WITH LAST season being the mess that it was and Celtic losing their leader for the past decade in Scott Brown, many fans were left wondering if McGregor could step up and fill the void that had been left.
The new captain has eased into the role as if he was made for it, driving the Ange Postecoglou era to new heights and all from a position which he wasn’t so familiar with in seasons prior.
His determination to thrive in this role was on show for everyone to see in the February Glasgow Derby when he returned early from a horrendous cheekbone injury, donning a white protective mask, and dominated the middle of the park from the first whistle to the last.
It's not just the leadership role he has adapted to. Much like replacing Brown as captain, he also replaced him at the base of the midfield as Postecoglou switched from a natural defensive 6 to one with strong ball-playing abilities.
This role change allows Celtic to build out from the back much faster as McGregor’s movement makes it easier for defenders to find him and his wide range of passing gets the ball to forwards much quicker.
His most impressive feature, though, has been his improvement on the defensive side of the game, making it feel like Celtic still have a natural blocker at the base of the midfield protecting the defence.
Here, we take a closer look at how McGregor has embraced his new role…
Heatmaps
When looking at the action maps from the past two seasons we can easily see how much McGregor has changed positionally - but also how often he is getting on the ball and dictating play.
The first image is his action map from this season under Postecoglou and the next image is his previous season. The most noticeable factor is the change in colour between the maps, with warmer colours indicating he is on the ball more across the pitch both defensively and offensively.
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This is impressive because, despite playing at the base of midfield, McGregor is on the ball more offensively this season than last - when he was more of an attacking midfielder.
On top of that, we see that he has far more actions just in front of the defence where he can dictate play compared to last season. This all speaks to Postecoglou’s tactical system controlling games and McGregor being very suitable in this role.
Data comparison
When looking at McGregor’s data on StatsBomb it’s easy to see what his main strengths are as they carried on consistently from last season - on the ball passing metrics like deep progressions and xGBuildup, for example.
Defensively he has seen a remarkable improvement as metrics across the board have skyrocketed. McGregor is rarely dribbled past with his tackled/dribbled past percentage being in the 91st percentile compared to the 44th last season.
His possession-adjusted tackles and possession-adjusted interceptions have jumped from the 36th and 67th percentile to the 81st and 92nd percentiles. He has now established himself as not only an elite ball player in Scotland but also as an elite defensive midfielder.
A quick glimpse at where McGregor is adding value to Celtic can be seen in his OBV radar.
His more offensive-based metrics have decreased as his starting point is further away from goal but only marginally.
In defensive actions, though, he has moved from the 22nd to the 94th percentile and has been one of the main contributors to Celtic’s great defensive record this season.
If McGregor continues playing this well and wins the title at the end of the season, the player of the year award could become a formality.
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