Celtic meet The Rangers for the 6th time this season. Outscoring their opponents by 11-3, Celtic have knocked out their Glasgow rivals in two domestic Cups. Judging average performance is tricky as The Rangers are on their third manager of the season! The possession based passing game of Warburton, with a Deila-esque rigidity to 4-2-3-1 … [continue reading]
Archives for April 2017
Water Carrying For Galacticos
The Spice Boy Younger readers will know Steve McManaman as a an analyst on BT Sports football programmes. Those of us of the Fantasy Football generation will remember McManaman as an assist machine for Liverpool – a key member of the “Spice Boys” as Liverpool transformed from serial winners to glamorous bridesmaids through the 1990’s. … [continue reading]
Celtic 2 The Rangers 0, by numbers
The treble awaits as Celtic made it 41 domestic matches unbeaten this season. After many horror shows at Hampden recently, an early goal from McGregor allied to opposition seemingly reliant on long throws whilst otherwise defensively passive, made for a comfortable 1st half. In the 2nd a break from another long throw saw a clear penalty … [continue reading]
Give Me More Wings
Last night on Twitter, Tiago Estêvão@TiagoEstv posted a fascinating analysis of performance data for the 4 most productive wingers (goals and assists) from the 6 leading leagues in Europe (England, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain – he is Portugese!). Wingers With End Product I reproduce the output here – again with thanks to Tiago … [continue reading]
Ross County 2 Celtic 2, by numbers
A run of the mill game, where Celtic hit their lowest domestic change creation rate of the season (13%) was meandering to an away win. Credit to Ross County for restricting both Dembele and Sinclair to 0 shots. On 88 mins an obvious dive by Schalk is inexplicably missed by the refereeing team and Ross … [continue reading]
Ross County v Celtic, preview by numbers
Celtic play Ross County on Sunday for the 3rd time this season, winning 4-0 in Dingwall on 26th October, and 2-0 at Celtic Park on 28th December. In the October match in Dingwall, Celtic won 4-0 but Ross County recorded the 10th Highest xG of any opposition this season at 1.45. Craig Gordon made 3 … [continue reading]
Celtic 3 Kilmarnock 1, by numbers
A refreshed and dominant Celtic side racked up over 800 passes, including 4 players passing the 100 mark. Despite an own goal, from Lustig, Celtic played aggressive attacking football to create chances and ultimately win with comfort.
Celtic 1 Partick Thistle 1, by numbers
A rather flat display with a much-changed team featuring 7 defensive players. Gamboa and Izaguirre provided the attacking width. Partick Thistle were well organised with 5 strung across the back. Once they scored, they looked like scoring again as confidence increased in the 2nd half. But a missed penalty from Sinclair on 64 mins could … [continue reading]
Hearts 0 Celtic 5, by numbers
The Champions stilled the beating Hearts to the tune of 5-0 as 6 in a row was achieved for the 3rd time in our history. Despite some early scares, the pace of Sinclair and Roberts opened the maroon back line in the first half, and the party began in the second.