Why Celtic's Reo Hatate is the best midfielder in Scotland

The visitors were up for this game and scored early on through Callum McGregor, whose shot from outside the box was his second in as many away games. After breaking the deadlock after just three minutes, they would score again in the 33rd minute through Reo Hatate, after great work by both Alistair Johnston and Daizen Maeda in the build-up respectively. They would put the seal on the contest in the second half, as Johnston profited off of great work by substitute Nicolas Kuhn on the wing to smash home a thunderous strike, leaving Ellery Balcombe with no chance of getting anywhere near it.

Using StatsBomb radars, data and analytics, The Celtic Way brings you a match report unlike any other…

Key stats and race chart

As has been the case in every game thus far this campaign, Celtic dominated proceedings in virtually every category offensively. 74 per cent possession, 830 attempted passes and 87 per cent passing completion are all consistent with how the team is playing this campaign, though they should have scored more than three goals with 21 total efforts – eight on target.

Despite their dominance, 1.62 on cumulative xG highlights their slight wastefulness in front of goal, though it indicates the quality of shots making their way into the opposition’s goal were of a high standard in this match – which was the case for all three goals. You get the feeling that Brendan Rodgers’ side will inflict a hammering on a team once they put it all together.

Looking at the race chart – which covers xG over the course of the match – Celtic and St Mirren were level until around the 15th minute before the visitors to Paisley shot away in this metric. Indeed, the home side only managed 0.10 in total xG, with StatsBomb only giving them a two per cent chance of winning the contest. Celtic’s final total was 1.62 as mentioned previously – a 77 per cent chance of winning according to the data provider. Strangely, a draw had a 21 per cent chance of happening, despite Celtic’s sheer dominance in proceedings. 

Formation and passing

In line with virtually every line-up since his return, Rodgers opted for a 4-3-3 for this game. Kasper Schmeichel remained in goals, with a back four of Johnston, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Liam Scales and Greg Taylor. The captain McGregor played in the base of midfield, supported by Hatate and Paulo Bernardo, who made his first start since joining the club permanently from Benfica earlier this month. Adam Idah made his first start since re-joining from Norwich City and was joined by Maeda and James Forrest on the left and right respectively. Kuhn had to settle for a spot on the bench alongside Kyogo Furuhashi, due to returning from their recent injuries. 

The team’s passing network concerning OBV (On Ball Value) highlights two standout performances from Johnston and Hatate – as shown by their large red circles on the diagram. Everything positive came from these two outlets, as well as McGregor in the number six role. Perhaps the only negative in this graphic comes from the forward areas, as Idah, Forrest and Maeda have very few passes between each other. Something to work on in the weeks and months ahead.

Hatate and Johnston’s OBV were the highest statistically at 0.29 and 0.21 respectively. Taylor, Forrest, Maeda, Bernardo and Idah all had negative showings in this metric. 

His name has been all over this report already, but Hatate topped Celtic’s key pass rankings with five – at a combined xG total of 0.53. Despite only playing for 30 minutes, Kuhn had three key passes, whilst Bernardo, McGregor and Forrest each had two to their name.

Shooting

Where do you start with Celtic’s goals on Sunday? Three strikes of individual quality were witnessed in Paisley, so all of them will be given their flowers in this report.

This is becoming quite the occurrence for the skipper, who has picked up a useful habit in the last two away games with these long-range strikes. A low-xG shot of 0.04, the PSxG skyrocketed to 0.54 once the strike left the former Scotland international’s boot, despite the St Mirren getting a slight touch on the chance. A class strike from a very classy player on the top of his game at the moment.

From one stunning strike to another – arguably better, too – as Hatate’s sliced shot hit the inside of the far post before finding its way into the net. A well-worked goal from Celtic’s perspective, Johnston crossed the ball into Maeda’s path, before the Japan international headed it into his fellow countryman, who expertly finished from distance. An xG of 0.11 that again rose to 0.96, Sunday’s best player impacted this game in the best possible way, as his solid start to proceedings continued in Paisley.

Finally, Johnston got on the scoresheet after some great work by Kuhn to set the right-back up in the box. Again, a difficult shot of 0.10 was registered by StatsBomb, which increased slightly to 0.25 following the shot. A goal of real quality in an area that looks very strong for Celtic presently. 

Hatate again led the way in shooting with four, at a combined xG of 0.24. Maeda and Johnston had three, while Idah and Forrest had two each. 

Pressing and defending

Despite having much more possession, Celtic kept close to St Mirren concerning pressures at a rate of 154-135 in the home side’s favour. The visitors had more pressure regains, however, with 32 to 29. Maeda had the most pressures for Celtic with 22, with Hatate and Bernardo not far behind on 16 and 15 respectively.

Defensively, it was a solid game for Scales with six clearances and three aerial wins. Despite his shaky showing, Carter-Vickers led Celtic with five combined tackles and interceptions, with the captain helping out on the defensive end with four in this particular statistic.