The extent to which style of play versus player attributes influence the data each player generates is a theme I will return to many times over the Age of Ange. Nowhere is this starker than in the striking position. Celtic have been blessed with the abilities of Dembele and Edouard over recent seasons. Griffiths scored … [continue reading]
Dembele
Elite Edouard
As the window hopefully closes without any major outgoings, we should pause and reflect on the progress of Edouard. Scouts shouldn’t read this article. You’ll hate it. Lonesome Eddy For one and a half seasons he has carried the burden of being the Celtic point of attack almost single handed. Last season in January Rodgers … [continue reading]
In Defence of Edouard
BT Sport analyst and former Celt centre forward Chris Sutton was coruscating in his constant criticism of Edouard against FC Salzburg. He has pulled the Frenchman up for lack of movement and perceived inability to hold the ball up. With Edouard hobbling off against Motherwell, and despite the prognosis looking like a short injury outage, … [continue reading]
Life In The Danger Zone
Logic (and expected goals) tells us the closer you are to goal and more central, the better the chance of scoring generally. Which players are giving themselves the best chance to score? Shots In The Box Shooting from inside the box is usually better than shooting outside in terms of probability of scoring. Also, just … [continue reading]
The Sharp Shooters
I showed in the previous article how there is a wide disparity between players as the regards the quality of the shots they take. Also, we can look at shot accuracy and conversion rates. Shot Accuracy Shot accuracy is simply the % of all shots that are on target. If your shots are not on … [continue reading]
Why We Should Love Dembele and Sinclair
Not all shots are equal. We can assess the quality of the shots players take on to see who has the best chance of scoring. And we should learn to love those that take on good quality shots! Extending the xG concept we can assess the overall quality of the shots each player is taking. … [continue reading]
Edouard – Over Performance or Massive Potential?
Celtic’s scoring prowess reduced this season. Celtic scored 126 goals over 61 matches (2.07 per game) compared to 150 over 59 last season (2.54 per game). Edouard scored 11 from 14 starts. Impressive? Yes! But that’s a lazy stat and here’s why. The Glossary buries lack of clarity from any distance into the bottom corner, … [continue reading]
Striking Consistency
The forward line has been disrupted by injury we know. How has this impacted the consistency of the strikers? There are many measures for the forward players. The one linked most explicitly to productivity is Expected Scoring Contribution (xSC). Scoring Contribution is the sum of goals and assists and is a simple measure of productivity … [continue reading]
Hot Property
The football analysis community on Twitter is a fertile ground for the exchange (or robbery) of ideas. In that spirit some work by Ashwin Raman (@thefutebolist ) caught my eye. Ashwin (please follow him) used Shots In the Box and Key Passes (passes leading to a goal attempt plus assists) per 90 minutes to plot … [continue reading]
Odsonne to Flourish
A snapshot of shooting efficiency. This does not take in the Partick Thistle cup match – sorry James! Only players who have had more than 10 shots on target are included (14 in reality). Shot Accuracy This is simply the % of all shots the player manages to get on target. Sinclair was the most … [continue reading]