The first in the series analysing the Official Celtic Player of the Year candidates focusses on Callum McGregor. Appearances Only Hart has more minutes’ contribution this season than McGregor. His 3858 minutes equates to over 42 matches over 46 appearances. The 4 games he lost to injury in September coincided with Celtic’s worst form. A … [continue reading]
Brown
McCarthy: A VERY Specific Skillset
Arguably James McCarthy had the most effective game of his fledgling Celtic career, away St Johnstone. Filling in amongst a COVID and injury ravaged squad, he fulfilled the sitting midfield role (or “6”) in a midfield three. Saintly McCarthy Some of his numbers were eye catching in that ultimately comfortable win. He led the team … [continue reading]
The Brown Special
The latest The Huddle Breakdown podcast (available on Spreaker, Spotify, iTunes and Youtube) is dedicated to Scott Brown. We have been highlighting his natural age decline in performance for some time (2 years in my case) and the impacts this has on the team. This isn’t a Brown bashing session. The captain has won a … [continue reading]
Can McGregor Knock Brown for 6?
By James Dailey Saturday’s 5-0 result versus St. Mirren was a continuation of domestic dominance this season. Advanced analytics and related statistics have more value over larger sample sizes, as normal variance in a single game, or even a group of games, can deviate significantly from underlying metrics. Clearly a 5-0 result is better than … [continue reading]
Put Leadership To The Test
By James Dailey I have no doubt that intangible qualities of players exist, and that they can be difficult to measure directly. I’ve been a baseball fan since I was five and have been dabbling in related analytics for over 30 years. Baseball has been on the vanguard of the data and analytics evolution within … [continue reading]
Copenhagen: The Battle of Midfield
By James Dailey As I have made clear in prior pieces, I believe Celtic could field one of the best midfields among the remaining Europa League teams. However, this piece will focus upon what “is” rather than what could be. I will compare our likely central midfield three versus a comparable sample from the other … [continue reading]
Bitton Is A Centre Half
By James Dailey Much angst and disgust were expressed in the dying moments of the transfer window on Friday. Part of being a supporter is “enjoying” the raw swings in emotion. I wish I had a nickel for every time my Twitter feed included a post declaring how the board was amid betraying the support … [continue reading]
Soro for Brown?
By James Daily (@jucojames) The signing of Ismaila Soro may be one of the most interesting developments to monitor over the remainder of this season. I briefly covered the implications of Scott Brown’s steady decline in my recent piece on Liam Donnelly and I will state my bias upfront – I believe Celtic should be … [continue reading]
Donnelly Is The Brown We Think We Have
Article by James Dailey I started a deep dive into analyzing Scott Brown’s age-based performance decline this past summer, which was catalyzed by an exchange with Alan in the comments section of Celticbynumbers prior to the first Cluj qualifier. My “eye test” was telling me that Brown was looking well off the pace and was … [continue reading]
Midfield Red Flags
The mid term reports focus now on the midfield and wingers. I covered Brown in Brown: A Never Ending Story as he has a unique role in the side. Let’s now consider the rest of the midfield. PS I will include Brown in this for completeness. Celtic’s midfield and wide attack has largely been about … [continue reading]