New Bromantics

Not only did Rogic assist 3 Forrest goals against St Johnstone, all 3 goals were “one-twos” between the players meaning Forrest racked up 3 secondary assists!

It got me thinking what have been the most productive partnerships recently?

Getting on well is not a prerequisite for footballers to connect effectively with each other on the park. Just reference Teddy Sheringham and Andrew Cole whilst at Manchester United who famously never spoke a word to each other off the pitch, or the England dressing room and John Terry.

But Celtic have had a noticeable bromance recently with Tierney and Roberts. And Tierney connected so productively with Sinclair on the pitch, teams set up specifically to stop them. Over the last 18 months, the hitherto three French players, Ntcham, Dembele and Edouard, clearly had on field chemistry. And now it appears Forrest and Rogic are pally off the pitch as well as telepathic on it.

Naturally, I will look to the numbers to asses the most productive partnerships since the start of last season.

Firstly, the number of chances (Key Passes + Assists) created between pairs of players since the start of 2017/18:

Forrest / Rogic have a clear lead over other partnerships in the last two seasons connecting for 42 chances, 8 more than any other pair.

McGregor makes the list with four different partners, the hussy, highlighting his versatility and adaptability. Ntcham also matches that, predominantly linking on the left side with Sinclair and Tierney.

Tierney is the only defender to make the list. Perhaps surprisingly with Ntcham the productivity is higher than with Sinclair.

Looking at the most goals scored by combining partnerships:

Forrest and Rogic (or Forric as they will now be known) are well in the lead with 9 goals scored from their respective assists. McGregor and Sinclair come a respectable second with 7.

Otherwise there are no partnerships with more than 3.

Forrest appears three times on this view, combining with Rogic, McGregor and Armstrong for a total of 15 goals.

But the true test of partnership productivity is to work out the Chances Created per 90m. Which means comparing each players’ minutes on the pitch and working out how long they were on the park together. (Crikey the International Break is boring – cheques in the post to Celtic By Numbers please, it took ages).

Looking at Chances Per 90m per partnership results in:

Forrest / Rogic are clear winners of the most productive partnership award by this most accurate measure. They combine to set up 1.42 chances per 90m.

Next best is when Rogic used to moonlight with Dembele – maybe Forrest and jealousy was to blame for the Frenchman’s exit??

Griffiths and McGregor have a wee thing going here, combining for 1.27 chances per 90m. As does Forrest. Griffiths is not known for his French skills and perhaps that shows.

The Ntcham / Sinclair axis is far stronger than the Tierney / Sinclair link up. The pair only combine for 0.52 chances per 90m which is a little surprising.

Having Forrest, McGregor and Griffiths all on the pitch at the same time seems a set of strong partnerships. Someone tell Alex McLeish.

But back to our New Bromantics.

What is even more remarkable is that the pair have only completed 90 minutes together four times over the last two seasons. And that generally did not end well. The pair saw out the full match together whilst losing 1-7 in Paris, losing 0-1 at home to Aberdeen and the recent 0-0 draw at St Mirren. The only success was a 4-0 home win over Ross County where the pair scored 3 of the 4 goals.

I am not sure when the last time a player set on three assists for the same team mate, never mind the three secondary assists by the scorer, but if you know please leave a comment and tell me!