It's a new year. A time for reflection but also, if you’re anything like me, a point at which to get the brain back in gear after seasonal self-indulgence and Yuletide inertia.
To help get those cogs whirring, like Jota’s legs mid-dribble, test yourself in this ten-question quiz all about Celtic stats during the calendar year 2021.
1. Kyogo’s unlikely goal
Kyogo Furuhashi has incredible movement, and speed of thought, which helps him to take shots from excellent locations. In fact, of all the players with at least 900 minutes played in the SPFL Premiership from 1st January 2021 up to 31st December 2021 (the minimum requirement for each of these quiz questions), he has the highest average Expected Goals per shot - a whopping 0.28 according to StatsBomb. For a little context, the Celtic team’s average xG per shot in 2021 was 0.10. But, what was the xG of Kyogo’s lowest probability goal in 2021 for Celtic?
2. Try and try again
How many attempts at goal, including penalties, do you think Celtic made in their forty Premiership matches combined during 2021? I’ll start you off with the detail that the Hoops took almost three hundred more shots than St Mirren, despite playing the same number of games, and state that there are two methods that might help in answering this. If you have an idea of how many shots Celtic attempt on average per match then a simple sum should bring you close to being correct. Alternatively, get counting the colourful dots in this viz!
3. Service please
Eight Celtic players are in the top ten for Open Play Expected Goals Assisted per 90 in the calendar year 2021. Number one is Liel Abada with 0.31 OP xGA per 90 but can you name the seven other Bhoys? For an additional bonus point name the two non-Celtic players in the top ten. Hint: neither play for Rangers.
4. Nobody beats Davey in a corner
David Turnbull has a total of 6.27 xG assisted from set-pieces in 2021 Premiership matches - the most of any player in the league. On a per 90 basis, the Celt also tops the charts with 0.17 for this metric, well in excess of James Tavernier’s 0.10, but another player does tie with him. Which non-Celtic player is joint top with Turnbull for Set Piece xGA per 90?
5. Down under dribbling
It wouldn’t be much of a test to ask who dribbles the most in this Celtic team. Jota and Tom Rogic are clear of all their teammates. In fact, Rogic made the most successful dribbles per 90 of any SPFL Premiership player in 2021. The test? Tell me how many that was per 90 for the Australian. A little information to put you in the ballpark - Jota was 3rd in the league, attempting 3.83 per 90 and succeeding on 60% of them.
6. Shoot your shot
David Turnbull took the most shots, overall, of any Celtic player in the league during 2021 with one hundred and fourteen attempts at goal. However, a different Bhoy took more on a per 90 minute basis. With 3.91 shots per 90 they were the second-highest of any Premiership player with 900+ minutes. Name the player.
7. Get ‘inter’ them
After you adjust for possession seven of the ten players with the most interceptions per 90 in 2021 were Celtic players. The non-Celtic players were Hakeem Odoffin of Hamilton Accies, Rangers’ Leon Balogun and Cammy Devlin of Hearts. It was a Celt who topped the charts with 5.61 possession adjusted interceptions per 90 - who?
8. You shall not pass
In 2021 no Scottish Premiership player had a higher success rate than Cameron Carter-Vickers when going into a defensive duel. But just how dominant was the Spurs loanee? Odsonne Edouard made a successful tackle just 54% of the time instead of being dribbled past (the lowest of any Celtic player for the calendar year) so, at the other end of the scale, what was Carter-Vickers’ percentage rate?
9. Pass the parcel
Celtic dominated the ball in almost every league match - limiting their opponents to three hundred and sixteen passes on average in 2021. The Hoops move it about a lot themselves with Carl Starfelt alone attempting 90.34 passes per 90. In fact, he was just the highest of eight Celts within the top ten most frequent passers of the ball from open play, on a per 90 basis, during the year. For this question, guess the total number of open play passes those eight, including Starfelt, attempt per 90.
10. Great Expectations
In the year 2021 Celtic conceded twenty-seven Scottish Premiership goals. StatsBomb’s model expected the team to concede just slightly more, with an Expected Goals Conceded, including penalties, total of 28.59. Celtic scored seventy-five league goals during the year but how many goals, including penalties, did StatsBomb expect them to score - what was their xG for in this period?
Congratulations on completing the quiz. Check the answers below, tot up your total score out of ten, and let me know in the comments how you got on.
ANSWERS
1. Kyogo’s unlikely goal was his 49th minute strike against Dundee in November which had 0.12 xG. Give yourself a point for any guess between 0.11xG and 0.13xG.
2. Celtic tried, and tried again, with 765 attempts at goal in 2021. I’ll accept anywhere from 755 to 775.
3. Service was provided by Ryan Christie, Odsonne Edouard, Tom Rogic, Anthony Ralston, Kyogo Furuhashi, Jota and Mo Elyounoussi. A point if you got all seven and an extra one if you named either Barrie McKay (at 5th) or Niall McGinn (at 10th) as the bonus answers.
4. Calvin Ramsay of Aberdeen put Davey (Turnbull) in the corner by matching him for Set Piece xGA per 90 in 2021.
5. Tom Rogic attempted 4.19 and was successful 65% of the time meaning that the answer is 2.71 successful dribbles per 90. Give yourself a point for anything from 2.66 to 2.76 per 90.
6. Mo Elyounoussi gets you a green tick for this question had he had the most shots per 90 for Celtic in 2021.
READ MORE: Martin Boyle to Celtic £3m transfer assessed: Does it actually make sense?
7. Scott Brown got ‘inter’ them with the most interceptions in 2021. A point for those of you who remembered the former captain.
8. Cameron Carter-Vickers said; ‘You shall not pass’ 95% of the time in 2021. I’ll accept any answer from 92% to 98%.
9. Celtic passed the parcel 662.92 times per 90 from open play in 2021on average. Take a point if you guessed between 596 and 729.
10. The great expectations for Celtic in 2021 were 85.41 xG. I’ll accept anywhere from 84 to 86.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here