Celtic's return to Paradise: Is it time to re-evaluate what 'Ange-ball' actually is in wake of latest victory?

There were many reasons for this. Three new signings from Japan, a highly undervalued league, had been secured before the new year bell was even sounded.

This was a significant departure from lastminute.com Peter Lawwell-ball – securing late window deals or projects. In came three young, but international-standard, footballers who were manager-sourced to fit specific roles.

The opponents were Hibernian under former Celt Shaun Maloney’s direction. How would they play? Surely they’d be expansive – won’t it be a great game! And isn’t it tremendous to see the wee guy back at Paradise!

And, finally, how would Celtic shape up after three weeks with the boss on the training ground?

Ange Postecoglou is fundamentally a tracksuit manager and happiest on the pitch with his players. Previous international breaks had been followed by steps forward in terms of team cohesion, shape and coordinated sense of purpose (never-ending injuries permitting).

And so Celtic resembled a European night such was the anticipation of the faithful.

But what did we learn?

Reo Hatate

The debut of Reo Hatate in the midfield caused quite the stir. One poster on Twitter repurposed the old Everton supporter zinger about James McCarthy – “71 per cent of the world’s surface is covered in water. The rest is covered by Reo Hatate”. The sight of a significantly mobility-reduced McCarthy in the Celtic dugout added further poignancy.

Voted as man of the match by the fans, it was a case of the promise of what is to come rather than the actual output that wowed.

Celtic have 'made do' in so many ways this season. Central midfield was an area I flagged as 'red' in regards risk at the end of August. One reason was the reliance on a system requiring box-to-box number 8s when in reality Celtic had two natural 10s (Rogic and Turnbull) and the best number 8 (McGregor) was also the best option at 6.

Hatate looks to be - as has been posited before on The Celtic Way - the natural successor to Ryan Christie as that all-action box-to-box midfielder. The data loves him as he fills more Excel boxes on the 'actions' spreadsheet than most. Duels, progressive passes, chances, shots... he’ll generate them all.

His key numbers from the game were actually quite modest:

What is noticeable about this performance data isn’t any particular outstanding outlier. It is that he ranks high across all the key performance indicators. That is, fourth for Defensive Actions, fourth for Expected Assists and third for Overall Attacking Threat score.

This is the “Christie distribution”. That is, he will score highly in all categories without necessarily being the best in any. His contribution is all-round, the Ian Botham of footballers for those old enough (and interested in cricket – I think it is still occasionally played in England).

In short, he seems a player who can run, tackle, track, be creative, get shots away and be a general nuisance. Wonderful.

The other aspect that caught the eye was his willingness to put risk into his deep passing. This is crucial for Celtic in most domestic games against deep or compact defences. The ability to find a runner before the block has been set is very valuable. He gave up 11 passes, only Juranovic had more. This is the downside to such an approach – possession is more often surrendered.

With Hatate, it was expanding the horizons of the possible that so thrilled the support. Even better numbers than this will surely follow.

Daizen Maeda

I had hoped Liel Abada may have started at striker again with James Forrest in his natural position and Maeda starting out left, where he often did for Marinos.

However, it was as a striker in the 'Kyogo' role the new man was deployed.

A goal after three-and-a-half minutes is quite the start for any new Celtic striker. The move encapsulated a lot of what Postecoglou is striving for. Possession won high up in the attacking third, quick passing and an alert striker stationed between the width of the posts.

His finish was extraordinarily calm given the context. Celtic Park erupted.

What followed was, to open myself up to accusations of lazy stereotyping, a Kyogo-esque performance. Yes, we know all four Japanese players have individual personalities and likely have their own tastes and interests and do not come as a homogenous quartet.

However, what Maeda demonstrated was the same hard-working, hard pressing, economic performance we have become accustomed to from Celtic’s number 8.

READ MORE: Kyogo brilliance and set-piece flaws - the statistical story of Celtic's season so far

StatsBomb has Maeda attempting 33 pressures on Hibernian players. This was 15 more than the next Celt (Tom Rogic) and 20 more than the highest Hibee (Drey Wright and Jake Doyle-Hayes). Furuhashi averages just over 14 per 90 minutes.

Matt Macey will have nightmares about the number of times his clearances were close to being intercepted. He was involved in five duels and completed only nine of 10 passes. Maeda scored with his only shot and created one chance for Hatate.

Touching the ball twice in the box he provided one pack pass and received only three.

The sheer volume of sprinting pressures dwarfs all other on-field actions. Here was a player who likely sprinted more intensely than any other player yet barely touched the ball – 13 possession events – the rest of the starting XI averaged 56.

This seems a highly specific player honed for a very specific task. There will undoubtedly be more to come.

But for sheer endeavour, intensity of pressure applied allied to a killer touch in the box, Maeda will be rivalling Furuhashi for the title of 'Economic Assassin'.

'Ange-ball' refined

This was a fascinating match thanks partly to the style and approach from Hibernian.

Under Jack Ross they attempted the third-most long balls in the league. Maloney, on the back of two wins and three weeks on the training pitch, has implemented a sea change in playing style. How refreshing.

Hibernian were determined to play out at all times. This led to the first goal and they lost the ball in their own defensive 12 times. Bizarrely, only Bayer Leverkusen had more (21) this season. Early days for “Maloney-ball”.

This was high-risk in that sense, but then the passing was largely contained to their own half. After the initial chance for Nisbet after a right-sided break, good chances were almost non-existent.

No Scottish opposition has “out-possessioned” Celtic at Parkhead since Hearts in April 2016. So, for us stats geeks, this was a big deal.

Hibernian’s 494 completed open play passes has only been surpassed by the aforementioned Bayer Leverkusen this season (514).

But the Edinburgh side could not “get at” Celtic’s defence. Only 13 home defenders were taken out of the game with forward passes – this is the fourth fewest any side has achieved all season (average 22). For all Hibernian's possession, it was largely negative and passive.

Still, for Celtic to be completing fewer passes is surprising. It was, perhaps, difficult to keep up the first-half press intensity. Both new players faded in the second half. Maeda completed only one pass and Hatate 14 before being withdrawn with 15 minutes left.

Celtic seemed to let Hibernian have the ball in their own half, content that so long as danger was minimal, 2-0 was a comfortable score to defend.

One can interpret this as either:

1. We’ve yet to see “Ange-ball” intensity of performance manifest for 90 minutes

2. Our interpretation of “Ange-ball” is flawed and the manager has more pragmatism than perceived

Personally, I go with the second option based on the evidence over the season. The start was often chaotic but, with time, the manager has sought to solidify the team and be prepared to see games out.

Certainly, with the spate of hamstring injuries and volume of games, it will pay to conserve energy from strong winning positions.

Conclusions

There was much to learn and ponder from this performance.

Hatate does look to be a replacement for Christie and a more natural all-round midfielder than others in the squad.

It may be too simple to say Maeda is a Furuhashi clone, but he did nothing to dispel that assertion on this showing. Which is a good thing.

Finally, we must be continually appraising and re-evaluating what “Ange-ball” actually is. It may be that winning is all that matters in the end.