Celtic winger Jota was named the sponsor’s man of the match at Celtic Park yesterday, but the award should have really gone to big Swedish defender Carl Starfelt.
Starfelt has had uneasy beginnings to life at the Bhoys. There have been lapses in concentration when passing the ball, and defending it. Matches have gone by where he’s looked unsure of the physical battle with attackers too.
However, yesterday we witnessed almost none of that. Sure, there were a couple of slack possession moments in the second half, but nothing that damaged the team. And the defensive efforts were stellar, as shown by the individual numbers he posted in a variety of categories.
As shown by FotMob, who use data from Opta, Starfelt won an impressive 16 of his 21 duels, 11 of his 15 aerial battles and two of his three attempted tackles.
In addition to that, he made four clearances, three interceptions and recovered the ball on four occasions. He only conceded one foul despite all of this activity.
He was a stand-out with the ball too, completing 129 passes with a 93% success rate, more than anyone else on the entire pitch. Over half of these passes, 68, came in the St Johnstone half.
By any measure, he was absolutely key to Celtic controlling the match in the manner they did, as well as keeping the celebrated clean sheet. The numbers compare favourably to Cameron Carter-Vickers too, who was also impressive.
It really bodes well for the stiffer challenges Celtic have ahead away to Hibernian on Wednesday night and Ferencvaros in Hungary the following week. If he can have this kind of impact and consistency over 90 minutes against both those teams, Celtic will have the foundation for successful nights.
Defenders can often take time settling in a new league and despite the early hiccups, there are signs Starfelt could be a really solid acquisition for Ange Postecoglou. I’m looking forward to seeing how he develops from here.
In other news, We could be about to see the surest sign yet of Celtic progress under Ange.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
