Greg Taylor vs Jeffrey Schlupp: Who should start for Celtic?

Following Celtic’s competitive showing in the Champions League Play-Off round defeat to Bayern Munich, it seemed that loanee Jeffrey Schlupp had won the fight to become the Hoops' starting left-back.

Replacing Greg Taylor at half time in the 22nd February meeting with Hibernian, amongst a run of seven starts, looked to have cemented that fact.

But football comes at you harder and faster than stock market volatility in the hands of desperate despots. The recent debacle in Perth saw the Ghanaian internationalist also hooked at halftime and lose his starting berth for the visit of Kilmarnock last weekend.

Taylor received man of the match calls in that comprehensive 5-1 victory, although Schlupp appeared on 71 minutes.

The Scot’s performance was in line with the rest of the team, who blew the Ayrshire side away in 30 first-half minutes. But it wasn’t spectacular. His movements and positioning in midfield half-spaces were exciting and unusual. It was more fun than fruitful to see Taylor pop up in the number “10” position as he delivered only two completed pack passes and received six. Neither was in the top three within the team on the day. His overall pack score of 31 was only the 10th highest for Celtic. I focus on packing, as this is the measure of the attributes Taylor was purported to display effectively. That is, getting on the ball between the lines and knitting the play.

In reality, he was neat and tidy but passed the ball quite conservatively.

Schlupp had undoubtedly struggled in Perth. I did wonder when, after eleven successive seasons performing on the English Premier League’s bowling greens, the last time he encountered such a rutted cow pasture as Celtic played on that day.

Nevertheless, stalwart Taylor, beautiful daughter Ruvie in arms before the game, and contract situation unresolved, holds increasing affection amongst the support, so few begrudged him regaining his spot.

Over here in statto corner, of course, numbers are devoid of sentiment.

So, which of Taylor or Schlupp should be the starting left-back for the remainder of the campaign?

Note: Schlupp is slightly below the magic 900 benchmarking minutes mark. He is on 836 across all competitions.

Greg Taylor vs Jeffrey Schlupp comparison

Acting as a little bit of a spoiler is the wide-ranging full-back comparison pie chart from Statsbomb.

This covers league games only. As is the case with most Celtic positions, such is the overwhelming superiority of the Champions in most domestic games, the players profile quite similarly. Albeit there have been a few recent reverses!

Taylor progresses the ball more often from deep, assists more, and turns the ball over less often.

Schlupp is more defensively active, presses more aggressively, but commits fewer fouls.

It isn’t compelling either way.

So, let’s widen the data set out to all competitions, and drill into some core full-back competencies.

Defence

What this shows is that Schlupp is more successful in winning duels, but Taylor wins possession back more often as a result of defensive actions. This fits with the profile of Schlupp being the more powerful, aggressive defender, but there is a trade-off in terms of outcome as to which team profits.

Schlupp is more successful in aerial duels, being around three inches taller and more muscularly built. But he tends to get caught on the ball more often than Taylor.

Ball progression

Schlupp, being faster, completes more ball carries in the opposition half – 2.15 to 1.32.

However, Taylor makes more packing passes and therefore has the higher average pack passing score – 56.27 to 48.01.

The other side of that equation is receiving pack passes – a proxy for movement off the ball and taking up positions in space as well as control of the ball on receipt. By this packing metric, Taylor also outscores Schlupp, averaging 46.68 pack receive score to Schlupp’s 31.65.

Passing is clearly a more prevalent action than ball carrying, albeit the ability to take the ball at feet forwards is a good disrupter of man-to-man oriented marking and pressing.

Overall, though, if your priority was ball progression, then Taylor has a clear advantage.

Chance Creation

Looking at both the volume and quality of chances created from open play.

With Taylor you get more chances created at a higher average expected assist value. This is to be expected given we’ve established he is the more creative passer and also the more adept at finding positions to receive forward passes.

Dangerous Passing

This covers “getting the ball into dangerous areas” and is the amalgam of cross success and danger zone pass completion.

Schlupp is a significantly better crosser of the ball, completing 27 percent of his efforts compared to only 11 percent by Taylor.

Taylor has an edge in completing passes into the space between the posts and inside the box, with 0.48 danger zone passes completed to 0.43.

Pressing

Back to the league data for pressing stats from Statsbomb.

Note that “PAdj” pressures are possession adjusted. Given the disparity in possession in Celtic games (75 per cent to the Champions) to allow cross-team comparison, you can adjust the numbers as if both sides had equal possession.

Interestingly, Schlupp is the more aggressive presser in terms of volume/effort. However, as with defensive actions, Taylor regains the ball more often. Maybe a case of brains over brawn. That is probably overstating it, but it is an interesting comparator in terms of the player that is noted for physical prowess versus the more diminutive Taylor, who has had to learn game starts to navigate six seasons as a regular.

On Ball Value

Statsbomb's on ball action model prefers Schlupp over Taylor across all the categories – passing, dribbling and carrying, defensive action and shot.

There is not a huge amount in it, but the 32-year-old edges it across the board. Again, this is league matches only.

Summary

It may be over simplistic to characterise this as the smart wee guy underdog versus the EPL pace and power monster.

I’d argue Schlupp has been well scouted as a short-term alternate to Taylor. He is similar in most regards but undoubtedly offers more in the way of recovery pace and duel power in defence whilst being functional in getting the ball forward.

It will come down to what you value. I’d argue in Champions League matches, and perhaps in the derbies, you plump for more defensive aggression and pace.

To unpick the majority of domestic defences, it may make more sense to have Taylor’s more subtle ball progression and cleanness in winning possession back overall.

Either way, the ghost of Kieran Tierney, Champions League semi-finalist, hovers.