Celtic crossing returns with a vengeance in costly stalemate against Livingston

Ange Postecoglou's team selection included Kyogo Furuhashi dropping to the bench with Giorgos Giakoumakis starting up front. The Greek would miss an injury-time penalty in the second half in Celtic's best chance of securing all three points.

Here, The Celtic Way looks at the StatsBomb data from the game to give you a match report experience like no other.

Trendline

Celtic's penchant for fast starts went out the window on this occasion, with much of the first half xG race chart flatlining. The same applied to Livingston throughout the match, reinforcing what the eye test told anyone in attendance: the opposition were not there to try to win.

Things picked up slightly just before half-time with Liel Abada, Carl Starfelt and Anthony Ralston all having low-quality chances. Giakoumakis had an opportunity directly after the break but again this was of low quality as the Hoops toiled to break down the Livi rearguard.

That trend continued for most of the second period - until injury time. In a three-minute spell from the 93rd minute, Celtic created four mid-to-high quality chances that accounted for more than 80 per cent (1.74) of the team's 2.16 cumulative xG.

Giakoumakis' missed penalty was valued at 0.76 while his later opportunity rated 0.58. James Forrest (0.19) and David Turnbull (0.21) also had late attempts.

In terms of chances created, Celtic would have been expected to win this match 96 per cent of the time.

Shots

Despite a distinctly uninventive display, Celtic still rained in 17 shots on the Livi goal. Some of them were even from ideal, central areas but the main issue was only two managed to find the target. 

Max Stryjek saved Giakoumakis' penalty but, besides that, the Lions keeper had very little to actively stop besides helping his defence deal with Celtic's endless procession of crosses (of which there were an astounding 37). Indeed, those crosses led to just three shots.

Celtic shots as a result of crosses v Livingston

In addition, nine Celtic shots were blocked - including five long-rangers of which Turnbull took three - while six simply missed the target. 

On the flip side, Livi neither offered nor gave any hint of attacking threat and mustered two attempts in total - both around the 75th-minute mark.

Passing and possession

With 85 per cent possession and almost 1,000 passes attempted, it's no surprise Ange Postecoglou's men spent most of the game nowhere near their own goal.

In general, literally every Celtic player - with the honourable exception of keeper Joe Hart - spent most of the game in the Livi half.

Despite the abundance of crosses, most of the passing took place in central areas with Nir Bitton to Cameron Carter-Vickers, Callum McGregor to Nir Bitton and Carter-Vickers to Carl Starfelt the most common combinations. As a result, the wingers are relatively cool colours; they still made plenty of passes but were relatively unthreatening.

Although Giakoumakis is a warm colour himself, the thin and cool passing lines to him from the rest of the team means he was not only somewhat isolated in a positional sense but the service to him was largely ineffective too.

Interestingly, the first half and second half maps are pretty similar even though the second half saw the introduction of Kyogo Furuhashi - here generally taking up positions in a role closer to attacking midfield than central striker in an attempt to drag Livi players out of position - and Bitton's switch to centre-back after Starfelt's injury-enforced withdrawal.

During the second half Celtic used three different right wingers - Liel Abada continued in the role before Jota switched from the left to accommodate Mikey Johnston then, upon the Portuguese's withdrawal, James Forrest finished the match.

Pressing and defending

If anything illustrates Livingston's intent it is their pressure heatmap. Almost entirely across the pitch from their own 18-yard line and very little elsewhere, the visitors clocked up 182 pressures - almost double that of Celtic - during the course of the match. 

That said, they made only eight pressure regains compared to Celtic's 21. Indeed, Celtic's counter-pressure heatmap is almost a mirror image of Livi's pressure one. The Hoops also won more tackles despite largely owning the ball, suggesting it was an effective performance in terms of control from Postecoglou's men even if attacking penetration was absent for much of it.

When it comes to individuals, Bitton was Celtic's leading 'presser' with 17  - although it must be noted that he recorded seven pressured action fails - with McGregor next up on 13. Both totals were dwarfed by Livi's Stephane Omeonga, who ran up a match-high 35.

McGregor topped the lot for counter-pressing in number and total duration while Livi's Odin Bailey led his side.

Defensively, Anthony Ralston stood out with match-highs in interceptions (eight) and aerial duel wins (eight) as well as a 100 per cent challenge success rate, three clearances and no fouls committed.