A concerning stat (Alfie, Defoe & Kent)

Between the 3 of them in the SPFL they have scored 31 goals.

In Comparison

Edouard, Christie and Forest have scored 41 goals.

So what you may say, but what if I told you that these 3 celtic players have had 28 assists, and our top 3 spfl scorers 2.

I have been saying this for a while we need strikers who can take the chances created and more goals from midfield.
 
It's largely to do with style of play but we had no reason to expect many assists from Kent after last season. We knew what we were getting. It was clear as day we needed a Hagi type player after our formation change who plays with his head up and can pick a pass and score goals.
 
Also shows the difference in squad depth and how much losing Tav and Barisic for a while cost us. Throw in the form crash and we have the perfect storm.

ye, Halliday (despite his efforts) and Flanagan wont get those assists.

The mental thing is, if you think about it. We keep hearing we play with two number 10s. A number 10 is expected to link play from midfield to front line. Score goals and assist in making them. How is that doing in these 2 positions?
 
m8 I was using the top 3 scorers. Any their assists. It does not make it unfair. If anything its unfair on celtic if you really think about it.

I disagree mate but it's all about opinions. As far as I'm aware, Defoe has the highest games to minutes ratio in the league by quite a bit.

It would only be fair to use players who have played in the respective positions either side of Morelos and Defoe. i.e include Aribo and Arfield when they have played there.

For what it's worth I think your point is a valid one; they have midfielders who will chip in with numerous goals and assists while we're heavily reliant on Morelos.

For me it's simply down to shooting from outside the box, anything can happen, it can hit anyone and fall anywhere, including into the net. It's no coincidence that Arfield has hit a good bit of form recently and two of his goals have came from just taking a dig. Lost count the amount of times I have seen them score from a shot at the edge of the box, while we choose to play the ball along it.
 
Our assists from our front men are appalling .

Kent has 0.

Clearly a lot of work to be done on that score , we have only managed something like 8 goals in our last 9 matches .

He assisted Aribo's against Hamilton last week for a start. No idea about how many he has over the rest of the season.
 
Yeah but he's rubbish and does nothing for the team according to folk on here

Same as celtic fans saying forrest is having a mare season yet he assists a goal every 2nd game.

Also worth noting if we rely so much from assists from the full backs yet forest has had more assists in the SPFL than Tav and Barisic combined.
 
I think that Kent is our major problem just now. He's not attacking full backs, his shooting is poor (he had a clear shot yesterday in 1st half, under no pressure, and couldon't hit the target).
Morelos laid on several chances yesterday.
 
Our assists from our front men are appalling .

Kent has 0.

Clearly a lot of work to be done on that score , we have only managed something like 8 goals in our last 9 matches .
Now I'm no big fan of Ryan Kent but he provided an assist for Aribo last week at Hamilton.
 
Current (any club) season assist stats all comps.

Stewart - 116 mins
Hagi - 212 mins
Ojo - 273 mins
Jones - 280 mins (only played 580 mins of football)
Aribo - 370 mins
Barker - 426 mins (only played 426 mins of football)
Kamberi - 473 mins
Kent - 492 mins
 
Last edited:
Between the 3 of them in the SPFL they have scored 31 goals.

In Comparison

Edouard, Christie and Forest have scored 41 goals.

So what you may say, but what if I told you that these 3 celtic players have had 28 assists, and our top 3 spfl scorers 2.
Morelos has 3 himself in the league so that’s nonsense.
 
Between the 3 of them in the SPFL they have scored 31 goals.

In Comparison

Edouard, Christie and Forest have scored 41 goals.

So what you may say, but what if I told you that these 3 celtic players have had 28 assists, and our top 3 spfl scorers 2.
So 3 players are doing better than what is effectively 2? As seeing Defoe and Alfie isn't far off seeing Peter Parker and spider man!
 
You’re using BBC? The company who constantly put inaccurate stats up for us? They had us at something like 29% possession last time we played Livi.


m8 using transfer market is ot reliable, how is morelos getting an assist in Abredeen 2-2 draw, when the keepr makes a save.

Are we counting an assist here like transfer market? lol
 
So 3 players are doing better than what is effectively 2? As seeing Defoe and Alfie isn't far off seeing Peter Parker and spider man!


I give up, I honestly do.

Lets take one of our top scorers out and compare like for like, a midfielder, a striker, and a winger.

FFS Comparisons would even be more woeful. I am comparing top 3 goalscorers. It does not matter if they are playing together its stats on minutes played.
 
