A rare and precious away win, and clean sheet, in Champions League football for Celtic. Anderlecht handed Celtic the initiative, and the Scottish Champions crafted a mature and decisive performance. A reminder to consult the Glossary if any terms are causing befuddlement. Dour Belgians There is a place called Dour in the Walloon area of … [continue reading]
Archives for September 2017
The Bhoy of the Match vs The Rangers is……
…… dealt with in due course! The final piece analysing Celtic’s 2-0 win at Ibrox considers the attacking performances. An overall tactical and team performance assessment can be found here-> Derby Delight for Dominant Celtic An assessment of defensive performances can be found here-> Boyata and Simunovic Reunited: Derby Defensive Analysis Green Bhoy Packers The … [continue reading]
Boyata and Simunovic Reunited: Derby Defensive Analysis
Considering player defensive performances in the 2-0 Derby win over The Rangers. (Relatively) Easy Money Firstly, Gordon had little to do to earn his win bonus. He caught 2 crosses and made one save, but it was a key defensive action. The Expected Goal model I use calculates the goalkeeper’s xG separately. From Gordon’s perspective, … [continue reading]
Derby Delight for Dominant Celtic
A win of the 57th consecutive unbeaten variety means Celtic head to Belgium in good spirits. The ring rusty centre back pairing of Boyata and Simunovic were given a 90-minute workout and a first outing together of the season. Elsewhere, Rodgers deployed an attacking line up with Rogic preferred to a more orthodox central midfielder, and … [continue reading]
The Boa Constrictor and the Cobra
Further evidence of the continuing evolution of Celtic into the model Rodger’s envisages was on display at Dens Park as Celtic comfortably progressed to the Betfred Cup semi-finals with a 4-0 victory. Stage one of this evolution was to improve ball retention and possession control. Then, assimilate ideas and execution around an aggressive high press … [continue reading]
Top CATs
Inspired by The Rangers Report, whose excellent blog is recommended, I have come up with a new KPI, the Celtic Attacking Threat, or CAT Score. Rangers Report has OSCR (Offensive Statistical Contribution Rating), and I have taken a similar approach with the aim of aggregating attacking data to form an overall view of scoring threat. … [continue reading]
Finding Light in Dark Places
As sobering an experience as a 0-5 home defeat is, in the modern vernacular we must “take the positives”. Having captured all the data, believe me, I’ve looked damned hard! There are three performances to draw attention to. Tierney On the defensive side, Tierney was very much stationed at left back, wary of the fast … [continue reading]
Gone in 45
The growing disparities at the heart of European football were exposed in many places over the week, and none more than at Celtic Park where the Qatari backed Parisians inflicted Celtic’s record European home defeat, and record home defeat since 1895 in all competitions. The game was gone by the 40th minute when Cavani’s penalty … [continue reading]
Pitch Perfect Celtic Prepare For Paris
A fine away win at an in-form Hamilton Academical boosted Celtic confidence for what will be a very different match in the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain. The Dangers of Confidence Hamilton Academical had made a sparkling start to the season. Early relegation favourites, 7 points and 8 goals in their last three league matches, … [continue reading]
Attacking Analysis – Season So Far
This is the final article in a short series, taking advantage of the international break to baseline where the squad are against the performance metrics. So far, I have covered: Goalkeeping Defending Creating (Hosted on CeltsAreHere) As the team prepare to face Hamilton Academical away on the plastic, before embarking on the Champions League campaign, … [continue reading]