Celtic's growing attacking partnership in Kyogo and Kuhn

Saturday was a game filled with positives for Celtic against Craig Levein’s St Johnstone side, as the club ran out 3-1 winners over their Perth visitors. From the return of Cameron Carter-Vickers to the sublime finish of James Forrest after another eye-catching cameo from the veteran, it was a day filled with optimism for Brendan Rodgers’ team. However, perhaps the biggest positive takeaway from this routine Premiership win was that of a budding coalition between two of Celtic’s attackers, in the shape of Nicolas Kuhn and Kyogo Furuhashi.

Indeed, both players had two goal contributions each – in the form of a goal and an assist – as they both provided and dispatched their chances made by each other respectively. Using both Wyscout and StatsBomb, The Celtic Way dissects a positive showing from both players, as a potentially dangerous partnership may well be beginning to blossom at the club between the pair…

Kyogo’s goal (40’)

In the lead-up to this opening goal on the day for Celtic, both contributors had looked in the mood to cause St Johnstone trouble. Kuhn was causing his opposing marker all kinds of problems down the right wing, whilst Kyogo had an earlier conversion ruled out for offside in the lead-up.

The still above shows Kuhn, captured just before he began to start the move which ended with an assist to his striker Kyogo. Followed by his marker Luke Robinson at left-back, this was a favourable position for the Germany winger to be in, as he backs himself in 1v1 situations with the ball at his feet.

Though this article is mainly about the partnership between Kuhn and Kyogo, the impact of Alistair Johnston – and Greg Taylor for the second goal – cannot be overstated. The arrow indicates where the Canada right-back was going to move to, as he looked to free up Kuhn to progress with the ball. Despite not being involved in the play, Kyogo had his head up and was looking to get involved if a chance arose. He has had to be patient at times this campaign, but his constant running and keenness to get goal-side would pay off at the climax of this well-worked move.

A couple of frames later, Johnston had initiated the decoy run, which stretched the two players marking the duo on the right-hand side. The still shows Kuhn’s desire to cut inside, a move he showed off last time out against Livingston in the Scottish Cup. Due to the way the winger had started this game – looking confident and playing with his head up – there was only going to be one winner in this exchange between Kuhn and Robinson.

At this point, Kyogo had drifted fully into the box and was stationed in the middle of a busy penalty area thanks to St Johnstone’s low block. Still monitoring the play with his head and eyes firmly on the play, Kyogo would work his attacking magic in a flash, which would result in the deadlock being broken a couple of seconds later…

Kuhn backed himself as always, and he had good reason to, as he left his marker scrambling to get anywhere near him. Admittedly for Robinson, it was too late, as he had let his assigned man get into the vicinity of his ‘sweet spot’, at least in the last two games. With time and space, Kuhn lobbed a perfect pass into Kyogo’s path, who himself could not have asked for a better delivery to come his way. It was a striker’s dream of a cross, which was headed home perfectly by Celtic’s main man up top.

Not shown in this still – but what should be highlighted all the same – is that of Kyogo’s spin to peel off his marker in the lead-up to this goal. The manoeuvre was so quick in its execution that it completely bamboozled Levein’s defence, leaving the striker with only Dimitar Mitov in the visitors’ net to beat. Bravely taking the Bulgaria goalkeeper on in the air, Kyogo was far too quick for his opponent, his header accurately finding its way into the back of the net for Celtic.

A goal that was aesthetically pleasing from start to finish, data provider StatsBomb had Kyogo’s initial chance as 0.44 in xG, due in part to the quality of Kuhn’s delivery to the striker. It then rose to 0.85 in PSxG, highlighting the brilliance of his header and the connection he got with the ball in doing such an action. Criminally underrated in the air due to his size and stature, it was another header for the ever-growing highlight reel of Kyogo at Celtic.

Kuhn’s goal (46’)

Celtic’s style of play has been heavily criticised this season, with many labelling Rodgers’ style as turgid and boring – myself included. However, this goal almost immediately following the restart was a throwback to Ange Postecoglou’s swashbuckling brand of football, which was finished off by the in-form Kuhn.

As mentioned previously, Taylor played a key role in the make-up of this goal, as it was his lobbed pass that sent the scorer-turned-provider Kyogo on his way. Although aware of the tight angle that he will operate in if he is passed to when running down the left flank, Kyogo still elected to make the forward move, taking two defenders with him in the process.

Note the position of Kuhn, who sensed a potential opportunity on the horizon if he made a nuisance of himself by moving into the box from his wide position. This direct style has been sorely missed this season, which looks to now be present, thanks to the emergence of both Kuhn and his suspended teammate Yang Hyun-jun, who plays a similar way. The former’s gamble will pay off in a couple of seconds, though his assister still had a lot to do to make his chance transpire.

With his back to both the goal and his eventual dispatcher Kuhn, Kyogo was tightly marked by two of St Johnstone’s defenders, who had tracked his run. Unaware of what was going on around him for a couple of seconds due to his position, the striker must have remembered that his winger was in the process of running into the box.

Focusing on Kuhn’s movement, he would have known by this point that he had the beating of his opponents’ defenders for pace, trusting his superior cardio to get himself into a good position deep in the penalty area. At this point, it was all about the quality of the delivery, and if Kyogo could find the keen winger waiting in the middle of the box…

After setting himself, Kyogo had spotted a small opening in between his two markers, double-teamed as a matter of urgency by St Johnstone. In a flash, he played a low ball into the area which Kuhn was running into, allowing the right-winger to tap home from a couple of yards out.

A goal that was simple, yet so effective, three passes allowed for Celtic to carve open a St Johnstone side that had stabilised under the management of Levein. No easy feat, yet the home side made it look that way.

StatsBomb judged this opportunity as the highest-scoring xG chance of the afternoon at a whopping 0.75, not unlike a penalty chance in the eyes of the data providers. Due to Kuhn’s positioning and connection with the ball, it increased in PSxG to 0.98, effectively a chance that the winger should – and thankfully would – convert with ease. Easily one of Celtic’s most well-worked goals this campaign, and another positive showing of a potential blossoming partnership between Kyogo and Kuhn.

Summary

Though it is still relatively early days between the pair - and their collective time on the pitch together has admittedly been limited – Kyogo and Kuhn look to have an understanding that will only continue to grow and improve as time goes on. Whether Yang comes straight back in following his two-game suspension a week on Saturday to break up this budding coalition is another story, but the early signs look good for the pair.

Direct, intelligent and lethal, the Japan striker and the Germany winger’s early collective signs look extremely promising, both individually and for the team as a whole. A mutual and growing understanding to keep an eye on in the weeks and months ahead…