Yuki Kobayashi stakes Celtic claim with classy Kilmarnock display

Goals from Kyogo Furuhashi, Daizen Maeda and a Matt O’Riley double left Derek McInnes' side stunned after less than half an hour. 

Liam Donnelly did pull one back for the dazed home side and they managed to limit the damage after the break as the Parkhead team eased off the accelerator. 

The Hoops clocked up a 12th straight league win despite the absence of several key players. 

Cameron Carter-Vickers and Jota were left out of the squad after pulling up with "soreness" on their last visit to Ayrshire and they joined Reo Hatate, Liel Abada and James Forrest in missing the penultimate fixture before the split. 

The American's exclusion from the matchday squad opened the door for January signing Yuki Kobayashi to make just his second league start for Ange Postecoglou's men.

And the 22-year-old, who had not seen any game-time since a second-half appearance in the Scottish Cup quarter-final win over Hearts at Tynecastle last month, took his opportunity by putting in an excellent display.

Despite the difficult artificial surface at Rugby Park, the Japanese prospect was good on the ball and went about his defensive work with minimal fuss too.

Here, we break down Kobayashi's standout Sunday in finer detail...

Pass to Taylor (3 mins)

The central defender demonstrated his impressive composure on the ball within the first five minutes when he dealt with a pass from Joe Hart under pressure in Celtic’s box. 

The former England number one’s pass across the six-yard box to Kobayashi, facing his own goal, put the Japanese defender in a tight spot as Kilmarnock pressed aggressively. 

Despite that pressure from Killie forward Daniel Armstrong, Kobayashi readjusted well to coolly play a first-time pass down the left to Greg Taylor, getting Celtic out. 

This was one of several examples throughout the match of fine composure in possession while under pressure from Kobayashi.

Pass to McGregor (10 mins)

Kobayashi’s ability to remain calm on the ball while being pressed, while still looking to always play forward, was key in the build-up to Celtic’s second goal. 

Picking up possession just inside his own half, Kobayashi exchanged passes with captain Callum McGregor. 

Once he received the ball back from the Scotland international, he was again faced with pressure from a Kilmarnock player, this time in the form of Donnelly who jumped from midfield to engage the Japanese defender. 

Again, under a decent level of pressure, he showed bravery in his decision-making on the ball, opting to play the ball forward down the outside of Donnelly and back into McGregor. 

By baiting one of the Kilmarnock midfield two into jumping and then bypassing him with a quick forward pass, Kobayashi and McGregor were able to open up the space for the Celtic skipper to turn and find O’Riley in space across the pitch. 

From there, another two passes and a cross from Alistair Johnston set up Maeda to head in at the back post and double the Hoops’ lead after just 10 minutes. 

Pass to Maeda (12 mins)

Kobayashi also demonstrated impressive variation in his range of passing at Rugby Park on Sunday afternoon. One example of this was a brilliantly executed ball that got Maeda in behind.

Carrying the ball from deep inside his own half to just over the halfway line, Kobayashi clipped a lofted ball with the outside of his left foot over Kilmarnock right-back Lewis Mayo. 

A brilliant piece of technical ability, the precision pass released Maeda down the left with the winger going on to chop back and cross into the middle of the box for yet another Celtic chance.  

His left-footedness, of course, offers more natural balance to the Celtic backline but he also can execute these different kinds of passes, some of which Carter-Vickers or Starfelt would arguably be unable to produce. This ability, which opens up more options in possession, is one area of Kobayashi’s game that is particularly encouraging. 

Pass to Taylor (17 mins)

Kobayashi continued to take responsibility for starting the attacks that blew Kilmarnock away in the opening period, including the third goal. 

This time under little pressure, Kobayashi fired a crisp ball through the lines to find Taylor in space behind the home side’s midfield line. 

The equally impressive Taylor was then afforded time to pick out O’Riley on the edge of the box with the Dane going on to slot home the third. 

Kilmarnock goal (45 mins) 

As good as Kobayashi was on the ball, he also dealt with much of what attacking threat Kilmarnock did manage to offer. 

Even on the one occasion that the home side did breach Hart’s goal Kobayashi was unlucky after getting a good block in. 

Following Donnelly’s initial shot, which was saved by Hart, the Japanese centre-back did well to block Armstrong’s follow-up. 

Unfortunately, the ball bounced back into the path of Donnelly who was able to slot in to reduce the deficit. 

StatsBomb data

Data from StatsBomb also highlights the former Vissel Kobe man's key role in the dismantling of Killie. 

His productivity in possession is shown in the data provider’s on-ball value metric, referred to as OBV (a breakdown of the metric can be read here).

Kobayashi’s OBV of 0.22 was the highest of any player on the pitch. Although with the caveat that this is just one game, this also compares well to the season per 90 average of both Carter-Vickers (0.17) and Starfelt (0.10).

In terms of more traditional passing metrics, Kobayashi’s role produced 123 successful passes, also more than any player on Sunday, 15 of which were to the final third. He also completed all five of his attempted long balls. 

Defensively, he was the most active player in the air for Celtic, winning six of his 10 aerial duels and he also made four clearances and one tackle. 

Most impressively, he was neither dispossessed nor dribbled past once in the whole match at Rugby Park. 

Conclusion

Kobayashi has his work cut out to break up a defensive partnership between Carter-Vickers and Starfelt that has incredibly never been on a losing Celtic side in a Scottish Premiership match.

However, the defender, who has already shown he is a more than able deputy for the current first-choice centre-backs, took another important step towards staking a serious claim for more regular game-time with his impressive display in Ayrshire. 

With the league title set to be wrapped up with games to spare, Kobayashi will hope there will be further opportunities for him to demonstrate what he can offer before the end of the season.