How Reo Hatate's (almost) flawless Celtic tour de force kept Hoops top of league

The win at Parkhead restored the Hoops' two-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership ahead of a busy schedule of fixtures between now and the shutdown for the World Cup next month.

It was a narrow scoreline, and certainly not the best performance of the season, but the home side should have been more comfortable.

Two defensive moments of madness, including the mix-up between Josip Juranovic and Joe Hart for Motherwell’s goal that levelled the game in the first half, kept the Steelmen alive in the match.

But the underlying numbers showed just how dominant Celtic were, racking up an xG of 3.83 compared to Motherwell’s 0.28 (StatsBomb).

At the heart of their best moments on Saturday afternoon was Reo Hatate.

An unused sub in both of Japan’s games over the international break, the midfielder responded to being left out for his country with a dynamic display in the Celtic engine room.

Here, we break down Hatate’s performance in detail...

Pass to Jota (20 mins)

Hatate was Celtic’s most influential player on the ball at the weekend with his ability to switch play with precision diagonals helping quickly change the point of attack on several occasions. In total, he registered 10 long passes, with six of them finding a team-mate.

He also completed all ten of his passes to the final third and had a game-high number of six through balls, three of which were accurate (Wyscout).

One of those passes that counted towards both those tallies was his stunning chipped ball down the line for Jota just under halfway through the first period which lead to a high-quality goal-scoring chance.

Picking up the ball in a familiar position, Hatate assesses his options across the pitch.

Rather than attempting to play a pass the way he is initially facing, he drops his shoulder and swivels 180 degrees to open up options down the line in a split second. 

This catches the Motherwell players on that side, particularly right-back Paul McGinn, cold and Jota can get on the run in behind.

Without taking another touch, Hatate then clips the ball down the line over the Motherwell defence.

Executed to perfection, his chipped ball allows Jota to run onto the ball and cut it back across the six-yard box.

Maeda makes the run to the middle of the goal but fails to connect with the ball coming through to captain Callum McGregor at the back post who hits his close-range effort into the turf and over the bar.

Shot off post (43 mins)

The former Kawasaki Frontale man came close to getting on the scoresheet with a fierce strike just before half-time.

Picking up a nice position just outside the ‘D’ of the visitor's box, Hatate receives the ball from McGregor.

His first touch on his left allows him to face up the goal before Motherwell midfielder Barry Maguire shuffles across to apply pressure.

Another brilliant drop of the shoulder from Hatate though flat-foots the Well midfielder and two quick touches to right opens up the target again for him.

He then unleashes a powerful strike that crashes off the inside of visiting goalkeeper Liam Kelly's left post with Kyogo close to adding to his fifteenth-minute opener on the rebound.  

Goal (64 mins)

Hatate was not to be denied though, settling nerves around Parkhead with a laser-guided strike that put Celtic back in front twenty minutes into the second half.

Receiving the ball from a trademark quickly taken short corner by Jota, he is afforded too much time and space to line up the strike from Motherwell's perspective. 

He uses that time to his advantage well, manipulating the ball to move a few yards to his right, evading pressure from Dean Cornelius and giving himself a better angle to strike from.

As with his effort just before halftime, the strike off the top of his foot is true and powerful, barely deviating as it flies past Kelly into the bottom corner.

Motherwell manager Steven Hammell bemoaned his side’s inability to react to the short corner, after highlighting the danger to his players before the game, but Hatate took full advantage with a strike worthy of winning any game.

Hatate had time to add another strike on goal before the end of the match, with an angled drive stringing the palms of Kelly on 75 minutes.

With a total cumulative xG value of just 0.06, he certainly made the most of his total of three efforts on goal.

McGregor red card (89 mins)

Hatate was the match-winner on Saturday. However, with just minutes on the clock, it could have ended very differently.

Receiving the ball from centre-back Mortiz Jenz, the 24-year-old attempted to sweep a first-time ball back to his own goal but got it all wrong. 

Too short for Joe Hart and behind McGregor, the misplaced pass looked to have put Motherwell's Ross Tierney through on goal with a one-v-one chance to square the game at the death. 

His captain took one for the team though, hauling down Tierney and taking the red card from referee John Beaton.

There could be an argument that Stephen Welsh was on the cover and a yellow would have been the more appropriate punishment for the Celtic captain. However, it is questionable whether Welsh would have made it across in time though and Tierney may well have had a clear goalscoring opportunity if McGregor had not intervened.

It was the only moment that blotted Hatate’s copybook on the day but with Celtic able to see the win out, it did not end up being as costly as it could have been. Although, they will now likely be without their captain for a tricky post-Europe trip to McDiarmid Park to face St Johnstone next Saturday lunchtime.

It was also a reminder that maintaining his undoubted quality throughout the 90 minutes is the one way Hatate could raise the level of his game further.

That slight drop-off during the match on Saturday is something that comes through in the above stats from Wyscout where we can see his accuracy rate for those previously mentioned long passes and through passes dropping off in the second half compared to the first.

However, it is also worth remembering, as his manager did post-match, that like a lot of Japanese players he only came out of university at 22 so he has only actually been playing professional football for around three years.

That may mitigate some of the inconsistency in his game at times but it also highlights how much development there could be left in him, which is a tantalising prospect.

Conclusion

Hatate’s late error could have cost Celtic two points on Saturday had his captain not taken one for the team.

That aside, he was at his imperious best and highlighted just how important he is to this Celtic side.

His quality on the ball and infectious energy will certainly be vital during a packed schedule of fixtures over the coming weeks.