Griffiths Turns The Corner

Two goals in consecutive games from corner passes was rare from Celtic in the recent Kilmarnock and Ross County ties. One was assisted by McGregor but it is Christie and now Griffiths that dominate free kick and corner duties over the season.

Celtic Set Piece Summary

Celtic have scored 7 times direct from set piece passes. Christie has assisted 4 of them with Hayes, McGregor and Griffiths on 1 each. Jullien has been the scorer with 4 of them.

Now that Griffiths is back on set piece duties, and Christie is on the bench, how do the two main protagonists compare?

Christie v Griffiths – Set Piece Pass Accuracy

At the simplistic level with Christie completing 50% of set piece passes and Griffiths 37%, there appears to be a strong case for Christie being the set piece taker when a delivery is called for.

Christie manages to complete more of his set piece passes than he misses (1.17 To 0.83) whilst both complete a minority of corner passes. Griffiths averages 4.35 failures to connect per 90m.

Based on sheer accuracy then, Christie shades it. Of course, it isn’t that simple.

Christie v Griffiths – Set Piece Pass Quality

We can assess the quality of the passes by considering the volume and xA values of the chances created.

This presents a very different view. Griffiths creates 1.69 chances per 90m from corners to 1 from Christie and 0.36 chances from free kicks compared to 0.31 by Christie. There are more corners in a match typically than set pieces in attacking situations.

What does this mean? Griffiths is more inaccurate overall but is creating the higher volume of chances. This likely means he is putting more risk into his set piece delivery – greater pace and closer to the goalkeeper for example. Many more will not come off as the success margins are smaller, but when they do chances accrue.

And what of chance quality?

And our fascinating tale takes another twist. Perhaps predictably, Griffiths is creating the better quality chances from corner passes – he averages 0.111 xA per 90 compared to 0.078 from Christie.

But it is Christie who is providing better quality opportunities from free kicks despite providing slightly fewer chances. His free kicks result in 0.073 xA per 9m compared to 0.057 from Griffiths.

Conclusion

These are my favourite articles to write. I had no preconception before I started, and the journey revealed by the numbers was twisty and unexpected!

Griffiths is Celtic’s most dangerous set piece taker overall. However, there is a case for the more experienced striker to be the main man for corners but that Christie should be entrusted with set piece passing opportunities.

Now shooting, leave that to Hot Shot Eddy.