How Celtic's turbo-charged second half scythed down Killie

Jota ended a run of eight games without a goal by netting the opener while an own goal from Killie centre-back Ash Taylor doubled the champions' lead in the second half.

Substitutes Giorgos Giakoumakis, Matt O'Riley and James Forrest all struck the woodwork as the Hoops searched in vain for a third.

Ange Postecoglou made three changes to his starting XI for the game, with Alexandro Bernabei installed at left-back for the injured Greg Taylor, Aaron Mooy in for O'Riley and Jota restored at Forrest's expense.

The result marked the first home clean sheet Celtic had picked up since the 4-0 derby thrashing of Rangers in early September 2022.

Here, The Celtic Way rounds up the best StatsBomb data from the game to give you a match report like no other...

xG/trendline

"It's fair to say it was a sticky first half," Postecoglou said post-match. "We couldn't really get any sort of rhythm in the game."

The xG trendline reinforces this observation. It is exceptionally second-half-heavy, with the champions creating more than five times as many chances after the break as before it.

Statistically, however, the 'best' chance of the game was in the opening 45. Jota's goal rated 0.69 xG, with StatsBomb's 'optimal goalkeeper position cone' reflecting Sam Walker's poor decision-making as much as Jota's intelligent run.

Being an own goal, Celtic's second does not add to the xG total regardless of shot location.

Kilmarnock offered virtually nothing in an offensive sense and created just two chances all afternoon and were thus rated by our data provider as having a zero per cent chance of winning the game and just a three per cent likelihood of snatching a draw.

Their two attempts combined for a cumulative xG value of 0.13; still almost double what Aberdeen managed at Pittodrie a few weeks ago the last time StatsBomb rated an opponent as having a zero per cent chance of victory.

Shots

After generating eight attempts last time out at Ibrox - their fewest of the season - Celtic bounced back ably with 25 attempts including the own goal.

Ten of those attempts were on target with the same number missing and four blocked. They took 10 attempts from outside the Killie box marking the third time in four games at least 40 per cent of their shots have been from distance.

Conversely, they managed to manufacture an impressive eight attempts in close, central areas (nine including the own goal).

Creatively, Celtic made six of their chances from corners (1.26 xG but no goals, extending a run that now stretches eight games back to November 5) as well as one from an indirect free kick and the rest from open play (1.83 xG).

Overall the Hoops created six non-own goal mid-to-high-quality xG opportunities - all within the box - and scored one of them. Walker made nine saves throughout the game.

Kilmarnock's shot map is unsurprisingly sparse. Their two attempts - one from open play, one from a corner - did come in the Celtic area but neither were mid-to-high-quality xG and Joe Hart was not called into action at all in the match.

When it came to individual players, Giakoumakis topped the lot with five attempts (0.48 xG) despite only playing 31 minutes. Jota's three shots had the highest accompanying xG at 0.85 with that mostly made up of his opening goal.

Passing, possession & positions

Celtic enjoyed 79 per cent possession and completed 708 of 797 pass attempts for an impressive 91 per cent success rate, an admirable rise from their 82 per cent display at Ibrox.

Killie, meanwhile, could only muster 107 which is 29 fewer than Aberdeen managed in their widely-panned performance at Pittodrie last month. Both Carl Starfelt and Bernabei completed more passes individually than the entire visiting team.

The pass network below gives a sense of where the game was played and who was most involved. The warmer the colour the more influential the player, while the thicker the passing lines the more passes between the players.

StatsBomb measures pass contributions in on-ball value (often referred to as OBV, a term breakdown can be read here).

Celtic networks often feature only Hart and the two centre-backs in their own half and that is true in this case too.

However, Cameron Carter-Vickers is particularly deep compared to Carl Starfelt while the Swede was also much closer to his left-back and central midfield team-mates than Carter-Vickers was to the midfield or Alistair Johnston at right-back.

As a result, while Celtic full-backs tend to be heavily involved neither were deemed so on this occasion with Starfelt and Maeda the main standouts in terms of OBV contributions.

Carter-Vickers' deep position got more pronounced in the second half while Celtic appeared to lean even more heavily on their left-hand side after the break.

Bernabei ended the game having taken the most touches (334) and topped the xGChain ahead of the two centre-backs.

It was, however, Maeda who was the game's premier player with a match-high 0.45 OBV and his involvement in two of the team's top three most dangerous passing combinations. Goalkeeper Walker was Killie's standout with a 0.33 OBV rating for the game.

Of the substitutes, David Turnbull and Forrest were the most influential, taking two of the team's top four OBV slots for the second 45 minutes.

Killie's pass network is shown split between the first half and second half, with clear emphasis on their right flank reinforcing Celtic's use of their left. No Killie player except Walker managed to make it into red-node territory but, notably, eight returned a positive OBV score.

At Ibrox, the Celtic players found it difficult to play threatening passes with just three of them registering any. It was very much normal service resumed against Killie though with 10 different Celts clocking at least one.

Reo Hatate was the primary contributor here with four key passes a match-high. O'Riley's sub appearance garnered three while Johnston also played three in his home debut.

Notably, Maeda's one key pass - his assist for Jota's goal - had the highest accompanying xG Assisted value at 0.69. For context, Hatate's four carried 0.51 while also worth a mention was Turnbull's two key passes and their third-highest 0.49 xGA.

Pressing and defending

Celtic made 91 pressures to Killie's gargantuan 201 but still managed to make one more pressure regain (27 vs 26). The most intense battlegrounds were on the champions' left wing.

Liam Polworth was the game's most persistent presser with 30 followed closely by Rory McKenzie (28) and Lewis Mayo (23). Bernabei led the charts for Celtic with 17 with Maeda the team leader in total pressing duration.

The same two stood out in counter-pressing down that left flank. Bernabei (eight) and Maeda (six) were by far the most persistent with the latter leading all players in total counter-pressing duration.

Maeda was the man in traditional defensive metrics too. The forward registered six tackles - beaten only by Killie right-back Mayo - and two interceptions to go with his match-high four successful dribbles and the concession of just one foul.

Elsewhere, Bernabei (three tackles, one interception, three clearances, two aerial wins) and Starfelt (three interceptions, 10 clearances, nine aerial wins and not being dribbled past) made noteworthy contributions.