Hearts 3 xG 2.9 (Shankland 45+3 PEN, 47 and 65 PEN) Celtic 4 xG 2.81 (Forrest 14, Giakoumakis 55, Maeda 59 and Taylor 76) This was only the third game for Ange that Celtic had less xG than their opponent (in the league) with the previous encounter at Tynecastle being one of those games and the May 2022 game against Rangers the other. However both Hearts games were only lower in xG due to Hearts being awarded penalties.
Celtic's 2nd half xG of 2.01 was the highest 2nd half xG away from home since Ange joined. 72% of Celtic's xG coming in the second half.
Celtic continued from last week v Hibernian to post another good Post Shot xG performance at 4.14 which was 47% more than the xG. Top goal contributors were;
With 0.89 Aaron Mooy had 0.38 xG and 0.51 xA
With 0.86 James Forrest had 0.78 xG and 0.08 xA
With 0.64 Daizen Maeda had 0.44 xG and 0.2 xA
Sead Haksabanovic had 0.6 xA
Liel Abada had 0.5 xG
With 0.49 Greg Taylor had 0.48 xG and 0.01 xA
Top Post Shot contributors were;
Giakoumakis had 0.8 Post Shot xG from 0.16 xG chance. A 400% increase.
Taylor had 0.92 Post Shot xG from 0.48 xG chance. A 133% increase.
Maeda had 0.59 Post Shot xG from 0.44 xG chances. A 34% increase.
Forrest had 0.83 Post Shot xG from 0.78 xG chances. A 6% increase.
Below is the Non Penalty xG trendline from the match with Hearts gaining the upper hand just after half time.
Looking at possession stats by 5 minute spell the 15 to 20 minutes spell was Celtic's worst with only 39.6% possession and Celtic's best spells were 35 to 40 minutes (79.3%) and 0 to 5 minutes (79.1%). Overall match possession (that dark green static line) was 63.2%.
As per the norm during this busy schedule Celtic had 6 changes with Siegrist, Juranovic, Taylor, Abada, Kyogo and Haksabanovic all making way for Hart, Ralston, Bernabei, Forrest, Giakoumakis and Maeda. Which was the exact same line up that faced Hibernian last Saturday.
Hart
Ralston, Carter-Vickers, Welsh and Bernabei
Mooy, O'Riley and Hatate
Forrest, Giakoumakis and Haksabanovic
Jota, McGregor, Turnbull, Welsh and Starfelt were all still out injured.
Taylor, Abada, Haksabanovic and Abildgaard coming on as subs for Bernabei, Forrest, Maeda and Hatate.
Similar to the Motherwell game the formation looking more like a 4-3-3 again instead of a 4-2-3-1 or the 2-3-2-3 that it sometimes becomes.
Giakoumakis only won 2 of his 12 duels and only had 0.16 xG however it shows his strength of character that he managed to provide another goal as he consistently does.
O'Riley had a 93% passing accuracy from 58 passes and Mooy managed another assist although Mooy did look to be struggling with the pace of this game.
Carter-Vickers won 7 of his 8 duels. Summary;
Performance - Although Hearts xG was higher than Celtic's the Non Penalty xGD was 1.38 in Celtic's favour.
Match Trends - 2nd half xG of 2.01 was the highest 2nd half xG away from home since Ange joined.
Player watch - Haksabanovic had 0.6 xA despite only being on the pitch 24 minutes.
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