Pass of the Season

34,678 passes completed over the season and 126 goals – 275 passes per goal! There is always goal of the season but what was the pass of the season?

Please read Concerning Packing to understand the some of the concepts being discussed here. Also, the Glossary threads through balls like a very sharp, pointy and precise thing.

Pass of the Season

The Packing concept is useful for analysing forward passes and how effective they are at removing opponents from defensive structures. Sounds a bit academic. Am I about to make something that should be interesting really, really boring? Ach, probably. So, to bring it to life, how does it help identify Pass of the Season?

Here are the top 10 passes using the highest Impect score awarded for each pass. As a reminder you get 1 point for bypassing a forward, 2 for a midfielder and 3 for a defender. The maximum value will therefore depend on opposition formation.

The highest Impect score achieved from a single pass this season by Celtic is 23, achieved four times.

Both the Flag Day game versus Heart of Midlothian and the away leg against Linfield in Champions League Qualifying saw two big time Pack Passes. Hamilton Academical were also a favoured opponent appearing twice on the list.

Interestingly none were achieved after the Winter Break.

Griffiths was the recipient on three occasions and McGregor and Sinclair twice. The Pack Passing saw Armstrong, Ntcham and Tierney achieve two each with four players making one. The three with two on the list should be no surprise if you read my astonishingly prescient article Packing Them In.

Goals resulted from three of those passes. They were in the first two domestic games of the season at home to Heart of Midlothian in the SPFL and Kilmarnock in the League Cup. Against Hamilton Academical in December, Armstrong connected with Forrest.

In awarding the Pass of the Season, a goal must result which reduces the list to three. Here is a snapshot of the three contenders:

And the winner is……….

Armstrong to Forrest against Hamilton Academical

Based on the following thought processes:

• Armstrong’s pass was all along the ground through the defence to a player running diagonally right to left. Very difficult to navigate.
• This rewards the Forrest run as much as the Armstrong pass.
• The defence were more compact for the Hamilton goal.
• It’s just sumptuous to look at!
• The two aerial passes were excellent but slightly easier to execute.
• The defending for the two aerial passes was woeful accepting the excellence of Griffith’s runs.

When I am invited to Lennoxtown to bestow the award I’ll be sure to take pictures.

Opposition Pass of the Season

I try to be as balanced as I can and therefore here is the Opposition Pass of the Season using the same methodology.

Without blowing the Packing trumpet too hard the most effective passes, that took out the most Celtic players, came mainly from the best teams the Bhoys faced. Four times in one match in Paris the home side took out virtually the whole Celtic side with a single pass on the way to a 7-1 rout. Hibernian appear twice also, the best domestic opposition Celtic faced, with Boyle the speedy recipient both times.

But out of all these successful passes only one resulted in a goal and that indirectly. The Kimmich / Lewandowski connection was potent. When Kimmich’s cross took out eight Celts and found the Pole in the box in the 17^th minute in Munich, his header was well saved by Gordon but Muller, alert as ever, scored the rebound. This is my Opposition Pass of the Season. They’ll be dancing on the streets of Bayern.