For those that want strict comarisons

Striker - Alfie 1 assist Edouard 5
Winger - Kent 0 Forest 13
Midfielder - Aribo 7 Christie 10

So thats 8 v 28! Is that ok, AND if I include goals from here it is by FAR WORSE. I was doing a favour adding defoe in.
 
I give up, I honestly do.

Lets take one of our top scorers out and compare like for like, a midfielder, a striker, and a winger.

FFS Comparisons would even be more woeful. I am comparing top 3 goalscorers. It does not matter if they are playing together its stats on minutes played.
That's good.
Because it's NOT a "concerning stat".
It might be an "interesting stat" depending on who you are. Or a stat worth looking at or discussing.

But coming on dramatically and telling people there's a major problem with fruit post brexit in the UK because your apple doesn't taste like the oranges you got in December will only get the replies you have.
 
For those that want strict comarisons

Striker - Alfie 1 assist Edouard 5
Winger - Kent 0 Forest 13
Midfielder - Aribo 7 Christie 10

So thats 8 v 28! Is that ok, AND if I include goals from here it is by FAR WORSE. I was doing a favour adding defoe in.
ANyone arguing that our attacking players are less productive than theirs is putting their head in the sand.

How our full backs contribute is also worth looking at
 
It wouldn’t surprise me if we were thee least clinical team in the entire league. We create chance after chance which don’t always counts stats wise as it’s not a shot on target for example. We try to over pass and walk the ball in to the net. It’s painful. Its overplaying and we need direct football. Kill teams off early and stop carrying a slim lead in to the second half were we get nervous. I honestly feel week on week that other, much shitter teams would finish off double the chances we get during games.
 
i agree with hagi, someone that can see an assist by splitting the defence.

hate to keep talking about them, but yesterday, Aberdeen were stuffing out their link up play up front. Where they are so dangerous. I never thought Lennon was a tactician. But he put Ayer out right instead of Bitton. As he knew he had the legs and would bomb down the wing, it worked.

So my point is if others teams stop the supply from Barisic / Tav or they are injured etc. Where are the assists coming from, whats our plan B?

Surely we need the players up top to be linking play. Surely it cant be a dead end as soon as 1 of them get in. I am not talking about Alfie coming deep or Kent turning back. Im talking about assists.
I agree with the midfield needing to chip in, I find they can be too flat and I wonder if we even have a settled midfield. We have so many, midfielders! At half time yesterday I said on the match thread to take Kent off for Kamberi and play Hagi behind him and Alfie. When Kamberi came on he was very impressive in linking up with the midfield, I think he will do a job for us too. We’re now on the 3rd time of playing teams, they’ve sussed what we’re about so we do need to be able to change it up more.
 
You are singling him out though mate lol.

If we want to go into numbers with Kent, he's already outperformed last seasons and we were all buzzing when he signed permanently.

Our problem is our system is quite one dimensional and our squad doesn't currently have the players to change anything meaningfully

Fair enough. I did mention him as an example, but wasn't intentionally blaming just him. I agree with the one dimensional thing. Other teams must find it so easy to play against us.
 
Those 3 Pretty much never play together so it is actually a good return.

I think we have to take Morelos out of the equation and look more at Midfield contributing nothing.

Davis, Jack, Kent, Aribo, Kamara Arfied , the return in assists and goals is criminal.
 
I agree with the midfield needing to chip in, I find they can be too flat and I wonder if we even have a settled midfield. We have so many, midfielders! At half time yesterday I said on the match thread to take Kent off for Kamberi and play Hagi behind him and Alfie. When Kamberi came on he was very impressive in linking up with the midfield, I think he will do a job for us too. We’re now on the 3rd time of playing teams, they’ve sussed what we’re about so we do need to be able to change it up more.


He was impressive or maybe just what we have been crying out for and that made his appearance seem so much better.
 
Those 3 Pretty much never play together so it is actually a good return.

I think we have to take Morelos out of the equation and look more at Midfield contributing nothing.

Davis, Jack, Kent, Aribo, Kamara Arfied , the return in assists and goals is criminal.

Look at their main midfielders. Lego who sits but kicks arses when their performances slip. They have the likes of Christie, McGregor, Ntcham and Rogic. All of them can support their attack when needed and can counter very quickly.
Our midfield is a very static 3 that hold possession and make passes. However none are very dynamic and don’t run at teams looking to create.
They are relying on our full backs and our front 3 like a poor mans Liverpool.
The problem is you lose one of the full backs the wheels fall off. We then have the issue that our number 10 or wide players have been pretty poor and contribute mostly sweet FA in domestic games.

