Celtic started their season off with a bang, as they brushed aside Kilmarnock 4-0 on Flag Day in Glasgow.

With Lisbon Lion Jim Craig on hand to unfurl the 2023/24 Scottish Premiership winner’s flag – as well as Danny McGrain in attendance - Brendan Rodgers’ side were in a ravenous mood, and instantly put the visitors under severe pressure from the get-go.

The talismanic striker Kyogo Furuhashi threatened early doors before his fellow countryman Reo Hatate scored from just inside the box to put his side in the lead. Celtic continued to dominate, and doubled their lead via a corner, as Matt O’Riley found the oncoming Liam Scales, who accurately headed the ball past Robbie McCrorie, who had made a string of quality saves to keep the scoreline down. Celtic went in at the break 2-0 up, though it did not flatter them in the slightest.

Into the second half, and the home side continued to peg the visitors back, forcing them to defend on the edge of their box for large periods of time. A quick pass from Kyogo sent Nicolas Kuhn on his bike, with the German winger cutting inside and scoring via a deflected shot, which looped over McCrorie. Celtic would continue to push, and substitute Anthony Ralston would slot home a rebounded shot through the legs of the busy Kilmarnock keeper to make it 4-0, as the champions went top of the league via goal difference.

Using StatsBomb, The Celtic Way’s Ryan McGinlay brings you a match report unlike any other…

Key stats + race chart

A quick glance at the simple statistics in this game indicates that Celtic completely dominated proceedings on Sunday. With 80 per cent possession, 32 shots – 12 on target, – 860 passes attempted and 89 per cent pass completion, Rodgers’ team sent out a message and statement to the rest of Scottish football on their first competitive game of the new season.

This dominance was felt concerning the xG race chart above, as Celtic ran away with the contest in this metric following the first goal. After an even opening 15 minutes or so the xG floodgates opened, with Kilmarnock not getting anywhere near matching Celtic’s attacking prowess, only recording 0.26 in their xG total. The home side outperformed their own xG total, too, scoring four goals despite only having 2.41 in this statistic.

Because of these totals, Celtic were given an 88 per cent chance of winning this football match, while Kilmarnock has a lowly 2 per cent. A draw was calculated at having a 10 per cent chance of occurring.

As was the case for virtually the whole of last campaign and pre-season this summer, Celtic lined up in their usual 4-3-3 formation for this contest. Kasper Schmeichel made his competitive debut for the club, while it was a familiar back-line that featured in the shape of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Scales at centre-back and the duo of Alistair Johnston and Greg Taylor at right and left-back respectively. The midfield three of Callum McGregor, Hatate and O’Riley were in place for this one, meanwhile, James Forrest took the place of the injured Daizen Maeda on the left wing, supported by Kuhn on the right and Kyogo through the middle up front.

Celtic’s passing network and the positions taken up by the players on the pitch make for pleasurable reading and viewing. From the above diagram, which measures OBV (on-ball value), it was clear that a lot of Celtic’s joy in possession was coming from the left-hand side, particularly from Scales in defence, Hatate in midfield and Forrest on the wing. Despite this slight lop-sidedness, O’Riley was very effective through the middle and was supported greatly by Kuhn on the right.

Delving into the statistics surrounding OBV, Hatate was the star of the show, scoring 0.40 for his 56 passes. Scales’ 161 passes from the back accumulated into 0.36 in OBV, whilst Kuhn and O’Riley had 0.24 and 0.20 respectively for their efforts. Taylor, Kyogo and McGregor scored negatively in this metric, though all were effective in proceedings yesterday in other areas statistically.

Some things never change, including O’Riley’s stranglehold on the key passes metric. Indeed, he had seven in total versus Kilmarnock, scoring 0.45 in combined xG. Forrest had four to his name, as Kyogo, Hatate and Johnston had two each. Creativity is not a problem in this team, that’s for sure.

Shooting

As shown above, the first goal of this contest – and of Celtic’s season as a whole – was a classy finish from a classy player, as Taylor found Hatate with a stabbed pass into the midfielder’s direction. Number 41 took a touch before accurately placing his shot in the back of McCrorie’s net, who did get a touch on the strike. Alas, it was not enough to prevent a conversion, with his 0.13 in xG rising to 0.27 in PSxG following the shot leaving the Japan international’s boot. The standout player, Hatate is off and running for this campaign in a very good way.

The second goal was a very encouraging sight concerning Celtic’s set-piece execution. O’Riley curled a lovely weighted ball into the opposition’s box, which was met by the oncoming Scales, who tremendously headed the ball off of the post and into the back of the net, leaving McCrorie with no chance of saving his side. A difficult chance to take – highlighted by the 0.06 xG score attributed to the header – Scales’ opportunity skyrocketed to 0.68 in xG following contact from the defender via his head.

Overall, Celtic managed 32 shots - of which 12 were on target – which led to four goals. The shot map above displayed a mixed bag of shots from distance and close range, with two goals occurring just inside the box and the other two from a few yards out. Kilmarnock’s blocking must be applauded, as their defenders stopped this from being a complete annihilation concerning the scoreboard.

In terms of numbers, Kyogo had a massive nine shots in total, equating to 1.12 in total xG. Hatate had seven, as Kuhn had four, whilst O’Riley and Scales had three each.

Pressing and defending

Due to being on the ball less, Kilmarnock initiated more pressures than the home side, contributing 221 to Celtic’s 85. Despite this disparity, the champions regained the ball more times due to pressures, at a rate of 22 to 17.

McGregor led the way for Celtic in pressures with 16, as Scales and O’Riley had 11 and 10 respectively. In counterpressures, Johnston and Taylor had three, whilst substitute Luis Palma had two, along with McGregor and Kuhn.

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Scales was Celtic’s top player in defence, though this must be caveated with the fact that Rodgers’ side had very little to do in this area of the pitch. He led the way in tackles and interceptions with a combined five, as well as having nine clearances and four aerial wins to his name. For the latter metric, Carter-Vickers had five, as well as six clearances.