Celtic tactical and data match report against Rangers as possession doesn't pay off and Josip Juranovic makes solid debut

xG race chart

Despite not testing Rangers goalkeeper Robby McCrorie until more than an hour had been played, Celtic still had the higher cumulative xG value for most of the match. The marked jump in value on the 25th-minute marker is when Odsonne Edouard mishit his shot from Kyogo Furuhashi's cutback. In terms of xG, Celtic would have won this match half of the time.

Shots

Celtic's recent trend of taking shots from central areas was not really in evidence at Ibrox while their general shot volume was down as well.

They managed to get just 10 off throughout the game. Of those, Edouard's sclaff was the best in terms of xG with a 0.57 value meaning the chance would have been scored 57 per cent of the time. 

What will worry Celtic more, though, is that it took until the 68th minute before rookie Rangers keeper Robby McCrorie was forced into a save.

Rangers took more shots (15) but these were mostly from outside the area and they created little in the way of high-value chances with their best being Filip Helander's goal at 0.13 xG.

Overall, Ryan Kent led all players in total shots (with five) but garnered an xG of 0.18. Kyogo had three attempts (0.33 xG) while nobody else in the Celtic team had more than one.

Passing

While Celtic were by far the ball-dominant side in the match - playing over 700 passes to the hosts' 379 - the relative coolness of the colours of their passing network show that possession did not lead to the kind of intense involvement the players have become used to lately.

Kyogo, Ryan Christie, Josip Juranovic and Anthony Ralston were the most involved while the passing network demonstrates play was concentrated on the flanks, particularly in interchanges between Kyogo and Juranovic and Ralston to Christie.

The thinness of the lines between the midfielders and Edouard suggests the Frenchman was often on the periphery of proceedings, even though when Kyogo and Liel Abada did combine to play him in it was for the game's highest-quality chance.

WATCH: Rangers' set-piece goal and Kyogo Furuhashi's damaging movement as Glasgow derby dissected

Four of Celtic's five most common passing combinations were between defenders while Rangers' top five all involved at least one midfielder, suggesting the Hoops done a fair bit of passing it about the back without making much headway in terms of penetrating and breaking lines.

Rangers' passing network and average positions likely reflect their tactical intent of pressure over possession and indeed strikers Alfredo Morelos and Kemar Roofe were never far from the midfield in this respect.

In terms of individuals, Christie led the way in key passes with three followed by Kyogo with one fewer. For Rangers, Borna Barisic equalled Christie's total with Joe Aribo and Steven Davis level with Kyogo. 

Pressing

Naturally, given they spent most of the match without the ball, Rangers pressed more than Celtic on Sunday. While the flanks dominate the pressure frequency heatmap, attacking midfielder Kent topped the charts for both total pressures (33) and pressure duration (25.3) but also had the second-most pressured action fails (five). 

David Turnbull's 25 pressures constituted a team-high, followed by Christie (20) and Juranovic (18). Christie - who played three different positions throughout the match - was the most persistent Celt in terms of pressure duration (24.1) and led all players who had more than five pressures in duration per pressure with 1.2.

Ryan Christie pressure heatmap v Rangers

Likewise, when it came to counter-pressing Turnbull was the most active with five but Christie was the most persistent with his duration per pressure of 3.3 at least three times that of every other player in the match (Callum McGregor was next with 1.1, top Rangers player was Glen Kamara with 0.9).

Player focus: Josip Juranovic debut

Josip Juranovic pressure frequency heatmap v Rangers

Croatia international Juranovic was thrown in at the unfamiliar position of left-back for his Celtic debut and, by most metrics, coped well enough with the occasion.

Juranovic topped the charts for touches (230), was part of the team's top two passing combinations (with Carl Starfelt) and recorded the most open-play final-third passes with 27 while completing 90 per cent of his passes and two crosses.

On the flip side, the argument that playing on the opposite side from his natural position is not without merit and Juranovic did not play a key pass despite his frequent final-third forays.

In terms of defensive metrics, Juranovic was joint-second behind Anthony Ralston (11) for combined tackles and interceptions with nine and had four clearances with no fouls. He also won 67 per cent of his aerial duels which is far greater than his usual win rate while his general composure on the ball perhaps revealed his past as an attacking midfielder.