The Huddle Breakdown Newsletter

With Alan away in the Far East, Martin and James welcome Celtic analytics community scout Heath Tempe to break down a huge week for Celtic FC.

We have two different seasons and competitive environments in which to try and assess Oliver Sorensen’s profile, and some familiar names are available for comparison purposes. His final season at Midtjylland precipitated his €8.1 million sale to Parma, and followed his rise through the former’s youth setup. Midtjylland deployed him in various roles even through the 2023-2024 season, but he settled mostly in central midfield for the 2024-2025 season.

It is a mad busy time for James, assuming some of these transfer deals actually get done today. So as a farewell gift before I depart for my three-week holiday of a lifetime, I had a moment after checking in to put together something on Sam Johnstone, reportedly the new Celtic goalkeeper. No doubt James will do a more thorough job in due course. It is understood that Johnstone will join from Wolverhampton Wanderers on a season long loan deal.

Given the volume of deals (hopefully!) likely to commence over the coming hours, forgive me for exercising some brevity with these analyses - less fluff and right to the point! van den Berg played 2,213 minutes for PSV II in the Dutch second division in the 2025-2026 season, and will turn 20 in February 2027. As seems fairly common with development teams, he played across various positions but by far the most in central midfield.

Celtic's win over Falkirk produced a completely standard-looking stat pack — plus-two in xG, a +300 packing score, more than double the box possessions, six saves to one — but James and Alan argue that almost nothing about the inputs behind that familiar output was normal.

This article contains all the numbers from the home win against Falkirk. Find out the detail behind Haissem Hassan’s eye catching data. How did Liam Scales fare upon being restored ahead of Auston Trusty? What impact did Callum Osmand make from the bench? And how did Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain replace Callum McGregor? If you are not a paying subscriber you can access this, and one other article, a month until November.

Celtic threw away a four-goal aggregate lead in Austria and crashed out of the Champions League to LASK — and on this week's Extra Time, Martin, Alan and James argue that luck had nothing to do with it.

This article contains a complete stat pack for the Champions League Qualifier Play Off, Second Leg. Note if you are a free subscriber, you can currently access two premium content pieces per month for the next three months. Simply visit the site.

Celtic take a 3-0 lead to Linz — but how do they actually kill this tie? On this week's Huddle Breakdown, Alan and James break down the Champions League play-off second leg against LASK at the Raiffeisen Arena.

It was larks ascending as three worldies lit up a rainy Celtic Champions league qualification night. Shrewd LASK manager Dietmar Kuhbauer lamented the lack of reward for his teams endeavours, and with some justification. This post contains the full match stats from a memorable night, and an unsurprising Bhoy of the Match. Please subscribe for full access.