Celtic produced by far their best performance of the season last night, as they dismantled Dundee 7-1, issuing a statement of intent for the rest of the season with the manner of their victory.
Brendan Rodgers’ side looked up for this game from the get-go and would take the lead through returning defender Cameron Carter-Vickers’ header after just seven minutes. This would be followed by goals of the same variety from Adam Idah and Matt O’Riley before Daizen Maeda produced a stunning solo strike, the first goal to be taken by a Celtic player’s feet! Greg Taylor and Callum McGregor would score two further goals before the break, as the team received rapturous applause from the home crowd at the half-time whistle. Celtic were up by six goals, and in dreamland.
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Following the restart, the home side would further their advantage through youngster Daniel Kelly - who replaced the captain at the break - scoring from distance with his weaker foot, his first in senior football. Dundee would be reduced to 10 men 15 minutes before the game’s conclusion, before scoring a late consolation through Michael Mellon. An understandable stepping off of the gas from Celtic, who had the game wrapped up after just 20 minutes in all honesty.
In partnership with StatsBomb, here are some of the notable statistics and metrics from last night’s emphatic win for Rodgers and his side…
Trendline, xG and stats
As the match stats suggest, Celtic were utterly dominant in this game. 75 per cent possession and over 800 passes attempted in the match prove this hypothesis as fact. Quite incredibly, the home side outperformed their xG score by a considerable margin, as they outscored this metric by over four, an impressive showing of attacking proficiency.
Celtic’s dominance in this game is shown in the xG race chart, which highlights the team’s multitude of chances compared to their opponents on the night. When calculating their probability as a percentage given the chances created, Celtic had a massive 83 per cent chance of winning the game, with Dundee only having 4 per cent of a chance themselves. A draw was calculated as 13 per cent, though this was never really a possibility of happening given Celtic’s performance on the night.
The top individual on the night in terms of key passes for Celtic was awarded to Alistair Johnston, who had four, tied with Owen Beck of Dundee who had the same amount for his side. Captain McGregor had three, whilst Yang Hyun-jun, Taylor and O’Riley each had two to boast.
Team line-up and positions
Celtic retained their 4-3-3 formation for this game, after returning to this shape against Motherwell last weekend. Carter-Vickers made his first start since his return from his latest injury, whilst Yang was given a start in place of Nicolas Kuhn. Idah led the line ahead of Kyogo Furuhashi, whilst Tomoki Iwata stayed in the side after an impressive appearance in Motherwell. O’Riley and McGregor were spared from being dropped from the side after a string of sub-par performances, with the faith in the pair vindicated with a goal each from the pair.
Looking at Celtic’s passing network from this game, it was a performance full of effective showings, especially from Celtic’s midfield and out wide. O’Riley and Johnston were front and centre, as their circles show a positive contribution in both passes and OBV levels. It is no surprise that Celtic elected to go down this side, as Yang was getting so much joy on the right.
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In terms of overall statistics, Johnston posted the highest OBV for the second game running, scoring a season-high total for Celtic altogether at a massive 1.23 for his 122 passes. His counterpart Taylor was next best, though far lower at 0.33 OBV. O’Riley, Liam Scales and Carter-Vickers all had positive performances in this metric.
Shooting
Observing Celtic’s shot map is a joy this week, as it shows Celtic’s ruthlessness in front of goal. Indeed, virtually all of their chances close to Trevor Carson’s area ended up as a goal, which pointed towards an extremely efficient night in front of goal.
The pick of the bunch – a happy conundrum to have – was from Kelly, who scored from range in the second half. On his weaker foot, the academy product struck the ball from just inside the box, with his shot recorded at 0.09 in xG originally. This total rose to 0.57, indicating the accuracy, power and precision of the strike from the Scotland youth international. What a moment for the young player, who promises so much in the years to come.
For Celtic’s top shooter on the night, O’Riley took this accolade, as he had six shots at goal, with one finding its way in the back of Carson’s net via a header. Palma had two shots – including an unlucky strike from distance – as did Maeda, whilst Kyogo and Yang had one.
Pressing and defending
As to be expected, Dundee outpressured Celtic at a rate of 160 to 156, though it shows that the home side matched up to their opponents in that metric well despite having far more of the ball. Maeda was the top performer for this action, contributing 31 of his own, whilst O’Riley and Yang had 19 and 16 respectively. The latter had the most counterpressures for both sides too, as the South Korea winger had eight of his own in this metric, a good showing for the 21-year-old in the process
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Scales was Celtic’s busiest defender in proceedings as he had a total of 10 clearances and aerial duel wins. Johnston had eight, whilst Carter-Vickers had seven of his own. A strong showing from all areas on the park, as Celtic cruised to their joint-highest win of the season so far/
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