A wee bit later than usual match stats report on Celtic v Hearts.
Celtic 3
xG 5.38
(Edouard 29, Welsh 34 & Kyogo 63)
Hearts 2
xG 1.19
(Boyce 57 PEN, McEneff 90)
There are not as much stats going about for the League Cup games so not as much info to look over for this game. The European Qualifiers can be limited in stats availability with not as much as SPFL games (although the Group Stages of Europe offer even more info than the SPFL games). But League Cup games are the forgotten ones I'm afraid.
xG stats were stolen from @jucojames and @bhoysanalytics for this game.
Given that here at Celtic Trends we always look to produce some original content then League Cup games can minimise the analysis we can do on the match stats.
Some key stats to take away from the game;
- Last season Celtic's shots at goal averaged 17.7 per game with the highest being 23. The highest so far this season was 31 against lowly Dundee. Against Hearts Celtic had 36 shots at goal.
- Last season Celtic's shots on target averaged 6.8 with the highest being 15 and 2nd highest being 12. Against Hearts Celtic had 11 shots on target which would have been joint 4th for last year.
- Last season Celtic's corners averaged 6.4 with the highest being 11. Against Hearts Celtic had 14 corners.
Yeah we don't usually score many goals from corners (although glad to see that changing) or crosses from near the by-line however getting crosses from near the by-line and getting corners is a good proxy for advanced play and moving defenders.
It's a bit like box touches which at times is a better measure but at times box touches can be well defended by an organised defence. Crosses from the by-line and winning corners moves the defenders and creates space.
IE If we didn't win the corner but actually managed to get the ball in the box have the defenders then been moved out of position? Possibly.
- Last season Celtic's average possession % was 66% with the highest being 81% versus Hamilton on the first game of the season. Against Hearts Celtic's possession was 72% which would have been joint 8th last year. It's 3rd best this season behind the Dundee game (75%) and Hearts away (74%).
In regards to team line up as follow (% is amount of minutes each player has played of the 7 competitive games this season);
Celtic line up in our usual 2-3-2-3 formation which can also be seen as a 4-3-3 or even a 4-2-3-1 as the 3 in midfield can be a hybrid at times. With right midfield flirting between the No.10 role and right midfield and the left midfield flirting between the No.8 role and a more defensive role.
Chris McLaughlin @coachchrismcl highlighted how the formation is a 4-diamond-2 formation when defending https://twitter.com/coachchrismcl/status/1427029763688960001?s=20
In regards to % of minutes played the lowest in Sunday's team was Rogic with 41%. (Rogic's 41% includes his minutes played on Sunday). There were 3 players not playing that had more than 41% (Christie 62%, Soro 58% and Abada 51%).
Anthony Ralston is the only player who has started every competitive game and also every friendly and he's also the only player with 100% of minutes in the competitive games. He's played all 660 minutes of the 7 games.
It is also worth noting Turnbull's 88% of minutes played compared to last year where he was being subbed very early in games.
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