Celtic’s midfield was a particular focus of this column early in the season, as summer recruitment had been poor in that area of the pitch, and depth was sorely lacking. In addition, some of us had significant concerns about the ability of David Turnbull and Tom Rogic to make the necessary adjustments to be productive attacking number eights in ‘Angeball.’

To their credit, both logged huge minutes and were very productive, and particularly versus domestic opponents. Performance levels were more mixed in European competition against a higher calibre of adversaries.

The seeming embarrassment of riches from the January transfer window may have shifted what was an area of need to one of abundance. Debates amongst supporters as to who will be first choice in midfield once everyone is available have become common. I shared a data ranking profile exercise for the January midfield additions on Twitter on January 20th, so while data for Hatate and O’Riley has obviously been limited at Celtic, please keep those profiles mind as you review the following.

First up we have O’Riley compared with Rogic, starting with OBV, which is a metric designed to measure the value of each players’ on-ball actions:

Celtic Way:

Given the small sample sizes involved, this is intended to be an exercise to contribute to the dialogue and debate. Like Hatate, O’Riley has made an excellent ‘first impression,’ but in a very different way. As reflected in his Pass OBV, and as I highlighted in the Twitter data ranking profile from his time at MK Dons, his creative passing has been exceptional.

Celtic Way:

This next radar drills down into creativity and ball progression-related metrics, and we can see more context for the nature of how he has excelled so far in his brief Celtic career. This is not to suggest he is likely or unlikely to keep these performance levels up, but rather to offer some context for what we have all enjoyed witnessing up until now.

READ MORE: Reo Hatate and Josip Juranovic owned the Celtic moments we remember but the story of the numbers is more complex

I think it is also noteworthy that two of his three starts came against Hearts and Rangers, with him having had barely a week with the club prior to the former - a truly spectacular performance.

But his passing has not been the only area in which he has excelled, as this radar for defending and pressing suggested:

Celtic Way:

The pervasiveness of quality in those metrics relative to Rogic’s was stark, which is not to denigrate the tremendous effort and commitment the latter has shown as he worked to implement Ange’s system.

How about the other new star?

Celtic Way:

Hatate’s defensive value has been lacking so far, but him being effectively in pre-season and still building up fitness should be considered. Where his value has stood out has been with his passing and shooting, which also is probably no surprise. The former is more likely to be persistent, with the latter potentially vulnerable to at least some mean reversion, as his three goals have come on just 0.74 in xG and 1.27 in post-shot xG. Those suggest he’s enjoyed some good fortune and poor opposition keeper play.

What about the ‘forgotten man,’ David Turnbull, who Ange recently stated was ahead of Kyogo Furuhashi with his timeline to return from injury?

Celtic Way:

Here we see that Turnbull and Rogic’s OBV metrics were fairly comparable overall, with Turnbull’s passing offering considerably more value the main difference. That is a topic I have referenced before, and believe his value in delivering set-pieces remains underappreciated.

Celtic Way:

That radar compared set-piece and corner-related metrics for league games through December 15th, the data of Turnbull’s injury, and then subsequently in his absence. While some of the drop off in production from set pieces may be normal variance, the analysis I conducted in the piece linked directly above offered some evidence that such a drop off from Turnbull’s quality was possible, if not likely.

With fixture congestion likely to persist, and related injury risks potentially as persistent, effective player rotation to capitalize upon the newfound abundance in midfield may be essential. Fortunately, smart recruitment in the January window has offered quality depth. I will be interested to see who Ange settles upon in big games, but my order is: O’Riley, Hatate, Turnbull, and Rogic.