Matt O’Riley has reached 100 appearances in the 3-0 victory at St Mirren. He appears to be one of the team leaders on the pitch in terms of the way he conducts himself. I am settled in the opinion he is feeling unconstrained in terms of his role compared to the relative tactical straitjacket Ange … [continue reading]
Player Performance
Final 3rd Risk / Reward
When we talk about risk versus reward in the context of Celtic performance, we are looking at what you get on the upside in terms of goal threat and creativity versus the downside of lost ball possession or defensive risk. One view to illustrate maps the threat posed in the final third in terms of … [continue reading]
Making Sense of Space
I found a nice feature on Sofascore today – average player positions. Average position obviously doesn’t mean that was where they always stood, and it doesn’t mean that is where they are always relative to teammates. Nevertheless, without complex tracking data it is the best we have to discern a semblance of shape. I wanted … [continue reading]
Finding Forward Solutions
One of the issues against Kilmarnock was the inability to convert good field positions into chances. Celtic were relying on playing through their wide players, or linking with Kyogo Furuhashi dropping deep, or the number eights creating from the centre. Compared to the first two games of the season, Kyogo did not get on the … [continue reading]
James Forrest
James Forrest rightly gets his moment in the limelight, something I am not sure he would entirely be comfortable with, as Celtic complete preseason duties against Athletic Club of Bilbao ostensibly in his honour as a testimonial. Once formalities are concluded, it will be serious business as Celtic start league action on Saturday, and many … [continue reading]
Taylor, Rodgers and Inverting
On the most recent episode of the Huddle Breakdown podcast we had an excellent guest Dominic Wells. Dominic is a data analyst and supporter of Leicester City. He was highly knowledgeable and balanced about Brendan Rodgers time at the club. Dominic revealed that in the last season under Rodgers in 2022-23, the manager had introduced … [continue reading]
The Midfield Minefield
This analysis lark is much about pilfering and refining the fine work of others. It’s all fair game so long as you attribute! So, props and shout outs to @CannonStats on Twitter. You might want to follow them if your schadenfreude extents to giving support to Ange Postecoglou’s new big rivals. In this tweet, the … [continue reading]
Celtic’s Robocop
Canadian full back Alistair Johnston recently passed the 900-minute on the pitch for Celtic mark. You all know what that means? Yes. A definitive and never to be changed opinion can be formed about his performances. Joke. 900 minutes is, in my experience, a point at which much of the truth about a players performance … [continue reading]
You’re Packed!
I often go on about Packing because I find it very useful and informative. The correlation between good packing scores and overall value of the player is quite strong in my opinion although I haven’t substantiated that assertion. As passing accounts for 75%+ of on ball events, and packing is primarily concerned with attributing value … [continue reading]
Top CATs and the Sub Dividend
With Alistair Johnston and Alexandro Bernabei recently passing the 900-minute threshold for meaningful data, I wanted to try out a new view of overall attacking threat. Since the World Cup break Celtic have scored 57 goals in their 18 matches as the cohesion of the team and strength of Ange Postecoglou’s system has proven consistently … [continue reading]