Celtic tactical and data match report against FK Jablonec

Positions

Celtic largely managed to keep their shape during the match, with only James Forrest notably in-field from his ostensibly wide-left berth. The Jablonec midfield three, in particular, were often bunched up in a tight central area as they struggled to really get the ball to stick when in possession.

Opportunities & shots

The spotlight was on Celtic's suspect defending again on Thursday and the stats bear that out too. Jablonec's total xG was less than one goal (0.96) and yet they scored twice. Celtic's total of 2.86 is interesting as it was split down the middle at 1.43 for each half, suggesting the Hoops were just as much of a goal threat before and after the break.

Eight of Celtic's 17 shots were on target, with four of those obviously resulting in a goal. The goals themselves were not serious outliers - Christie's header was the 'hardest' chance at 0.16 xG - but it is interesting to note Kyogo Furuhashi's miss (labelled number 13 on the maps below) was 0.47, meaning it would have been scored just less than half of the time.

It is also worth noting that most of Celtic's shots - whatever their xG was in practice - were pretty central, which is a feature of Ange Postecoglou's style starting to shine through.

Nir Bitton

Much has been made of Bitton's continued inclusion as a centre-back despite appearing uncomfortable with the defensive side of the role. He is primarily there for his distribution skills and these were in evidence with his pass for Furuhashi's goal.

The Israel international was also the most involved player in the match in terms of accurate passes (83) while contributing to Celtic's overall pass accuracy of 88 per cent in a match in which they dominated possession.

Bitton also won 100 per cent (four out of four) of his aerial duels, but it is his lackadaisical ball-watching for Jablonec's first goal and the woeful clearance attempt at their second that will stick in the mind longer.

Joe Hart

A lot of the chat surrounding Hart's move to Celtic was about his distribution. On his debut he spent more time outside of his box (above: heatmap one is Celtic v Jablonec and heatmap two is his average for Tottenham last season), played and received more passes than he was accustomed to at Tottenham last season (vs Jablonec he received 30 and played 34; at Spurs he received 12.77 and played 19.94 on average). His long passing, in particular, accounted for most of his unsuccessful attempts (passes map, below).

Hart also made two saves and a reflex stop, the latter of which was to keep out a Tomas Cvancara shot which would have gone in more than half of the time (0.56 xCG) in second-half stoppage time. In addition, he claimed one cross.