WITH the Scottish Premiership entering its winter hiatus, January provides an opportunity for reflection and assessment. Coaches at every club will be casting an eye over their players, looking for areas where improvements can be made by recruiting an extra player or two to bolster their squads.

Improving players is a fundamental aspect of any manager’s role and the only thing more important are the results their team picks up on the pitch. Now that we’re at the halfway point in the campaign, we’ve taken a look at the Premiership’s most improved players this season and made up a possible starting eleven.

In order to make the list, each player has to have been playing in Scotland during the 2017/18 season, for the simple reason that a player’s stats from one league aren’t necessarily transferable to the Premiership. Players like Ryan Kent or Filip Benkovic have caught the eye this season, but comparing their performances this season to previous campaigns in different leagues can prove problematic.

Goalkeeper - Liam Kelly

Livingston have perhaps been the most surprising team in Scotland’s top flight this season so far and continue to punch above their weight with remarkable consistency. 18 months ago, the club  had just sealed promotion from League One and haven’t let their performances slide for two-and-a-half years now. And a huge part of their impressive start to life in the Premiership has been their man between the sticks.

Liam Kelly re-joined the club this summer from Rangers after playing a part in their successful 2016/17 campaign where Livingston won League One and has been in fantastic form this year. Only Celtic and Rangers have conceded fewer goals than the West Lothian club this season and Kelly has impressed throughout the campaign so far.

When we compare each Premiership goalkeeper’s goals conceded to their expected goals conceded, we can see which goalies are excelling between the sticks this season. We’ve previously noted how well Hearts’ Zdenek Zlamal is doing this season, but the Czech can’t be included in our team as he wasn’t playing in Scotland last season. Kelly is currently saving 0.17 goals per 90 minutes that he reasonably shouldn’t be, or an extra goal every six games.

Left-back - Greg Taylor

Kilmarnock’s Greg Taylor is the next player on our teamsheet and won’t be the last from Steve Clarke’s team to be included either. The 21-year-old full-back has gone from strength to strength under Clarke’s tutelage and has also impressed for the Scotland under-21s at the European Championships and the Toulon Tournament this year.

Kilmarnock’s left-back has clearly been working on the defensive side of his game this year and his success rate at defensive duels has risen, as has his rate of winning headers. Taylor is also hitting more crosses this season, and with a greater degree of accuracy too. Kieran Tierney - the league’s best left-back, and possibly even the Premiership’s best player - does post better numbers than Taylor, but it should be pointed out that the Celtic defender’s numbers have dropped off a little, compared to last season.

Centre back - Ryan Porteous

The Hibernian defender is the latest player to graduate from the Hibernian youth academy and has barely blinked as he’s adapted to life in the Premiership. Ryan Porteous was a bit-part player last season but has nailed down a spot in Neil Lennon’s starting eleven this season. And with Efe Ambrose expected to leave Easter Road this month, Hibs will be more reliant on the young centre back going into the second half of the season.

Porteous has thrived under the extra responsibility that has been placed on his shoulders this season and becoming a more regular fixture in Lennon’s team has clearly aided his development. He’s attempting slightly fewer defensive duels each match - but doing so more successfully - and is also more dominant in the air, winning 8% more headers and attempting a couple more each game on average.

Centre back - Jason Kerr

Another young Scottish centre back who has been gaining admirers this season is St Johnstone’s Jason Kerr, and rightly so. His tackling success rate has risen by 8%, as have the number of overall headers he’s contesting and the percentage that Kerr wins. He’s making marginally more interceptions in each Premiership appearance this season, and blocking more shots too. By almost any metric, Kerr has noticeably improved.

Last season’s loan spell at Queen of the South appears to have worked wonders for Kerr’s development and the 21-year-old is yet to miss a Premiership game for Tommy Wright’s side this season. It’s been a rapid rise for the young centre back, who is now one of the first names on the teamsheet at McDiarmid Park.

Right back - Richard Foster

The oldest player in our team by quite a distance, the 2018/19 season has seen quite a year so far for another Saints player: Richard Foster. The former Aberdeen and Rangers full-back has often struggled for consistency in Scottish football’s top flight but has been in excellent form for Wright’s side so far this season.

