And away we go! A loosener from Derek McInnes’ Kilmarnock was despatched for four to the boundary.

As I mix my sports metaphors to acknowledge the continuation of summer, Celtic raised the flag and banked the three points. It was a gentle afternoon in the end with McInnes signposting pre-match that his players had interrailing on their minds, European adventures between which this was an unwelcome distraction. As an exercise in getting your defeatist excuses in early, this was a pearler. His players responded in the only way most professionals know when given an easy out, they succumbed meekly to the well-drilled Scottish champions.

Celtic’s unchanged lineup from last season bar new custodian, Kaper Schmeichel, played with a togetherness and cohesion redolent of a well-coached outfit. Amongst the passing, moving, giving and going were some standout individual performances. Kyogo Furuhashi did not score but directly assisted one and indirectly assisted the fourth for Anthony Ralston. His mastery of the one-touch pass was also a feature. Midfield duo Reo Hatate and Matt O’Riley enjoyed the lack of usual man-to-man marking from a McInnes side to reap and sow mayhem throughout. James Forrest rolled back the year.

However, a remarkable performance centred on Celtic’s back-line as Liam Scales dominated 20 per cent of ALL Celtic’s on-ball actions in the match. This was a level of individual ball-hoggery not seen since the experiment of putting Callum McGregor at left-back was enacted. The Irishman completed 73 more passes in open play than Kilmarnock. It was the second most individual passes completed in a match behind midfielder McGregor’s 168 away at Aberdeen on 17th December 2022, a match he won with an 87th-minute winner.

A matter of (Liam) Scale(s)

The range of metrics on the day that Scales dominated is extraordinary.

A lot of numbers here, so let me put context around them. As per last season, Kilmarnock targeted the Celtric left flank on the rare occasions Liam Scales did not have the ball. Consequently, he was most involved in aerial duels with firstly Kyle Vassell and then Innes Cameron. He contested 11 aerial duels compared to three by partner Cameron Carter-Vickers. Overall, he won 12 challenges (aerial and ground duels) and interceptions. Seven clearances are neither ‘good’ nor ‘bad’ but indicate a level of no-nonsense defensive activity.

22 recoveries are indicative again of the ball being played into his “zone” continually but speak to his positioning and anticipation – being in the “right place”. Winning the ball back eight times is a green tick as is winning the ball back three times in his defensive third of the field. 166 total passes completed is a remarkable figure only bettered by McGregor once as above. Admirably, 96 per cent of those passes were completed successfully.

That is not to say he put no risk into his ball progression. 31 of those passes took at least one opponent out of the game – i.e. a pack pass. His overall pack passing score of 170 has only been bettered once since I started packing records in 2017-18 and that was Scales again at Hibernian on 23rd October 2023 – 182. In taking seven of the Kilmarnock defenders out of the game with those pack passes; he also posted a team-high for the day. There’s more – seven progressive runs in the opposition half were also a team-high. He also added a goal whilst his two shots on target were third best for the champions.

As I said, a remarkable performance. However, you just know there is a ‘but’ in all of this...

The other side...

Scales came out on top in many data vendor match ratings (e.g. 9.1 out of 10 by Opta). This is because they are driven by quantity not quality, primarily. Scales accumulated an incredible array of on-ball actions.

Much of that was driven by the opposition targeting his side of the pitch, and by the opponent not pressing and letting him have the ball unfettered. Why would they do that? Because they perceive weakness. Also, for years Celtic have been left-side dominant in how they attack. This may not have been wise in this instance given the control Scales had over the game, but let’s widen the context of the data presented.

Let’s acknowledge the numbers presented are low, but the categories are important. Whilst Carter-Vickers had 100 per cent success in his duels, Scales was only at 60 per cent. Especially aerially, the Kilmarnock strikers were able to get the first contact in such battles. That then can lead to chaos where the second ball ends up. Such was the lack of energy in the Kilmarnock team there was little harm done. But most SPFL sides play this way.

He hardly put a pass wrong, but the impact of the few stray ones was felt. Three pack turnovers meant that across the game, 11 Celtic players were taken out of the game by those stray passes - allowing a counterattacking opportunity. Again, a better opponent will punish this.

He lost the ball more than anyone in his defensive third of the field and lost possession overall more than any other player. One passage saw him be bullied under the ball by Vassell then concede a foul in trying to recover. For balance, Vassell is a handful physically and got the better of Carter-Vickers in the first half in the right-back position getting a cross over allowing Matt Kennedy a shot from inside the box. Whilst that is a very rare occurrence, seeing Scales caught under the ball and then getting panicky, is not.

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Then there is the stuff the data does not collect. The volume of passes that - because they were delivered a fraction of a second too slow - resulted in a player receiving back to goal under heavy pressure only to play it back to start again. The point here is, to always widen the context of the data to get a full handle on individual performances.

The point is not to bash Scales. He remains a stellar example of what CAN happen when trust is put into a previously unheralded player who is dedicated, stays fit, and has a tremendous learning ethic and work rate. Left-footed left-sided centre-backs that are of any quality are extremely rare. He may yet prove to save Celtic a fortune. He is also clearly capable of remarkable performances.

The caveats appear minor in volume (hence the match rating algorithms will largely ignore them) but are of great import when assessing risk as the opposition quality levels rise.

He will be 26 on the 8th of August. It is no great age for a centre-back. Let’s hope there is still development in him.