IT is no secret that Celtic are still in the market for at least one other left-back despite the arrival of Boli Bolingoli at the club in the summer. The £3m signing from Rapid Vienna has had a inauspicious start to life in Scotland, but Celtic manager Neil Lennon was always going to need at least two players for the position in any case with the departure of Kieran Tierney to Arsenal and Emilio Izaguirre’s contract expiring at the end of last season.
The question is, are any of the left-backs that Celtic have been linked with likely to come in as first choice in the position, or would they be back-up for Bolingoli?
Kilmarnock’s Scottish internationalist Greg Taylor and Norwegian cap Birger Meling of Rosenborg are the two names that are reportedly interesting Celtic, but how do their statistics stack up in comparison to the man currently in possession of the jersey?
Well, perhaps the first thing to address is how Bolingoli’s start to his Celtic career compares to his overall career to ascertain whether an improvement in the 24-year-old’s patchy form since coming to Glasgow is likely as he settles into his new surroundings. Perhaps the worrying thing for Celtic supporters who remain unconvinced by him is that in many ways, he is actually outperforming his overall numbers from over the course of his career at the moment.
For instance, his average pass completion rate has nudged up to 80.6% since signing for Celtic from a career average of 78.9%, while he is losing the ball less and also hitting the mark with more of his crosses, finding a teammate with 38.1% of crosses at Celtic compared to his career average of 32.6%. His assists have nudged up to an average of 0.12 per game from a career average of 0.09 per game as a result.
Whether that will be part of a continuing upwards trend in his output remains to be seen, but based on these parameters, how does Bolingoli currently compare to Meling and Taylor?
Meling comes out on top in terms of pass completion, averaging 82.4% over the course of his career, while Taylor is bottom of the pile on a lowly 73.3%. All three are hard to separate in terms of their crossing averages, Bolingoli attempting slightly more and completing slightly less than Taylor and Meling, with Taylor’s lower assist rate perhaps reflective of the lower level of striker getting onto the end of his deliveries. He averages 0.04 assists per game in total and has yet to provide one in four games this season, while Bolingoli averages 0.12 per game and Meling 0.08 per game.
Taylor is of course the youngest and least experienced of the three players at just 21 years of age, three years younger than the other two players, which may go some way to explaining why his output is a little lower at this stage of his career. Both Bolingoli and Meling, for instance, have a dribble completion rate of 52% and 56.6% respectively, while Taylor lags some way behind, completing just 30% of his attempted dribbles.
The arrival of Steve Clarke at Kilmarnock undoubtedly had a huge effect on Taylor’s style, with his defensive diligence improving and his discipline when in possession increasing too. He lost the ball far less than before, with his average of 8.27 losses per game stacking up favourably to Bolingoli’s 11.33 average and Meling’s average of 9.74.
There is very little to choose between the three players when it comes to their overall defensive duels, with each full-back winning roughly half, but one of Taylor’s main weaknesses comes in the air. He stands an inch taller than Meling at 5’9’’ but wins less of his aerial duels at just 32.2% to the Norwegian’s 36.5%. Bolingoli, perhaps unsurprisingly given he is the taller of the three at 5’11’’, puts both in the shade by winning 46% of the aerial duels he takes part in.
In short, there isn’t really any one of these three full-backs who can fully compensate for the loss of Tierney from the side, particularly in an attacking sense, and given the market Celtic are shopping in that was never likely to be the case.
Bolingoli though is the closest to the Arsenal full-back in terms of dribbles attempted per match at 3.62 to Tierney’s 4.41, and also in his completion rate at 56.2% to Tierney’s impressive 63.8%, so on the face of it, there seems to be method behind his recruitment. By bringing in a full-back who at least attempts to play in a similar style to Tierney, the logic would suggest that slotting him in would have the least disruptive effect on the team overall.
So, despite not setting the heather on fire thus far, it may pay to stick with Bolingoli as the best option to fill Tierney’s considerable boots.
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