St Mirren 1 (Erwin 3)
Celtic 2 (Duffy 21 and Forrest 36)
Celtic were behind in the game for 18mins but then went on to lead the game for the last 54mins.
Celtic's two goals were 2 headers thanks to 2 assists from Christie. Yeah a headed goal by Forrest!!
St Mirren's goal came from a corner and Duffy losing the ball in the air and Christie's man then scoring.
Christie received a Man of the Match rating due to 81 touches, 2 shots at goal, 2 assists and 6 key passes.
Celtic had an NP xG of 1.25 while St Mirren's was 0.74. Celtic had 17 shots with 9 being on target. Possession was 77% with 886 touches (which it was the most touches we've had in any game). Celtic had only 3 corners and touches in the box were 32. Total Passes were 703 with a Passing accuracy of 90%. We had only 37 long balls in the game (5% of total passes) which was our lowest so far in the season meaning we were probably getting a benefit of the 352 with players closer together for shorter passes.
After Lennon making big dramatic changes in the last game (change of formation, 2 first starts, Forrest moved to wide left and Christie dropped) and a 5-0 win you would think Lennon may keep the same team. (Although some of the stats could suggest the scoreline wasn't necessarily a reflection of performance or dominance).
But no Lennon (aka Tinkerman) changed the line up again. He retained the 352 but dropped Jullien and moved Duffy into the centre, with Elhamed coming in. Frimpong was dropped and Forrest was moved over to the right, with Taylor coming in. After his first start and scoring in that game (his 2nd of the season) Ajeti was dropped with Klimala coming in for his first start of the season.
Celtic lined up with;
- Barkas
- Elhamed, Jullien and Ajer
- Forrest, Christie, Brown, McGregor and Taylor
- Klimala and Edouard
Ntcham came on to maintain his ever present record in every game this season and Frimpong and came on to maintain his ever present record in the league this year. Ajeti came on to maintain his ever present record since his debut.
Positive notes from the game - 886 touches and 703 total passes was the best so far this season and long balls were our lowest for the season. Christie came back in after being dropped for the last game and gave his 3rd man of the match performance of the season.
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