Not sure I should be talking about “packing” on Valentine’s Day (was a euphemism for being dumped back in the day). However, I cover the concept of packing a lot on here and The Huddle Breakdown as I believe, even more than expected goals, the whole concept does as good a job as any set … [continue reading]
Packing
Pack Kings
Packing was developed in Germany and if you engage Impect and give them money they will provide you with loads of meaningful and insightful data. But if you don’t have loads of money you are stuck with me. Packing covers a multitude of on-ball and off-ball actions and is therefore very useful. Let’s see who … [continue reading]
You’re Packed!
I often go on about Packing because I find it very useful and informative. The correlation between good packing scores and overall value of the player is quite strong in my opinion although I haven’t substantiated that assertion. As passing accounts for 75%+ of on ball events, and packing is primarily concerned with attributing value … [continue reading]
O’Riley Does It Again
An aspect of packing I had not captured until this season concerns turnovers and recoveries. “What does all that jargon mean?” comes the plaintive cry. Let me unpack it. (Lol – I’m here all week.) Definitions Packing is the count and assignment of a value to score the taking out of opposition players with forward … [continue reading]
The Power of Recovery
When I started Celtic By Numbers the data I collected was very basic. Mainly defensive actions and passing and shot data but no xG. It has developed over the years as you learn more techniques and best practise. Now I rarely add “new” data points a) because it’s a real pain to do and b) … [continue reading]
Unpacking a Taylor Mystery
There was a nice piece of analysis by @BhoysAnalytics which you can find here highlighting how Taylor’s passing was becoming more expansive and a good working relationship with Maeda forming. Taylor has always been arguably the most creative full back in the squad over the last two seasons. I highlighted this on the Celtic Way … [continue reading]
Carter-Vickers, Starfelt, Welsh – The Verdict
A tale of three centre backs. Celtic’s second most expensive Summer import was Carl Starfelt at a reported £4.5m from Rubin Kazan. After Furuhashi, this was a big investment by Postecoglou. Many studied the data, including me, and thought, “he’s not an aerially dominant behemoth like Jullien”, but looks a good fit for what we … [continue reading]
Deeply Creative
Yesterday I showed how McGregor remains deeply creative despite having an extraordinarily high pass completion rate (94%) and that this did not indicate overly risk averse passing. Today I will complete the picture across the squad as regards deep creative abilities. You should expect some clustering around position which makes the outliers all the more … [continue reading]
McGregor Passes the Test
Whilst no stat is completely meaningless given the right context, it is certainly true to say that passing statistics on there own can reveal little. For example, if I tell you the player with the best Open Play Pass Completion is Simunovic who completes 94% of non-set play passes, you might wonder why this is … [continue reading]
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]