Celtic and the curse of the right back! As the Champions League qualifiers progress, Ralston remains the only recognised right back in the squad. Is he ready to replace Lustig? Firstly, let’s remember that Lustig is a highly experienced internationalist who served Celtic for 7 ½ seasons. The 75-time capped Swede appeared in multiple international … [continue reading]
creativity
Measuring Creative Improvement
Completing the theme of assessing player performance between last season and this. The subject this time is creativity. I consider all players here both last season and this who completed over 900 minutes. This map shows Chances Created (passes resulting in a shot plus assists) and Pack Passes (forward passes that take out at least … [continue reading]
Celtic Player Of The Year: Creativity
Celtic Player of the Year season is upon us. I’ve looked at defending in Celtic POTY: Defending. Now to consider Creativity. To assist (geddit?) in your selection, here are key creative performances from the season so far. Assists By volume, there are clear leaders in the Assist League: Forrest has an incredible 19 assists so … [continue reading]
The Enablers
Goals, assists and Defensive Action Success Rate allows identification of key performance at the sharp ends of the pitch. Assessing the performance of those who predominantly play in the middle is not as straightforward. But Secondary Assists and Packing concepts may help here. Packing I introduced the measurement of Packing last season. Please read this … [continue reading]
Delivery Failure
There can be no denying Celtic’s current form is poor compared to previous trophy-laden seasons. I will look at a range of key performance indicators to see where it might be going wrong. I have plotted each metric per game back to the start of last season (2017/18). I did not include the 2016/17 season … [continue reading]
Unlucky or Inaccurate?
How did Celtic’s attacking effectiveness compare between the 17/18 and 18/19 Champions League Qualifying campaigns? Celtic played six matches in both seasons which is a very small sample so bear that in mind. Possession Celtic appeared to have less overall control compared to last season whilst continuing to dominate possession. They averaged 81 less passes … [continue reading]
Assists and Chances
Celtic scored 126 goals from 1120 chances or a goal every 8.89 chances. Sinclair led the way with 15 assists but does that make him the most creative Celt? Who were Celtic’s creative craftsmen sculpting the Double Treble? The Glossary splits uncertainty with logic like a through ball from Rogic. Assists Not all goals have … [continue reading]
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 … [continue reading]
Packing Them In
How effective is a pass? How does the data help show who the most creative players are? Which players combine most effectively? Using the concept of Packing can help answer those questions. My analysis is limited to players who have played more than 7 matches worth of minutes. It was a natural cut off based … [continue reading]
Pass Marks
Passing accounts for over 75% of all on field actions with the ball. Rodger’s places great emphasis on possession and passing football. Passing data provides an insight into player style and performance. Does the squad achieve pass marks? Most Passes Total – Top 5 The Top 5 does not correlate directly with time on the … [continue reading]