Juranovic's Debut
Croatian right back Juranovic made his Celtic debut at left back in the recent Derby.
He became the latest new recruit thrown in with barely a training session, and in a position he has populated 5 times in over 200 appearances (Transfermarkt).
Such expediency has been thrust upon Postecoglou due to the enormous challenge to reshape the squad, and the stagnancy of the transfer market meaning it has not been easy getting new talent in.
So, we can’t judge him harshly given the context of his arrival, the opposition and venue, and the role he was asked to fill.
Defending
Juranovic posted the highest Defensive Action Success Rate (DASR%) of the back four with 77%, which is high for a full back.
He was successful with 10 challenges / intercepts and unsuccessful with 3. We won possession back 6 times, losing it twice (doesn’t include passes). Juranovic won the ball back in his defensive 3rd twice, but lost the ball 3 times, the most in the team (includes passes).
He had 3 clearances, and recovered the ball 15 times (highest was 17).
Juranovic was “packed” 10 times, more than any other player in defence. That means the opposition played past him with passes / dribbles. This may speak to his attacking tendencies (Tierney) rather than poor defensive positioning (Laxalt). We can hope.
Ball Progression
Juranovic completed more passes (92) than any other player with 90% success overall.
None of those were Key Passes creating chances, but 18 took opponents out the game – Pack Passes. Only Starfelt (26) completed more. But Juranovic had the highest overall Pass Packing score (83) in the team reflecting the type of players he was bypassing (i.e. more midfielders and defenders than Starfelt who tended to bypass the initial press only).
Attacking Threat
He only attempted one shot, off target.
But he was on the end of 22 Pack Passes (only Furuhashi received more) and formed a very fruitful partnership with the Japanese down the opposition right.
It was remarkable that arguably the three most influential performances on the field were up against each other – namely Juranovic and Furuhashi for Celtic and Balogun for The Rangers.
Summary
Juranovic was involved in 41 Pack Passes (giving and receiving – 11 more than any other player) whilst also posting the best overall DASR.
Given all the contexts given at the start, this was a remarkable performance.
Can’t wait to see what he can do in his more usual right back berth.