Connor Barron got it wrong with his mistake.
But what really matters is that he got it so right afterwards. Immediately after the error which led to Lyon’s second goal in their win at Ibrox, the boy held his hands up instantly. Barron went and got the ball out of the net himself and acknowledged the error. That tells you something straight away about his character.
I watched him closely after that moment. It was a blind pass made in misjudgement and he will learn from that, but I just loved the response. I was eyeing him going onto the next stage to gauge his reaction and what appealed to me was the fact that he didn’t hide. It is far easier to go into your shell in that situation and I have seen it myself, but that didn’t happen. He kept demanding the ball in certain areas and that’s a key sign.
A player’s response in a moment of adversity is vital to me. My standpoint is: Right, what are you going to do about what just happened? Are you going to hide? Or are you going to stand up?
Barron did the latter and that tells me he’s got a big future. I’ve never met the boy personally, but, from what I have seen, he’ll go away and make sure next time, he’ll take a touch or glance over his shoulder.
These situations can help you grow and so does facing guys such as Corentin Tolisso, or even Nemanja Matic in the time he was on the park. He has played at the highest level. I found as a young player when I came up against your Bayern Munichs or Inter Milans or Barcelonas, you take so much from it.
You might not have had a good game, but you see how the top boys go about their jobs and it’ll be a learning curve. I’m sure Barron will come out bigger and stronger.
Has he played better? Yes. But, as I said, he didn’t hide. He fronted up and deserves praise for that. On the subject of fronting up, I’ve heard some noise about the manager’s reaction after the game.
Stats are a massive part of the game. A lot of people look at them and use them and I don’t have a problem with it because it is part of the modern assessments. It’s the same shots at goal, but, at the end of the day, Lyon were just clinical.
I don’t see an issue with Philippe Clement pointing that out when you miss big chances. If you don’t take them, you are going to be punished and I have been there.
When the side I played in defeated Lyon back in the day 3-0 over in France and returned to Ibrox and they beat us by the same scoreline, we were the same at home. Not ruthless enough and we paid the price.
I was always of the belief that when you are facing top-class opposition, and that’s not being disrespectful to the Scottish game, you maybe only get three or four clear looks at the target in an entire 90 minutes and you need to make them count.
Had Rangers gone in front with the Vaclav Cerny chance at 0-0, it may have changed the dynamic of the match and the mindsets of the sides. Maybe not, but it was a chance that had to be taken because in that opening 15 or 20 minutes that it was a bit of a basketball game.
But you need to get your nose in front and try to alter their thinking. That’s what the manager was saying and I’d say most would agree, You have to be respectful of the money which these teams are spending and, listen, I have been on the receiving end of some harsh defeats in Europe.
When you are going forward, you have to make sure you are solid and compact behind that and I just felt Rangers were a bit too wide open at times. Against quality opposition, they are going to do one thing and that is hurt you.
I listened to Clement after the game and he spoke about trying to get at it and I totally get that. But the set-up behind it needs to be solid and Lyon were allowed to hurt his team in areas which, obviously, ultimately damaged them and brought the final result.
I’ll be honest, I hadn’t seen much of Lyon. Like most of us, I’d seen highlights and clips and, going on those, I thought they were decent enough. But, when you see them close-up with your own eyes, they were really good. In fact, middle to front, I thought Lyon were absolutely brilliant.
They never looked under pressure when they got a hold of the ball. Even when Rangers were applying some pressure early doors, I was watching them closely and they didn’t get nery. Also, if they give it away, it doesn’t bother them. They will just get it back and try it again and again.
Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up when you come across better-quality players and they were a level up, no doubt. The negative is the lack of clinical edge, but Rangers will learn as a team and as individuals and it’s how you take that forward that counts.
When I look at Barron’s response, see how he reacted and how he will learn, that’s a good sign straight away.