GREG TAYLOR is a player who tends to split the Celtic fanbase. Since arriving from Kilmarnock in the summer of 2019, the left-back has found himself in and out of the starting XI and has struggled to make the position his own. Boli Bolingoli, Diego Laxalt and Adam Montgomery have all been pitched in over the years and failed to command a regular starting spot, and it’s only Josip Juranovic – who is more effective playing in his natural position on the opposite flank – who can be said to have been a success.

The Croatian’s versatility is a big plus for Ange Postecoglou and his strong start to life in Glasgow means he is one of the first names on the manager’s team sheet when fit and available. Anthony Ralston’s renaissance this season has been well documented and the 23-year-old has proven he has a future in Glasgow’s East End and can be counted upon as a reliable option at right-back. As the season progresses, there is an argument to be made that Taylor is following suit.

In the last few games we’ve seen both sides of Taylor. In the derby with Rangers, he was imperious. As noted by Celtic Way columnist Alan Morrison on Twitter: “Taylor’s defensive performance was, well, remarkable.

“He won 12 challenges/interceptions and lost 0. Last season his averages were 5.1 and 5.4 He won 3 more challenges than the next (Starfelt) and won back possession 10 times, 4 more than the next.

“Other parts of his game we fine too – he completed 8 pack passes (4th) and had 1 shot. But his defensive work was excellent.”

It was a coming-of-age display that has been a long time coming. Supporters were right to initially question whether or not Taylor was capable of playing effectively within Postecoglou’s system – after all, the inverted full-backs preferred by the Australian could hardly be more stark to the football he was playing under Steve Clarke at Kilmarnock where he made his breakthrough – but the 24-year-old has adapted well.

A common criticism of Taylor’s is that he lacks the sufficient technical ability to contribute in the final third but the Scotland internationalist was at the heart of Celtic’s opening goal at Fir Park. It was Taylor who initially won possession and it was the full-back’s dinked ball through to Reo Hatate that unlocked the Motherwell defence and ultimately broke the deadlock.

Then, at Pittodrie midweek, the other side of Taylor’s game. He never looked entirely comfortable and found himself beaten too easily on occasion, and there is no doubt that much of the blame for Lewis Ferguson’s equaliser lay with the former Kilmarnock man. Whether or not he should have been tasked with marking the Aberdeen midfielder is another matter but it can’t be ignored that Taylor didn’t exactly make life difficult for his opponent.

This latest performance has been perfect ammunition for those who contend Taylor cannot be relied on in the first team but that ignores the obvious strides he has taken this season. All of the points raised so far are anecdotal in nature but the data suggests that Taylor does have a future in this Celtic team.

Celtic Way:

The graphic above shows how Taylor is performing relative to his full-back peers in the Premiership and a couple of things jump out immediately. Taylor finds himself excelling in terms of the number of interceptions he completes per game and is performing relatively well when it comes to tackles completed and aerial duels per game. The fact that he is dribbled past with relative ease is certainly a cause for concern and while he tends to commit a lot of turnovers, it’s worth pointing out that Taylor is taking more risks in possession than your average top-flight full-back.

Taylor isn’t a natural dribbler but that’s not that big of a deal within Postecoglou’s set-up, where the full-backs aren’t charged with carrying the ball out from the back. Instead, the onus is placed on their ability to take up good positions infield and contribute to the team’s build-up play, and here Taylor is performing excellently. He finds himself in the top two per cent of players in the sample in terms of deep progressions (successful passes into the final third) and xGBuildup (a metric that measures a player’s contribution to attacking moves that produce shots on goal).

It is perhaps counterintuitive to the general perception of Taylor. For many, he is a defensively-minded full-back who struggles with the creative side of his game but the data is telling us the reverse is true. Taylor’s work on the ball isn’t the problem; he needs to be better off of it.

In order to get a real sense of how Taylor is faring though, there are only really two players he can be compared to: Juranovic and Ralston. They are perhaps the only players in Scotland who are asked to perform a similar role within the same framework and although the comparison isn’t ideal (Juranovic often features on the right and Ralston plays there exclusively, for example) it gives an impression of how the trio are getting on.

We’ll start with Juranovic. The summer signing from Legia Warsaw has been an excellent addition to the team and is widely regarded as the best of Postecoglou’s three options at full-back.

Celtic Way:

What we can see is that while Juranovic has the edge in a few areas, much of the two players’ output is actually pretty similar. They make roughly the same amount of successful tackles per game and their work on the ball is remarkably similar with very little to split them. Taylor is a bit more careless at times and commits more turnovers but is a far more effective presence in the air. It’s a similar story when we compare Taylor to Ralston. The latter is clearly performing much better defensively than the former but there really isn’t much too much between the two players’ creative output. All three are outperforming the likes of Borna Barisic and James Tavernier in terms of their ball progression and the triumvirate are comfortably the best full-backs in the league in this regard.

Celtic Way:

Juranovic and Ralston are the two best full-backs that Postecoglou has available to him and will likely get the nod for games where the Celtic boss fields his strongest XI. But Taylor, so often the scapegoat, has shown he is more than capable of filling in. Given the 60-odd games Celtic will play this season and the intense nature of the style of football implemented by Postecoglou, third-choice full-back remains a position with a lot of responsibility.

Taylor has shown this season that he can handle it. Yes, there are still holes in his game and areas that need to be addressed but it’s worth remembering he is adapting to a largely alien style of play, compared to his career thus far. There is a good player in there and while the likes of Ralston adapted quicker to Postecoglou’s methods, Taylor’s evolution under the Celtic manager’s watch has been noteworthy. Given a bit more time, he could improve even further.