Continuing to play around with radars and this time let’s look at Kyogo Furuhashi. Last season 34 goals in all competitions and this season 15 with hopefully 10 games left. The main metric used to evaluate Kyogo as we all know, however, is the expected smile prevalence (xSP). Less than sunny has been the average … [continue reading]
Player Performance
Big Unit, Ball Master, or Both?
I wrote extensively on Liam Scales in the Celtic Way last week. They have an incredible offer of only £1 a month for six months. The other writers are really strong, so I recommend it. It is always a challenge to come up with a compelling view that might tell a story that accurately reflects … [continue reading]
Joe Hart
There are Celtic “fan” sites that lure you in with clickbait and sensationalist headlines, and there are those that simply regurgitate what others have produced, either the mainstream media or less forgivably, other Celtic fan sites. I hope you realise I am never the latter and on a certain cheeky level, only occasionally the former. … [continue reading]
Changing Your Luck
Celtic scored 147 goals in winning a treble last season, in all competitions. 2.77 per game. This season was always going to be some kind of transition from Ange Postecoglou to Brendan Rodgers and we do not have to rehash the recruitment story. Those goals came from shots rated with an overall xG of 139. … [continue reading]
Scales, Welsh, CCV and Aerial Dominance
14We debated on the most recent Huddle Breakdown (please subscribe) regarding centre-backs and aerial duels and how helpful or not the available data is. This was prompted by the performances of Liam Scales and Stephen Welsh in the Scottish Cup match versus Livingston. The opponents, as is typical in Scotland, had the proverbial “big lad” … [continue reading]
Injury Update
Injuries are all part of the realities of managing a football club. I rely on the club through official pressers and site write-ups for injury information. Clubs are not always open and transparent about such things. So, health warning regarding injury data! This season has not been particularly onerous thus far. Celtic, on average, are … [continue reading]
The Sharp End
Not sure I should be talking about “packing” on Valentine’s Day (was a euphemism for being dumped back in the day). However, I cover the concept of packing a lot on here and The Huddle Breakdown as I believe, even more than expected goals, the whole concept does as good a job as any set … [continue reading]
Getting the best from Kyogo
Whilst Celtic won again at the weekend to maintain a gap at the top of the SPFL Premiership, the manner of the 1-0 defeat of Ross County irked many in the support. A failure to build on a first minute Alistair Johnston deflected strike meant some nervy moments at the end of the match as … [continue reading]
Shot Conversion and System vs Individual
There are only nine occasions a Celtic player has achieved 20% or more conversion rate from all shots since my records started in 2014-15. On two of those occasions, the player was Kyogo Furuhashi and three of those occasions were last season. Here are the times a 20% all-shot conversion rate has been achieved (midfielders … [continue reading]
Nawrocki and the Direct Command
The very good @StewartRoss89 on X posted in the Celtic Way about how Maik Nawrocki has already demonstrated impressive line-breaking passing abilities. Nawrocki has only completed the equivalent of 4.04 worth of 90 minutes so well short of the 900 needed for a deeper dive. But it caused me to look at his pack passing … [continue reading]