Celtic moved back to within two points of Rangers in the Premiership title race after a late win over Motherwell at Fir Park on Sunday.

Substitute Adam Idah completed a second-half double on 94 minutes before fellow substitute Luis Palma tapped in a few minutes later to seal the three points as the champions recovered from a poor first-half display that saw them go behind to a Blair Spittal strike. Norwich loanee Idah has rightly received plenty of plaudits for his fine double off the bench but Yang Hyun-jun, another second-half substitute, also made a significant contribution in his half-hour cameo.                                                                                                               

Here we break down how the South Korean winger influenced the game in the final 30 minutes in North Lanarkshire, helping Celtic to what could be a huge three points come the end of the season…

First pass (66 mins)

Yang replaced German wide man Nicolas Kuhn on the hour mark as Celtic went in search of a winner following Idah’s equaliser just five minutes after the restart. January signing Kuhn was largely ineffective in his 60 minutes and was often too guilty of cutting inside and congesting play or popping the ball off to a central midfielder or centre-back. Yang, by contrast, was much more positive and direct in his wing play.

An early example was five minutes after coming on when the former Gangwon man picked up the ball on the right touchline. Holding his width, Yang looked to feed the ball between the lines for midfielder Matt O’Riley who had made a good run off the back of his man.

Although the pass was cut out, the intention to play forward quicker and take more risks was in contrast to much of what Kuhn offered. Holding his width was also important. As could be seen in this early example, by doing so this allowed Alistair Johnston space to make an underlapping run and exploit space in between the Motherwell outside centre-back and wing-back. Already having a decent game, Johnston became much more influential in the second thanks to Yang’s wider positioning. This was in contrast to Kuhn who often congested those areas by moving inside too quickly.

Cross for Maeda (76 mins)

Yang generally offered more variation on the ball than Kuhn too and gave the Motherwell defence a different problem to deal with. One that was much more unpredictable.

His willingness to mix up his game created an opportunity for Daizen Maeda with 15 minutes to go. Staying high and wide as Celtic built the play, Yang did not hesitate when receiving the ball from O’Riley and played a low first-time ball into the box that found Maeda coming in off the left.

The Japanese forward was unable to control his shot but it again showcased Yang’s eagerness to vary his play and be a bit more direct when receiving the ball. Too often in the first half Kuhn would take a touch or slow things down to assess the situation. Delivering early of course gives the opposition less time to set and it almost paid off on this occasion.

Role in Idah’s second goal (90+4 mins)

His willingness to hold the width would play a key role in Idah’s crucial second goal. As Celtic worked the ball across the pitch from the opposite side, Yang remained just a few yards off the touchline on the right, stretching the Motherwell backline.

From there, he showed excellent close control and a nice change of pace to beat his man on the inside before driving across the box and slipping the ball into the space, space that his initial positioning helped create.

Finding his man with a nice outside-of-the-boot pass, Yang’s ball allowed Johnston to turn and supply the low cross for Idah to empathetically finish at the front post.

Assist for Palma (90+6 mins)

Not satisfied with a key role in the build-up to Idah’s dramatic winner, Yang still had time to set up a third to seal the win.

Again, he held his width but, with Motherwell short of numbers as they pushed for an equaliser, he was able to come further inside. After being fed the ball by O’Riley once more, he held the line as well, fizzing a pass across the face of Liam Kelly’s goal that picked out Palma for a tap-in at the back post.

StatsBomb data

StatsBomb’s data further highlights Yang’s impact on proceedings at Fir Park on Sunday.

His influence particularly stands out in StatsBomb’s passing network which gives a sense of where the game was played and who was most involved. As always, the warmer the colour the more influential the player, while the thicker the passing lines the more passes between the players. StatsBomb measures pass contributions in on-ball value (OBV). A breakdown of the metric can be read here.

In this regard, Yang boasted the second-highest OBV score on the day of 0.53 from his 18 passes. Kuhn, by contrast, posted a negative OBV score of -0.04 from 17 passes. Admittedly not the only forward to have a less than productive day, especially in the first half.

It was Johnston who had the highest OBV, 0.76 in the second half and 0.90 overall, further highlighting Celtic’s increased threat on the right in the second 45 thanks to much better movement on that side which was, at times, almost reminiscent of the slick wide link-up play that was a hallmark under Ange Postecoglou. 

Consistent with their OBV score, Yang (0.76), alongside Johnston (1.33), led the way in terms of xG Assisted while the former K League young player of the year also had two attempts himself (0.13 xG total). This gave the South Korean international a very productive 0.89 expected scoring contribution in just 30 minutes of game time.

He worked hard out of possession at the weekend too, making two tackles and one interception. Kuhn managed just one interception in his hour. Yang showed good intensity in his pressing as well, especially his counter-pressing where he registered four, joint with starters Tomoki Iwata and Maeda, one behind O’Riley and two off Greg Taylor, who made the most for Celtic.

Conclusion

Celtic’s lack of productivity from the wide areas is well documented this season but Yang’s cameo on Sunday was one of the best half-hours a winger has produced this season. The issue, on top of a general drop-off in the quality of the options available, has been when there has been better wing play, like Yang produced at the weekend, it has often been in moments and not consistently.

Likely, and rightly, to get the nod to start tomorrow against Dundee at Celtic Park, hopefully, Yang can build on his impressive display from the bench and show he is ready to string together several consistent performances from the start. His ability to do so, at such a pivotal point of the season, would certainly be more than welcome.