Middle to front we still lack some real quality dynamic players who win you games.
 
Our assists from our front men are appalling .

Kent has 0.

Clearly a lot of work to be done on that score , we have only managed something like 8 goals in our last 9 matches .
Kent has assisted a few goals, but not nearly enough . Deserves to be benched
 
Between the 3 of them in the SPFL they have scored 31 goals.

In Comparison

Edouard, Christie and Forest have scored 41 goals.

So what you may say, but what if I told you that these 3 celtic players have had 28 assists, and our top 3 spfl scorers 2.

So is that 69 different goals or do a lot of these 28 assists result in the 41 goals e.g. Forest assist for Christie to score?
 
We’re obviously having a good number of legitimate goals chopped off but a big thing is Alfie is poor at playing people in. In that specific respect Edouard is much better.

Alfie’s obviously a great player and very important but he’s not great with the final ball, even when two on one. The ball to Kamberi was a step in the right direction but he needs to be better in those situations.
 
Our assists from our front men are appalling .

Kent has 0.

Clearly a lot of work to be done on that score , we have only managed something like 8 goals in our last 9 matches .
More than that, we scored 4 at Hamilton, 2 v Ross County, 2 v Hibs, 2 v Stranraer, 1 v st Mirren, 1 v Livingston and 1 v hearts.
 
Look at their main midfielders. Lego who sits but kicks arses when their performances slip. They have the likes of Christie, McGregor, Ntcham and Rogic. All of them can support their attack when needed and can counter very quickly.
Our midfield is a very static 3 that hold possession and make passes. However none are very dynamic and don’t run at teams looking to create.
They are relying on our full backs and our front 3 like a poor mans Liverpool.
The problem is you lose one of the full backs the wheels fall off. We then have the issue that our number 10 or wide players have been pretty poor and contribute mostly sweet FA in domestic games.

Middle to front we still lack some real quality dynamic players who win you games.

Completely agree.

We don't need Jack, Davis, Kamara as a 3 in the SPFL, we only need one of them

If you want to win a league then at least one of your CM's should be getting near 20 goals a season, the wingers/No10'S Should be the same.

We have 1 player contributing goals regularly. That is it.
 
Clear as day in our recent form, not getting enough from the midfielders chipping in with goals or assists
We have found a system that is dependent upon Morelos to the point that if he isn’t there then the rest of the team persist in playing the same balls into where he would be... except whoever is playing instead just doesn’t make the same use of them.

Arfield’s recent scoring run masks a lack of goals from midfield as well - they have been very poor at chipping in with goals this season.
 
Cant say I'm surprised Kent hasn't really been living up to his transfer value. He wasnt a 7 million pound player last season and its showing again this season. He will no doubt turn up against celtic but he really needs to do more every week.
 
Kent needs a few games on the bench. He’s one of our most dangerous and influential players when he’s on his game, we need to slow him to get back to that level.
 
Minutes on park between those three: 5,407 / 41 = 132 minutes per goal [effectively 1 goal every 44 minutes of actual play with those players on the park]

Minutes on park between Morelos/Defoe/Kent = 3,674 / 31 = 119 minutes per goal [effectively 1 goal every 39 minutes of actual play with those players on the park]

Problem is that all three of their players are on the pitch nearly every game if fit whereas Defoe rarely starts and tends to comes off the bench to rest Alfie when the game is already won or when we are desperate for a goal in the last 15 minutes.

Defoe also hit a crazy purple patch that was never sustainable at the start of the season whereas their three have produced consistently all season.

Anyone who thinks we aren't far too reliant on Morelos is clutching at straws no matter what out of context stats are produced.
 
That’s really not the case. The majority come from wide, but if that’s not working well we can go through the middle, however in most games players are pushed wide. All 3 of the goals we scored yesterday came through the middle, Hagi is going to be massive for us for that reason.

When though? I love the sound of this blue wave that can't be second guessed but I've rarely seen it this season.
 
Yes it is slightly concerning and at times Kent’s finishing could have been better.

Looking at the last 5 days alone though, Alfie has had two perfectly good goals disallowed. If this was revised to cover the whole of the season it’d be interesting to see where their “potential goals” total would stand.
 
Our assists from our front men are appalling .

Kent has 0.

Clearly a lot of work to be done on that score , we have only managed something like 8 goals in our last 9 matches .
Re Kent ,you cannot assist running across the park ,he has to be more direct,like most of our creative players
 
Back
Top