The formal end of season saw the inevitable annual round of players leaving the club. One such was a relatively big money signing from Dinamo Zagreb in 2015, Jozo Simunovic. He leaves having amassed 5 League Titles, 3 Scottish Cups and 3 League Cups from 126 appearances. All 5 of his goals came in league … [continue reading]
Simunovic
Centre Health
By James Dailey Are Celtic well covered at Centre Half? This seems such a simple question, but the answer is unfortunately conditional. Two centre halfs at Celtic get what I believe to be unfair criticisms which focus on relative weaknesses, ignore strengths, and lack contextual benchmarking. Of course, performance levels are irrelevant if players cannot … [continue reading]
Rare Centre Back Continuity Brings Reward
The Mid-term report series turns its beady attention to the centre back position. This part of the team has been a problem for Celtic for many years in terms of injury and lack of continuity. This season saw Ajer and Simunovic prepped to start the European qualifiers by being installed as first choice at the … [continue reading]
Power of Recovery
A new statistic I am capturing this season is Recoveries. These are defined by Opta as “…. where a player recovers the ball in a situation where neither team has possession or where the ball has been played directly to him by an opponent, thus securing possession for their team.”. Team Recoveries There are many … [continue reading]
Simunovic Comes Of Age
Simunovic was a big money signing by Celtic’s standards but four seasons in, he has never really been a nailed-on first choice. That changed as the Triple Treble was secured. Has Simunovic come of age? 2018/19 Appearances Now 24, Simunovic is still a young defender. Each season he has been hampered by injury and has … [continue reading]
Ajer Appreciation
Ajer returned to the side after a bad facial injury and was pitched into right back against the hugely talented FC Salzburg. Part of the makeshift arrangement against Hibernian, he returned to the bench versus Motherwell. Seemingly a target for the critics, the 20-year-old continues to learn new defensive positions in amongst the constantly shifting … [continue reading]
The Problem Position Revisited
It has been the most problematic period of the Rodger’s regime over the last two weeks. At such times all perceived woes get an airing. Are the underlying performance problems at Celtic all that complex to understand? If we look at the issues surrounding the Celtic playing squad there are many. But I posit most … [continue reading]
Has Simunovic Improved?
Simunovic signed in September 2015 aged 21 for a fee reputed to be between £2.5m and £3.5m. He signed a four-year contract in 2017 to keep him at Celtic until 2021. With suspension against Rosenborg, and Boyata still working his way back to fitness post World Cup, the centre back positions as are once again … [continue reading]
Defensive Action Success – Season Review
What can defensive metrics tell us about contributions to the Double Treble? Defensive Action Success Rate (DASR%) is a composite of defensive actions successful and unsuccessful. The Glossary snaps into the challenge to dispose doubt. DASR% is (I believe) a very useful single measure of all round defensive competence. It takes tackles, aerial challenges, interceptions, … [continue reading]
Central Defender Consistency
Can the performance of the Celtic central defenders be assessed in terms of their consistency? Thanks to @seanmcneal3 on Twitter for asking whether Boyata’s performances were consistent. The key aggregated metric for assessing defensive actions is the Defensive Action Success Rating (DASR). I’ve explained it before and the Glossary is the big lad at the … [continue reading]