Do Celtic Need Set Piece of Mind?

Set pieces have been relatively prominent topics discussed within two of the Interview episodes with Thomas Gronnemark and Ted Knutson. For any readers who have not yet watched those two discussions, they were filled with expertise from two of the sport’s experts on the topic.

As the appreciation and awareness of the importance of set pieces becomes more ubiquitous, it makes sense that teams who have not yet adopted more progressive strategies may begin to experience material competitive disadvantage. Gronnemark was generous enough to review 250 throw-ins by Celtic and the specifics of his analysis were laid out within that episode, but to summarize: not great.

While English Premiere League clubs such as Brentford and Arsenal have had public reporting about their adoption of more progressive strategies, we have begun to see some similar movement within Scotland. The latest example was Hibernian, who took most of their indirect free kicks long and shelled them towards our box, including from within their own half.

Our friend Ross Goodwin, formerly Bhoys Analytics on Twitter and now head of recruitment at Dundee United, has helped assemble a team of GIANTS and are now deploying aggressive long throw-in tactics. Through six games, United have generated almost twice as many shots from throw-ins as the highest SEASON-long total Celtic have posted over the past decade!

Whether they are already deploying (not much evidence yet) or will sometime in the future, Hearts will surely be adding more sophisticated throw-in strategies, but they have already have five goals from set plays, including four from corners and one indirect free kick. Hibernian lead the league with a whopping 0.68 xG per 90 from set plays so far this season, which is higher than Dundee and Livingston’s non-penalty xG per 90, and just below what St. Mirren and Kilmarnock have had from open play.

So how have Celtic been doing?