Celtic suffered a disappointing 1-1 draw with Motherwell on Saturday, and the data reveals that the Hoops were wasteful in front of goal.
FotMob data reveals that Celtic had 81% possession and an expected goals (xG) of 3.25, indicating that the Hoops seriously underperformed when faced with opportunities.
A deeper look into Celtic’s chances shows that Luis Palma and David Turnbull‘s penalties each created an xG of 0.79, resulting in a total xG of 1.58. This accounts for almost half of Celtic’s total xG, reflecting a day when the Hoops were unable to break down Motherwell effectively in open play.
Excluding penalties, Celtic did not create a single chance with an xG greater than 0.26.
The xG differential between Celtic and domestic rivals is trending narrower, indicating that the Hoops are facing more competitive games and struggling to create and score chances as easily as they did last season.
Perhaps he most concerning statistic of the game was Kyogo Furuhashi‘s xG of only 0.03, highlighting how isolated he was and how difficult it was for Celtic to get him into scoring positions.
Despite a great start to the season, he has begun to find goals difficult to come by under Brendan Rodgers, with just one in his last six matches, suggesting that the Irishman’s tweaks in how Celtic play may be negatively affecting the Japanese star.
Motherwell‘s xG for the game was 0.48, and Jonathan Obika’s goal contributed an xG of just 0.24, accounting for half of their xG for the entire game. Obika’s leveller, scored yards from the Celtic goal from a corner, resulted from poor decision-making by Joe Hart and Greg Taylor.
It’s clear that Celtic will need to execute a gameplan far more effectively in the coming weeks. Motherwell won’t be the only side set up to defend deeply against the Bhoys. Although dropping points went unpunished over the weekend, the Scottish champions will know they can’t always bank on that.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
