There was no greater advocate of the well coiffured Packing King Armstrong than this site. So, comparison with Christie was bound to pique my interest.
Firstly, I have very little Christie data to go on. Not having captured the RB Leipzig match, I have 517 minutes of Christie action to analyse.
That being said there are some obvious points to draw out.
Armstrong liked to get on the ball in deep positions and play penetrative passes or run from afar. Christie is more an all action “on the move constantly” type of player. Armstrong averaged 79 possessions per 90m, Christie 57. Armstrong kept Celtic possession of the ball 84% of the time whilst with Christie it is 79% as he tends to get possession more in the final 3rd and thus loses it more often.
No surprise then that Armstrong averaged 57 open play passes per 90m (completing 85%) and Christie 38 (completing 83%).
Where Armstrong excelled and vied with Ntcham to be the best at Celtic, was in bypassing the opponent’s defensive lines with deep passing (Packing). His Pack Pass rate was 8.68 successful forward passes per 90m and Passing Impect of 43.42 per 90m.
For Christie, the respective numbers are 4.53 and 20.72 per 90m. Christie simply doesn’t look for the same passes Armstrong did.
However, Christie is more likely to be on the end of forward passes. Armstrong received 9.35 forward passes per 90m for an average Receive Impect of 41.40. For Christie, the respective numbers are 9.57 and 50.31. Only slightly higher which highlights what a good all-round midfield player Armstrong was.
Armstrong averaged 2.88 possessions in the opposition box whilst Christie averages 4.18 showing how Christie operates further forward on average.
Despite this, Armstrong attempted more shots (3.31) per 90m than Christie does (2.96). 66% of Armstrong’s shots were from outside the box whilst only 35% of Christie’s are. Against Heart of Midlothian in the SPFL, Christie managed 5 shots, 4 inside the box.
Whilst Armstrong created 2.92 chances per 90m, Christie creates 2.09. Although Christie’s current assist rate of 0.35 per 90m eclipses Armstrong’s 0.27 from last season but early days for Christie.
Finally, Christie is being expected to play a more central midfield role due to the injuries to all the holding midfielders. Armstrong’s best position was central and deeper as opposed to a winger or number 10. Therefore, defensive duties are required. I have a composite metric called Defensive Action Success Rate (DASR%) for this. The relatively slim and light Armstrong scored 49% DASR whilst the newly bulked by Christie is on 51%. As shown against RB Leipzig but not captured in my data, Christie is an effective ball winner. He averages 2.09 fouls conceded per 90m compared to Armstrong’s rather sedate 1.09.
Conclusion
This quick and dirty comparison in 500 data-burdened words and with minimal information for Christie shows they are quite different players.
Armstrong sat deeper and was more akin to a Ntcham. Christie is involved in less of the game with the ball and more of the game without the ball. He gets into more advanced positions and is more likely to be the receiver than the passer. Christie also had the robustness to play the central midfield role as he showcased at the highest level versus RB Leipzig.
I’d love to play both of them to be honest.
They are also operating in different Systems as well.
Armstrong played most of his football at Celtic in a 4-2-3-1 with 2 DMF’s mainly Brown and Ntcham where as Christie has been featuring mainly in a 4-3-3 with 1 DMF in McGregor who again is a different style of play in that role.
I liked Armstrong as a player but I prefer the energy Christie has and his effort when not in posession of the ball.
for me the biggest difference is when Christie chases a player down he gets a tackie in and makes it count winning the ball and starting up attacks
Absolutely not. Christie wants to play for Celtic, has his feet on the ground and loves Celtic. These are three dofferences between them.