Christie The Creative Spark

Celtic are creating slightly more chances than last season.

I take an early season look at Expected and Actual Assists.

Assists / Expected Assists

Christie and Forrest lead the way with 6 assists each. Edouard and Johnston have 5 and Ntcham 4

This suggests that Lennon’s Celtic are an equal creative threat from all of the attacking positions.

But to properly assess chance quality we need to consider Expected Assists (xA) which measures the quality of the chance provided by the pass.

Sorted by xA per 90m, the Difference column shows the extent to which expected assists matches actual achieved assists.

Those in Yellow have xA and Assists within less than 0.1 per 90m.

Those in Green are exceeding the xA by more than 0.1 per game. Note that none are in Red – i.e. are achieving less assists than expected.

Ntcham and Johnston, in particular, are well above expected for the assists they are achieving. It may not happen soon, but unless they increase their xA values, we can expect their assist rates to drop. Ntcham is second in the squad, however, in terms of quantity of chances he creates. He is providing 2.99 per 90m.

Edouard and Forrest are also overperforming, to a lesser degree. Edouard is third in the squad with 2.79 chances created per 90m.

Christie

The squad leader in chance creation is undoubtedly Christie. Not only is he providing more than an assist every other game, his rate looks sustainable.

He is by some way the most creative player, providing 4.01 chances per 90m. No other player is over 3.

Helping in this regard is that he is the designated set piece taker.

16 out of 45 chances (36%) he has created have either been from corners or free kicks. Only one of these has resulted in a goal, for Ajer versus Nomme Kalju from a free kick.

Celtic have only created 8 more chances from set plays from other players.

Christie’s set piece responsibilities are undoubtedly boosting his xA numbers. However, 5 of his 6 assists have been from open play.

From open play his xA rate is 0.409 per 90m, still higher than any other player. From corners it is 0.1 per 90m and from free kicks 0.06 per 90m.

Christie truly is the early season creative spark.