StatsBomb data takes us back to Brendan Rodgers' last season - 2018-19 - where the Celtic manager lasted until February, before his sudden departure to Leicester City.

After this, Neil Lennon guided the side to the league title and a Scottish Cup triumph. The trend under the Irishman had been of decreasing attacking potency but increasing defensive solidity. In 2018-19, Celtic scored 121 goals conceding just 38 in 63 matches.

Last season, it was 147 to 53 in 53 games. Celtic were as dominant domestically then as they are now, and so the quality of opposition tends to deaden the difference as it manifests in the stats. With that in mind, let’s look at what we may be returning to since Ange Postecoglou left.

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Defending

Surprisingly, perhaps, the efficiency of Postecoglou’s attacking side resulted in such dominance that the defensive metrics became overwhelmingly positive compared to Rodgers’ last season.

Starting at the bottom, Celtic under the Australian were more aggressive in defence in all aspects. Firstly, their average starting position was more than three metres further up the pitch – they simply squeezed the game up to a greater extent. Then, the pressing from Postecoglou’s side was more effective. They allowed 5.9 passes per defensive action compared to Rodgers’ side allowing 6.36.

As last season unfolded, the defence alignment in possession (rest defence) with full-backs inverting and the team in a 2-3-5 shape going forwards meant that the centre-backs were well protected. Therefore, Celtic lost 0.34 xG from counter-attack opportunities compared to 0.76 under Rodgers. Overall, the Australian’s season two side conceded fewer shots, fewer clear shots, lower average xG per shot, and even less xG from set-pieces.

By virtually all measures, Celtic had a better defensive performance last season than under Rodgers in his last season. Further context is that we know there was unhappiness behind the scenes leading to his eventual departure, but then it is likely Postecoglou’s departure had been in the works for some time also.

So, a challenge for the new manager is to maintain or better last season defensively – not what we might think when following a Postecoglou stint.

Attacking

The attacking comparison between 2018-19 and 2022-23 is far more nuanced. Under Rodgers, Celtic had slightly more shots and similarly from counterattacking scenarios. An attack of Scott Sinclair, Odsonne Edouard, Leigh Griffiths, Timo Weah and Oliver Burke was able to generate slightly more clear shots and shots generated on the counter-press.

They were even more accurate with crosses into the box – 30 per cent success compared to 27 per cent. They even bettered Postecoglou’s side in terms of xG generated from set pieces. This is less of a surprise given the propensity to play short and keep possession in the final third.

Yet - despite all of the above - Postecoglou’s side generated far greater average xG (2.09 to 1.83), and slightly better xG per shot. The emphasis with the Australian was on getting high-quality chances from central positions – the classic Kyogo Furuhashi or Giorgos Giakoumakis one-touch finish from inside or near the six-yard box. All that speaks to the utter efficiency of the Australian's system and attacking patterns.

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Summary

Rodgers never lost a trophy at Celtic and Postecoglou completed a treble in his final season. Both won the SPFL with relative comfort. Yet, underlying performances were far stronger from a defensive and attacking perspective under the Australian than in Rodgers’ last season.

Context is always important. The SPFL continues to decline in standard season over season but arguably Celtic’s main rivals are stronger now than then. Whilst Rodgers’s season three was arguably one of stagnation as regards the fluency of play, Postecoglou’s season two was the high-water mark at least domestically.

Simplistically, if Celtic regress back to 2018-19 levels we may get slightly concerned. However, with a more coherent and well-run football operations and recruitment section behind him, it would be surprising if that were to be the case.