Return of the Seven
The Magnificent Seven theme rang out at Celtic Park for the first time since 15th May 2016 in Deila’s last game in charge. As a season opener, it was some statement from the champions.
Needless to say, there were many numbers of interest!
Suffering Saints
As the season unfolds, it will become clearer whether Celtic brilliance or Saints ineptitude had the greater influence. Certainly, the Perth side were in no form coming here. They arrived on the back of League Cup defeats from Forfar Athletic, Montrose and Ross County.
It was also unclear what they were trying to achieve in the first half when the game fell away from them. It seemed at first an attacking line up with a desire to shape 3-5-2.
In reality, the two wing backs (Foster and Tanser) were pushed back by the overlapping Elhamed and underlapping Bolingoli. This left three in midfield to scope with McGregor and Christie wandering menacingly, Brown holding, Edouard dropping into gapes, and Forrest and Johnston free to attack the box with support from the aforementioned Celtic full backs.
In short, they lost the midfield battle badly. Huge gaps were available for Christie and Edouard to find a bridge head to goal. There was no discernible shape out of possession either – rather like Nomme Kalju – basic team defensive shape was lacking, unlike a Wright side.
This may in part have been due to an attempt to go man for man in the middle. Lacking pace in the midfield, Christie in particular led their central players a merry dance. Worse, Duffy, the ex-Celtic kid, was being pulled out of position by Johnston cutting inside, leaving gaps for Edouard in particular.
By 14 minutes Celtic had 9 shots and were a goal up. Edouard and Johnston had 5 of those shots due to the combination of a disorganised midfield, Duffy being pulled here and there, and the defence falling back into a 5 ceding more midfield space.
By half time Celtic were 3-0 up and had 19 shots to 0. St Johnstone had completed a mere 35 passes – 5 Celt’s bettered this.
By dropping Kennedy back into midfield and defaulting to a more rigid 5-4-1 St Johnstone stopped the bleeding after a fashion. Between half time and Christie’s hattrick goal on 67 minutes, Celtic managed just 3 more shots.
By the end, with quality off the bench for the Champions but tiring Saints in the face of constant defending, late goals flowed.
I suspect St Johnstone cannot be as poor again. Whether this is a new, fast, attacking, less predictable Celtic, remains to be seen.
Creative Variety
Pleasing for Celtic was the variety of areas the chances flowed from.
Christie, McGregor and Edouard led the way both creating 4 chances each.
Elhamed, Forrest and Johnston each created 3.
This really was attacking from all angles.
Celtic completed over 700 passes and dominated possession with 77%. Classic Rodger’s template you’d think. Indeed, with 89% pass completion this was 1% up on last seasons average.
So, it wasn’t really a stylistic revolution.
The Long Way Around
Goals change games however, and Celtic are taking more chances from distance.
Long distance shots are very low probability from an Expected Goals perspective. But as we saw with Rodgers’ Invincibles, nothing unpicks a packed defence like a long-range strike. Then the opposition have a dilemma in terms of when to open up.
Celtic scored 4 from outside the box including all three of Christie’s. Strangely, overall, Celtic had 28 shots of which only 10 were from outside the box.
This is the first game in the new season Celtic have had more shots inside the box than outside. Last season Celtic averaged 10.3 shots inside the box per match and only 6.4 outside. This season it is 10.6 in and 10.4 out.
Therefore, Celtic are not sacrificing chance creation but actually supplementing those closer range chances with more speculative efforts.
With the skill Christie clearly has in that regard, as well as Johnston, Ntcham and Griffiths, it could be a new trend for the season.
Christie
Subbed on 76 minutes, the all action man’s numbers are worth dwelling on.
Playing as an advanced 10, he is far more mobile than Rogic and is as likely to turn up overlapping the winger, or charging past the striker.
He won 5 challenges, only Ajer won more (14!). He also recovered the ball 7 times. I still think he is even better as an 8 where his defensive energy adds such vitality to the team. But there is no denying his attacking output here.
Completing 41 passes, he gave away 11 in a display of aggressive forward intent.
As mentioned, he created 3 chances as well as an assist for Johnston with a superb, early, long pass that left the youngster one on one with the hapless Duffy in the box. His xA of 0.97 was highest in the squad – he created good quality chances.
His 7 Pack Passes yielded a Pass Impect of 44, 3rd best on the day. But 17% of his passes took out opponents, the highest in the team.
He scored with all three shots on target. Two were off target and all but one was from outside the box. Still, his xG of 0.389 was the highest in the team.
And of course, the match ball for a first Celtic hattrick. His day completed when he hears he is also Celtic By Numbers Bhoy of the Match!
Forrest
Two assists were scant reward for a busy afternoon. He led the team with 7 shots, all inside the box. He also led the team with highest overall Impect score of 108 and was effective both receiving (Receive Impect 38) and providing (Pass Impect 33).
Liberated by having Elhamed aggressively overlap, Forrest was free to attack the centre.
He got possession in the box 9 times, 1 more than Edouard.
Overall his CAT score of 21 was matched by Edouard, but that is a very high score for a wide player.
Edouard
The stylish young Frenchman is developing beautifully.
As well as creating 3 chances and providing an assist, he managed 6 shots, 5 inside the box.
His expected Scoring Contribution of 1.406 even surpassed Christie’s.
With Johnston and Forrest free to cut inside and attack the box, and with Christie getting past him on occasions, Edouard has freedom to drop into the deeper spaces where his footwork and deceptive speed cause mayhem.
He really is evolving into a complete forward.
The Rest
There were many good performances to comment on. Some highlights.
Ajer won 14 challenges – 9 more than any other player. Saints fans may wonder why they kept dropping long balls onto his head though. The Norwegian won 11 and lost 0 aerial challenges. He also recovered the ball back 16 times, 3 more than any other Celt.
Bitton completed 98 passes with 95% accuracy. He led the way with 14 Pack Passes. St Johnstone’s front two singularly failed to stop Ajer and Bitton striding forward to improve field position. Ajer (10) and Bitton (8) led the team on progressive runs. It was a stroll for the Israeli midfielder. Games such as this are perfect to have him as an extra play maker.
I will do a separate article on the exciting development of Johnston.
Summary
This was a thrilling exhibition from Lennon’s side. But don’t be fooled that St Johnstone weren’t awful – they were.
Celtic have many other players to come back as well as continuing squad weaknesses that need addressing.
As a league season curtain opener, it doesn’t get more magnificent though!