Looking from January onwards in the 14 games we have played our touches have been less in the 2nd half on 9 of those games. Total touches for the 14 games are split into 52.3% 1st half / 47.7% 2nd half. A decline of 8% on average frost 1st half to 2nd half. Is this a fitness thing? Or are the players just lacking belief as the games go on?
The worst game for 2nd half decline was Lennon's game versus Aberdeen where we declined by 37% on the 491 first half touches. This improved slightly for Kennedy's game against Aberdeen as the decline was down to 24% but still a worrying trend.
On Sunday versus Dundee Utd the trend continued with a decline in touches in the 2nd half despite the need for urgency to stop the title being won that day. Our 1st half touches declined by 78 in the 2nd half. A decline of 18% when we should be upping our efforts.
I have broke down touches per 15 mins on a separate article here ........ https://www.celtictrends.com/post/dundee-utd-v-celtic-stats-15min-trends-player-impact
Therefore if you have less touches / possession it is no surprise our shots decline in the 2nd half as well. Although the % split is similar there are only actually 3 games (out of 14) that have more shots in the 2nd half (versus 5 games that had more touches in the 2nd half). On average shots declined by 11% in the 2nd half.
Again, and I don't apologising for saying it, when we should be giving all the effort to stop Rangers winning the league on the day (versus Dundee Utd) we had a decline of 41% on shots in the 2nd half.
For benchmarking;
- Rangers touches in the 2nd half were lower in 4 of their 11 games (36%) this calendar year (compared to our 9 from 14 which is 64%)
- Rangers touches in the 2nd half were 51.7% for those 9 games (versus our 47.7%)
- Rangers shots in the 2nd half were lower in 3 of their 11 games (compared to our 10 from 14). 27% of games v 71%
- Rangers shots in the 2nd half were 54.9% versus our 47.2%
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