Burke and Weah Debut
The Burke and Weah show arrived under the green disco lights of Celtic Park. There are now more green patches from the light show than are on the “diseased” pitch. However, the new boys illuminated the Scottish Cup Fourth Round tie versus Airdireonians.
Burke
The Scottish youngster played the full 90 minutes as a centre forward, something he has done only sporadically in his career.
He started this match like a player out of rhythm with himself and his team mates. In the first half he completed only 6 passes giving the ball away 5 times. As the game progressed, Airdrieonians tired a little and more space appeared, but also Burke started to gain rhythm into his game. In the second half he completed 14 passes and only gave the ball away twice. His confidence seemed to increase and he was making more moves towards the ball.
As a Celtic striker you will be judged on scoring productivity.
Burke matched Sinclair with 5 shots, the highest in the team. The Englishman had the highest Expected Goals (xG) due to his penalty of 1.965 but Burke was second by that metric.
In terms of movement and creativity:
Burke’s movement improved as the game wore on. His Receive Impect score (ability to receive and control a forward pass that takes out opponents) of 67 compares well with Edouard’s average of 47.01 (Dembele’s was 50.24). He had possession in the opposition box 12 times. This compares with a Celtic striker average of 5.53 this season.
He receives an assist for the shot saved that Sinclair scored from for the opener. In addition, he provided 2 key passes to create shooting chances. His Expected Assist (xA) value of 0.569 was bettered only by the two full backs. Izaguirre created an incredible 8 chances (xA 1.391) and Ralston 3 (xA 0.602).
Burke looks like a player that needs games and confidence. He visibly flourished as this match progressed.
As debuts go, if that is a bad one, I suspect he’ll take it.
Weah
The American teen played only 21 minutes. In that time, he scored his debut goal. The recipient of a Pack Pass from Boyata that took out 9 Airdrieonians. He finished calmly with his right foot after perfectly timing a sprint to receive the through ball.
Deployed wide left, he cut in on his right foot mainly. He attempted 2 crosses from wide positions, successfully finding Johnston for a header with one.
Overall, he completed 11 passes and 3 were incomplete.
As well as creating a chance, he attempted 2 shots at goal, with one off target and a score.
He managed 3 possessions in the opposition area.
Most encouraging was his speed of movement and ability to find space. He received 4 Pack Passes for a Receive Impect score of 39, the 4th highest in the team despite playing only 21 minutes.
Very early days but he seems a player of pace, movement, control and personality.