Celtic's domestic dominance reinforced by cutting-edge statistic

Those updates can be found here and here. This one includes the final figures for the 2021-22 league season.

As a reminder: OBV has been designed by our data provider StatsBomb to "objectively and quantitatively measure the value of each event on the pitch”. 

They do this by assessing the change in probability of a team scoring and conceding as a direct result of an event (such as, for instance, Matt O'Riley playing a through ball to a galloping Daizen Maeda or Kyogo Furuhashi shooting when James Forrest was available for a pass. You see what we mean).

Readers familiar with statistical jargon will know there are already metrics like xG for shots and others used to give a sense of involvement in general play (such as assists, xG Assisted, and xGBuildup) but the difference between these and OBV is that OBV assigns a value to every action and seeks to identify the ones that were more important towards the creation of a chance and reward those players rather than simply acknowledging their involvement.

It also takes into account that some players take more risks than others in build-up play - think the difference between a square pass between the centre-backs and a line-breaking ball from centre-back to right wing - and that this should be recognised along with where on the pitch things happen and how much pressure a player is under at the time.

For a full breakdown, see the StatsBomb website. For now, we move on to our updated lists for each of the main five outfield OBV categories (you can check the last round-up here)...

Overall OBV

In the first update there were four Celtic players in the league's top 10. In the second it was four in the top six. By season's end, it's become five of the top six.

Rangers captain James Tavernier takes top spot followed by Jota and Matt O'Riley. Those three are the only players to reach an OBV of 0.50 per 90 minutes. 

Kyogo, Liel Abada and Anthony Ralston come next, followed by two of the latter's fellow full-backs in Harry Clarke (Hibernian) and Calvin Ramsay (Aberdeen), as well as Rangers winger Scott Wright and Hearts attacker Barrie McKay.

The top five Celts are, naturally, the five already mentioned. Following them is David Turnbull, who only just misses the top 10 by 0.01 OBV. Next best Parkhead player was Greg Taylor (0.28).

Arguably the main takeaway from all this is the impressive impact of O'Riley. The Denmark Under-21 international broke the Celtic stranglehold of Jota, Kyogo, Abada and Ralston held since the first update to shoot all the way up to third league-wide.

Passing OBV

For passing OBV, it’s worth noting that it’s not enough to simply play in a possession-heavy team.

In the penultimate update four Celts featured in the top 10 but only one, Ralston, was in the top five. 

Ralston still makes the top five and is now joined by Jota (third). Tavernier again leads the league while Ramsay separates the Ibrox skipper and the Benfica loanee.

The Portuguese winger has the distinction of being the only non-full-back in the top six. The prevalence of full-backs in the Scottish game has been a feature of these lists so it is no surprise to see them provide the bulk - seven - of the top 10 again at season's end.

Ewan Henderson - who spent the second half of the season on loan at Hibs from Celtic ahead of joining permanently in the summer - also makes the top 10. 

Limit the data to just Celtic players and it's O'Riley, Turnbull and Taylor who enter the mix again with the latter displacing Stephen Welsh from the last update and, earlier in the season, Abada.

Dribble & Carry OBV

Speaking of... the Israeli redeems himself somewhat here by making the fourth spot his own behind Rangers duo Ryan Kent and Fashion Sakala and former Hibs wideman Martin Boyle (who, despite having left midway through the campaign, still meets the minutes threshold).

The whole of the top 10 is populated by wingers or creative attacking midfielders, with Jota helping himself to yet another appearance in seventh. 

Remember, this metric isn’t just about the volume or success rate of dribbles and carries but giving credit for where they take place and how penetrative they are too.

Narrowing the field to Parkhead players only sees Reo Hatate, Turnbull and Josip Juranovic enter the picture.

Tom Rogic made the club top five in the first update while Forrest made it for the second. Neither feature here; Rogic because he has slipped to sixth and Forrest because he does not meet the minutes threshold (if slackened to 600 minutes he would sit fourth.

Shooting OBV

Kyogo has ruled this category with an iron fist since the first update. Last time out, Giorgos Giakoumakis had started to hit his stride and was the only player even remotely close to his team-mate. Abada, in eighth, was the only other Celt to make the top 10.

Not much has changed in that respect, except O'Riley's rise is reinforced by his leap into the top five of yet another category. Kyogo still tops the pile by a considerable distance with Giakoumakis still his nearest (a term here used very loosely) challenger.

Kemar Roofe of Rangers rounds off the top five with Ross County winger Regan Charles-Cook. Two central midfielders - Motherwell's Dean Cornelius and Hearts' Andy Halliday - also make the top 10.

Notably, this is the only major OBV category in which Jota does not feature in either the top five or top 10. 

Neither does the 23-year-old make the club-specific top five. Hatate rounds off the four who made the league-wide top 10 here. Again, the gap between Kyogo and everyone else is apparent.

Defensive action OBV

As in both previous updates, no Celtic players remotely touch the league-wide top 10 for defensive actions OBV.

The list, like last time, is populated by players from the Dundee sides, County, St Johnstone and Hearts.

Restrict the data to just Celts and Taylor leads the way - as he did in the previous update. Callum McGregor and Cameron Carter-Vickers follow the left-back, as do Tom Rogic and Juranovic.