Another hattrick, and now 12 goals in the equivalent of 12.84 completed 90 minutes.
Giakoumakis has come along way since that penalty miss at home to Livingston.
Thoughts maybe turn to “how can he be dropped even if Furuhashi is fit?”.
That is a question for another day, for now let’s enjoy a sparkling start to his Celtic career, in numbers.
The Story So Far
He averages nearly one goal every completed 90 minutes, including 1 penalty.
When you shoot from within the box 89% of the time, and are getting 51% of all shots on target, you are, as they say, giving yourself every chance.
26% Shot Conversion and 50% conversion from shots on target looks difficult to maintain.
So, what is the story with Expected Goals?
Good news – his xG is 0.87 so he is not over performing to a ridiculous degree.
Volleys, flicks, crashing headers, diving headers, left foot and right, there are many different types of goals here. But all 12 have been achieved with a single touch finish. This speaks to a natural technique under pressure at the moment of truth. Allied to great movement, anticipation and timing of arrival at the ball, mean he is hard to stop when you add in the large muscly frame.
Celtic have not had an effective striker like this since Hartson.
SPFL Peers
It is early days regarding performance in the league, which remains the primary target.
If we plot the Greek next to those strikers who have played over 650 minutes, it is a great start.
In the SPFL he is actually performing slightly lower than his xG would suggest.
Carrying on at this rate he will even surpass Furuhashi’s scoring rates.
It is very early in the Greek’s Celtic career, but like the manager himself, the longer the season continues, the more special it seems to be getting.
Can you imagine Maeda on one wing & Kyogo on the other with the big man marauding in between?
It is one to consider. I do wonder if that would be too much graft over craft?
Jota on one wing is a nice counterbalance to the penalty box strikers
He certainly “has his limitations” as they say but so do all bar the very elite players.
It appears though that we know how to play to this lads strengths and it is showing up in his goal tally.
I’ll be honest and say I’d more or less written him off after watching him in his first few outings in the hoops but It’s amazing what a couple of hat-tricks can do to your perception of a player!
He’s hit form EXACTLY when we needed him too.
agreed Charlie
It seems the manager knows EXACTLY how to utilise him
What witchcraft is this?
Would this work?
Hart
Juranovic Starfelt Carter-Vickers Taylor
Hatate McGregor
Jota Maeda
Furuhashi Giakoumakis