Livingston 2 (Brown 15, Emmanuel-Thomas 60)
Celtic 2 (Elyounoussi 28, Bitton 38)
Brown sent off 83mins.
Celtic's assists came from Griffiths and McGregor.
Livingston's goals were a catalogue of defensive errors. Their first star
ted with a daft free kick given away by Duffy when there was no danger. However the free kick was still 40 yards from goal. Ajer seemed to pass his man (Brown) to Elyounoussi and Brown then had a clear run into the box. Duffy watched the ball but couldn't judge it properly to get to it and Bitton tracked his runner and watched the ball but made no attempt to head it. Brown was then left with a free header.
For Livingston's second - there was a weak header from Taylor, Turnbull didn't track his man, Christie tackles with the wrong foot (trying to turn on the ball), Ajer goes too short with Kabia even when there is no danger and notices overlap too late. He then can't stop the cross, Taylor tries to block with wrong foot and Barkas is static again. Woeful defending.
Celtic had an NP xG of 2.05 while Livingston's NP xG was 0.5. Celtic had 18 shots with 6 being on target. Possession was 69% with 767 touches. Celtic had 7 corners and touches in the box were 32. Total Passes were 549 with a Passing accuracy of 78%. Celtic had 31 crosses. Possession in the final third was 33% and Celtic passes in the final third were 227. Celtic were far more direct with 82 long balls which was the most this season. (Hibs home 44 and Dun Utd home was 43).
Elyounoussi was Man of the Match due to his stats. He had 1 goal, 61 touches, 36 passes, 67% pass rate, 2 key passes, 4 aerials won, 6 recoveries and 7 touches in the box. Ntcham, Eduoard, Jullien and Forrest were unavailable.
Celtic reverted to the 442diamond formation after playing with a false 9 433 against Livingston at the weekend.
Celtic lined up with;
- Barkas
- Ajer, Bitton, Duffy and Taylor
- Soro
- Christie, Turnbull and McGregor
- Elyounoussi and Griffiths
Frimpong was dropped to accommodate Ajer's return to the team. Taylor replaced Laxalt. Elyounoussi replaced Edouard.
Frimpong, Brown, Johnston and Klimala came on as subs. Frimpong for Ajer was baffling as Ajer was one of the better players and could easily have been put in the middle for Bitton or Duffy. Brown on to chase a game was baffling as was Klimala coming on before Ajeti. Key note - Celtic's intensity of passing (ie final third passes as a % of all passes) was the lowest in 75-90mins when we were chasing the game. A similar theme to the Livingston home game.