The 33-year-old crossing ability has always been one of the better aspects of his game but this season Foster has taken it to another level. The right-back has the best crossing rate of any Premiership player, with the majority of his deliveries finding their target; no other player in the league manages this. Couple this with the fact that Foster’s tackling success rate has nearly doubled from last season - in 2017/18 the full-back won 13.2% of his tackles, compared to 23.2% this year - and his place as the most-improved right back in the Premiership is fully justified.

Central midfield - Lewis Ferguson

The nephew of Rangers legend Barry Ferguson, Lewis’ move to Aberdeen in the summer looks to have been a stroke of genius from Derek McInnes. The 19-year-old announced himself in spectacular fashion with an overhead kick against Burnley in the Europa League qualifiers and has an eye for goal in big matches - Ferguson has already scored against Celtic, Rangers and Kilmarnock this season.

Ferguson’s playing style has been refined under McInnes and the central midfielder is developing well at Pittodrie. He’s hitting around eight more passes each game, with a greater degree of accuracy, and is focussing more on the technical side of his game. He’s attempting fewer interceptions each game, but also giving the ball away less. Ferguson’s dribbling has also improved - around 12% are more successful this season, compared to last - but he’s also attempting fewer each game

Central midfield - Callum McGregor

The first Celtic player to make our most improved eleven, Callum McGregor is enjoying arguably his best season yet in a Celtic shirt. The 25-year-old has been steadily improving under the guidance of Brendan Rodgers and is arguably the Premiership’s best midfielder this season.

McGregor’s deployment at the base of the Celtic midfield in Scott Brown’s absence has been something of a masterstroke by Rodgers and has led some Celtic fans to believe that he should be starting ahead of their talismanic captain. McGregor is providing more assists, hitting more of his shots on target, playing more passes and making more interceptions this season compared to last and is an early frontrunner for player of the season.

Right midfield - James Forrest

Another Celtic player who has been at times unplayable this season is 27-year-old James Forrest. The winger has starred for both club and country and has been playing the best football of his career this season. Like most others on this list, Forrest is a player who seems to have improved across the board this campaign.

A look at Forrest’s actions per 90 minutes reveals he’s doing a heck of a lot more this season on the pitch compared to the 2017/18 campaign. His goal rate has nearly doubled, his assist rate has more than doubled and he’s hitting more shots, crosses and attempting more dribbles - and he’s doing all of this more successfully. It’s been a fantastic season so far for the Scotland international and Rodgers will be hoping for more of the same for the Premiership title run-in.

Left midfield - Jordan Jones

The second of Clarke’s players to make our list, left winger Jordan Jones continues to impress at Rugby Park. The 24-year-old has been one of Kilmarnock’s best players over the last 18 months and after starting the season a little slowly, seems to be back to his best now.

Jones’ biggest asset is undoubtedly his dribbling ability and the English winger has completed more dribbles in the Premiership this season than any other player. Aberdeen’s Connor McLennan actually has a marginally higher number of dribbles per 90 minutes, although doesn’t feature as regularly for his side as Jones does for his. With Jones’ contract up in the summer, Kilmarnock will be desperate to keep him tied to the club as the winger will have no shortage of admirers who will attempt to prise him away from Rugby Park.

Striker - Alfredo Morelos

Rangers’ Colombian striker is the top scorer in the Premiership so far this season and has developed a ruthlessness in front of goal that was previously missing. Alfredo Morelos has found the net on 20 occasions across all competitions this season and has held his own both domestically and in Europe as well.

Morelos’ finishing is the most obvious aspect of his game that has improved - he’s hitting more shots, more accurately this season - but his hold-up play has also come on leaps and bounds under Steven Gerrard’s management. The 22-year-old is happy to throw his weight around and use his physicality against opponents and has arguably been Rangers’ best player this season. Discipline remains an issue, but there can be no doubting the young forward’s quality and attacking threat.

Striker - Greg Stewart

Many pundits had written Greg Stewart off after a poor campaign at Aberdeen last season, but this year he has shown why he became one of Scottish football’s most in-demand forwards when he left Dundee for Birmingham City in the summer of 2016.

Stewart only managed four goals and four assists in 36 appearances last season for Aberdeen but this season has been back to his best, already providing eight goals and six assists at the halfway point of the campaign. Only Morelos has contributed a higher number of combined goals and assists this year. Kilmarnock fans will be hoping that Stewart can maintain his remarkable turnaround in form to keep them in contention for a top-three finish this season.

The Herald:

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