Bolingoli’s Debut

The new £3m addition from Rapid Vienna, to be known as Bolingoli, made his debut against FK Sarajevo.

As is often the case with Celtic, his bow was cut short by a knock early in the second half. So, we only got to see 57 minutes of him.

Position

Tierney looks to be out injured for some time as he recovers from a double hernia and further pelvic issues. Bolingoli therefore has a great opportunity to make the left had side role his own.

Defensively, he was set up as an orthodox left back.

When Celtic had possession, he moved high and wide to be more a left sided midfielder with Forrest on the other flanks. Celtic morphed to 3-2-4-1 with the ball especially in the first half.

This highlights that Bolingoli is adaptable in terms of left sided positioning. To give Celtic options of 3 or 4 at the back, this adaptability will be crucial.

Defending

An initial Defensive Action Success Rate of 29% is not auspicious. However, this is quite Tierney-esque and given he was performing a similar attack minded role, not surprising. 2 challenges / intercepts were won and 5 lost.

His best moment was in cutting out a long pass at the last moment, a crucial intervention. A similar scenario saw his playing the Sarajevo player onside early on, as the new and untried back line relied on Bain to make a last man block.

He only won the ball back in his defensive third once, and completed one recovery.

Ball Progression

Overall, he did not create any chances but is credited with one secondary assist. He completed 51 passes at 89%.

The most encouraging aspect of his performance was on and off the ball. By half time he had the highest Impect score on the team at 62. What this means is that he was adept at giving, but mostly receiving, forward passes that take opponents out the game. Against tight defences this is crucial. Despite only completing 57 minutes, he had the fourth highest Impect score.

Six times he found space and received forward passes from Simunovic twice and McGregor twice, Brown and Johnston.

This ability to break the lines is a key to breaking down the packed defences Celtic see in the SPFL and in these games.

He had one shot from outside the box blocked.

Summary

A curtailed debut with minimal defensive stress. He looks to offer good movement and variety of positioning on the left side. This will help Celtic progress the ball against packed defences.