Celtic 3
xG 1.57
(Turnbull 26 & 55, Forrest 73)
Jablonec 0
xG 1.18
Jablonec had one change from their line up at the weekend with Malinsky dropping out again and Plestil coming in for him on the right wing. However this was 2 changes from the first leg with Surzyn and Martinec dropped from right back and right centre back. Holik came in for Surzyn at right back and Houska came in for Martinec. Houska played in midfield and Kubista dropped back to cover Martinec like he did at the weekend. Malinksy has only missed 2 games this season (both games against us).
Celtic lined up with predicted 4-3-3 formation but with another change and this time it was Abada missing. Ange said that Abada took a knock in training but should be ok for the weekend. Forrest came in to play his natural right wing position which is the first time he has started there this season.
Celtic line up (with accurate passes included) below. Also included (to the right) is the first leg for comparison.
McGregor 85 passes versus Soro's 56 in the first leg is probably to compensate for Welsh's 63 versus Bitton's 87. Turnbull increased his accurate passes from 38 to 59 but he was the more advanced midfielder in the first leg with the most advanced in the second leg being Rogic. Christie also gets on the ball more than the forwards generally do.
Subs used were; Edouard for Furuhashi (65mins), Soro, Montgomery and Ajeti for Turnbull, Christie and Rogic (on 73mins) and Bitton for McGregor (on 84mins). Celtic going to a 4-4-2 for the last 17mins and then Bitton going into the central midfield (alongside Soro) for the last 6 mins.
Our xG of was lower than you would have thought watching the game at 1.57 with Turnbull on 0.49 and Forrest on 0.43. For xA Taylor had 0.43 and Christie had 0.4.
Stats comparison with the first leg below (first leg in brackets);
Shots 14 (17)
On target 6 (8)
xG per shot 0.112 (0.208)
Box shots 10 (13)
Possession 64% (66%)
Touches 808 (839)
Accurate passes 526 (531)
Passing accuracy 87% (86%)
Long ball accuracy 41% (33%)
Tackles success 63% (53%)
So most of the stats are down on last week with the exception of passing accuracy, long ball accuracy and tackles success. However as the tie was won after the first couple of goals went in it is only natural performance drops off a little.
In regards to match ratings (taken from Fotmob) David Turnbull was unsurprisingly rated MotM at 9.1 with Greg Taylor on 8.5 and James Forrest on 8.37.
After our right back being 2nd best rated player on Sunday to our left back being 2nd best rated player tonight.
Taylor had an xG of 0.05 but Post Shot xG of 0.52 and he had an xA of 0.43 with a great assist. 12% of the team's passes came from Taylor which was the third best contribution and he had 2 tackles attempted and 2 won.
The most pleasing thing about tonight for me is that there is massive room for improvement and that we are doing well in the meantime. The amount of times Furuhashi was making a run in behind and either wasn't seen or was passed to too late excites me as this can only get better.
Another pleasing aspect was seeing Starfelt and McGregor giving a big well done to Hart for his first big save and then Hart did the same to Starfelt for his great tackle in the box. This shows great leadership from those players but also great teamwork and a team playing for each other.
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