There wasn’t much to groan about from a Rangers fan’s perspective last night as the Gers beat Porto 2-0 at Ibrox. Goals from Alfredo Morelos and Steven Davis were enough to send the Portuguese team home with nothing to show for their trip.
But while there was much jubilation to be had the performance of a certain Brandon Barker was just not good enough for some fans. The winger didn’t do enough in their eyes, and clearly in the eyes of manager Steven Gerrard as well. The manager subbed off the Manchester City Academy graduate in the 65th minute for Scott Arfield. But what was so bad about the player’s performance?
TIF Tactics – What was lacking from Brandon Barker’s performance versus Porto?
Firstly, Barker made the least number of touches of any player in the Rangers’ starting 11. That includes Allan McGregor, who registered 32 touches to Barker’s 28. (WhoScored.com). The player with the second least amount of touches was Alfredo Morelos with 34, however, it is much more realistic that a striker has less time on the ball. Indeed, Morelos made up for it by being more than just effective when on the ball by scoring a goal and setting up the second.
Which brings us to point two; when on the ball, Barker didn’t do anything. He lost four out of seven ground duels and lost all three of his aerial duels. In terms of ball retention, he was pretty useless. The player lost possession seven times in total. He only registered one shot, but it was off target, and regarding his two crosses, none of them hit their mark (SofaScore.com).
Despite the win, Barker will likely look back on this night with regret. It was a chance to show Gerrard what he had to offer, but he came up short with the goods. If given another chance by the manager, the 23-year-old will have to produce something special.