Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Do stats reflect Connor Barron’s struggles to be influential for Aberdeen this season?

Graphics lay bare Connor Barron's diminished impact on matches for Aberdeen in 2022/23.
Graphics lay bare Connor Barron's diminished impact on matches for Aberdeen in 2022/23.

The 2022/23 season has been one which is sure to have frustrated Aberdeen’s Connor Barron, following the midfielder’s break-out campaign last term.

Barron wasn’t fit for the start of the Premiership action in August after sustaining a knee injury at Buckie Thistle in pre-season.

The 20-year-old’s return to fitness came just in time for a 4-0 pasting at the hands of Dundee United at Tannadice in October, where he came on as a second half substitute.

Although Barron has gone on to start most of the Reds’ games between then and now – only falling out of Jim Goodwin’s starting XI for the last two matches – some sections of the Dons support haven’t been quite as impressed by Barron’s showings across 22/23 as they were when he first emerged in 21/22.

Dundee United’s Craig Sibbald and Aberdeen’s Connor Barron in action – in the sides’ second clash at Pittodrie on November 12.

Alongside his perceived less-effective performances on the pitch, fans have also been speculating on the unanswered question of whether Barron, with 18 months left on his existing Pittodrie contract, will or won’t sign the new deal tabled to him.

This is a ball Goodwin explained has long been in the court of youth academy graduate Barron and his representative. 

Also commenting earlier this week on Barron’s form this term, Aberdeen manager Goodwin, who labelled Barron’s performances as “okay” this season, added: “Sometimes when young players come in and make the kind of impact he did last season, the level of expectation goes through the roof. They (supporters) expect these young players to carry the team on their shoulders.

“That can’t happen because there is always going to be inconsistencies with any young players.”

Goodwin did accept there have been games where Barron hasn’t been “as influential” as he and the player would’ve liked this term, pointing to the disruption of the pre-season knee problem as a contributing factor.

Let’s then explore how Barron’s influence on matches has changed between the 2021/22 and 2022/23 season, with the summer and that knee injury the dividing line to compare the Barron of last term to this term so far.

Barron of 2021/22 v Barron of 2022/23

Conveniently, last term – following his return from a productive loan at Kelty Hearts – Barron made 13 league appearances after his February 15 top-flight debut in a 1-1 draw with St Johnstone. This season so far? He’s played the same amount of league matches, with 13 Premiership appearances.

After 13 appearances in 21/22, Barron had played 1,202 minutes. In 22/23, he’s had 1,015 minutes of action – so it is quite easy to compare both spells using our stats provider StatsBomb.

Positional differences

This season, due to the signing of defensive midfielder Ylber Ramadani, Barron hasn’t really been played in the deeper central defensive midfield position he occupied most often last term under former boss Stephen Glass and subsequently Jim Goodwin.

Instead, according to StatsBomb, Barron has almost always been tasked with occupying a right central midfield position for the Reds in 2022/23.

Barron and Leighton Clarkson have been used ahead of Ramadani, and tasked with supporting Duk and Bojan Miovski up front during the spell where Goodwin was using a back three/five.

Meanwhile, in other games – Rangers at Pittodrie being one example – Barron has been deeper, but on the right (rather than centrally), with Ramadani on the left.

It should be noted, Barron also hasn’t had any chances to play in a no.10 role this season, something he did do at points in 2021/22.

Connor Barron and Reo Hatate of Celtic in action at Pittodrie on December 17. Image: SNS

These positional differences could, of course, be something which has not suited Barron this term, but what do the numbers say about his performances?

We will start with shots on goal.

Despite first Aberdeen league goal, Barron’s threat diminishes

Although Barron’s appearances last season were a mix of attacking and more defensive duties over the piece, he still managed 14 shots from open play – with his best effort a near-miss from close range on debut against St Johnstone and an effort which was saved by Jak Alnwick in May’s 0-0 Pittodrie stalemate.

This term, Barron’s goal at Ibrox – a tap-in following a good driving run down the left by Duk which made it 1-0 before the Reds capitulated to a 4-1-going-on-10-1 defeat –was also his first Aberdeen league goal generally.

A big moment for the youngster, but is also represented his only real moment of goalscoring threat this term.

Aberdeen’s Connor Barron celebrates scoring to make it 1-0 against Rangers. Image: SNS

His other five open play shots mean Barron has had a substantially lower amount of efforts on goal this term, with his five other pings all rated at lowest end of the expected goals (xG) scale by StatsBomb.

Barron’s stats down across the board

But it isn’t just Barron’s shooting stats which have dropped off this season.

As these StatsBomb per-90-minutes radar graphics show, as a midfielder Barron is averaging fewer expected assists (xG assisted) (0.12 v 0.05), successful dribbles (.75 v .27) and fouls won (1.05 v 0.80). His pressures (19.55 v 14.10) and pressure regains (3.07 v 2.31) – i.e. times Barron pressuring an opponent has quickly seen the Dons win the ball – are also down.

 

Connor Barron’s per-90-minutes Premiership stats radar (filtered to midfield) for 2021/22. Image: StatsBomb
Connor Barron’s per-90-minutes Premiership stats radar (filtered to midfield) for 2022/23. Image: StatsBomb

The stats above show his PAdj tackles and interceptions (which are tackles and interception stats adjusted proportionally to a team’s possession in games) per-90-minutes have dropped this season, too – with 2.94 v.1.26 and 2.53 v 1.03.

It should be noted Barron’s passing percentage and turnovers (giving the ball away) have improved season to season, but he is also making fewer open play passes on average (41.64 per-90 last term v 28.73 per-90 this term).

When we filter to metrics StatsBomb think best reflect attacking midfield performance (rather than midfield), Barron’s struggle to influence games in the same way this season compared to last is again evidenced.

Connor Barron’s per-90-minutes Premiership stats radar (filtered to attacking midfield) for 2021/22. Image: StatsBomb
Connor Barron’s per-90-minutes Premiership stats radar (filtered to attacking midfield) for 2022/23. Image: StatsBomb

He is notably averaging more touches in the box per 90 minutes in games (0.98 in 21/22 v 0.22 in 21/22), but – as we covered earlier – fewer shots and, out wide, less effective crosses. Barron’s percentage of successful crosses per-90 in 21/22 was 39%, and this term it’s close to half this at 20%.

In general, according to StatsBomb, the vast majority of Barron’s stats across attack, defence and passing are worse in season 2022/23 than they were in 2021/22 after the same number of appearances.

His on-ball added value ratings – the measures StatsBomb use to reflect how much a player’s moments of possession are positively (or negatively) affecting their team’s chances of scoring – also tell the tale of a player who isn’t (due to being asked to play in a slightly different position, due to form and fitness, or both) having much impact on games either way.

Based on the graphics above and stats within them, Barron – whether he remains at Aberdeen for the rest of the season or beyond, or whether he departs Pittodrie without signing a new contract – must improve to match the promise he showed during the early part of 2022.

Conversation