kid and has certainly adapted to life in Glasgow no problem.”
Goodwin reckoned Barron was one of the better players at Aberdeen but reckons his contract situation became an obvious issue.
The Dundee United manager admitted: “When I took the job at Aberdeen, Connor had just come back from a successful loan spell at Kelty Hearts and I immediately thought he was one of the better players in the group. He had a great attitude, was brave and comfortable on the ball. I played him in pretty much every game at Aberdeen up until the latter stages when there were contract negotiations going on and I think that became a distraction for Connor.”
United sit in fourth place in the Premiership and know a weekend win would take them level with Rangers. Goodwin knows there is a lot of pressure on the Light Blues because of their sluggish start to the Premiership campaign and they find themselves some way off the pace of the early leaders Celtic and Aberdeen. There are also off-the-field issues and important positions that need to be filled at the club and that has all added to the discontent amongst the Rangers support. Goodwin is looking for a positive start from United in Glasgow to turn some of that negativity into a positive for his own side.
He said: “Of course, it is a challenge, but a number of teams have had decent success against Rangers this season. We also understand what is going on there – can we use some of that negativity surrounding them to our advantage?
“We want to set the stall out early in terms of how we want to approach the game and try to get some nervous tension around the place. The start of games against Rangers and Celtic are crucial.
“Rangers have scored a lot of goals in the opening 15 minutes so staying in the game is important. From then, the concentration levels are key because Rangers have good quality in attacking areas.
“However, when we have the ball, we need to be brave and not turn over possession cheaply. That is our opportunity to rest on the ball and, at the same time, be a bit creative ourselves.”
Rangers inflicted United’s first defeat of the season on them in the 1-0 loss at Tannadice back in September, thanks to a Tom Lawrence goal. Goodwin was disappointed because his team started passively and never really recovered. He reckons lessons have been learned. Goodwin’s United team also didn’t offer too much going forward but he believes they are now in a much better place and their Premiership placing more than backs him up.
He stated: “Absolutely, we can learn from that. We are learning all the time, as a group. We probably showed Rangers too much respect in that first half. We were a lot better in the second half and imposed ourselves more and got higher up the pitch.
“I’ve actually just been watching the game back this week and there really were lots of good things within the game. We perhaps didn’t do enough to win the match but we could easily have taken a point on the day. I believe we have improved as a group since that day.
“There is a clearer understanding of what is being asked and I hope that plays out on Saturday with a really positive performance. We want to go there and come back with a result.”