Opinion: Celtic star ranking first in attacking feat could be key in derby

Will David Turnbull start for Celtic in the Glasgow derby at Ibrox on Sunday? Probably not, as he has only played one game since returning from a long injury layoff.

But he should be involved in the game, and an interesting statistic from WhoScored.Com is proof for that.

Turnbull has the most shots per game for Celtic in the Premiership this season, with an average of 3.5 per game. With those statistics, it is no shock that he managed to score nine goals for the Hoops before he suffered the hamstring injury that kept him out of action for around three months.

Now Turnbull is back, and with his fondness for having shots on goal he could be a factor for the Hoops against Rangers.

As has already been said, he likely won’t start in the derby as he has only played 16 minutes of football for the Bhoys in 2022.

But that doesn’t mean that he can’t have an impact on the game. If Turnbull is introduced to the game as a substitute, the first thing his teammates should do is give him the ball so he can have an effort on goal.

A good idea could be for the player to drop into space on the edge of the penalty box, and takes shots on goal when given the chance. As he has already scored nine goals for the season, the player should be confident that those shots should be on target, and one could end up in the back of the net.

Looking at the list on WhoScored.Com of the Celtic players with the most average shots per game, Turnbull is the only player at the club with over three per game. as the only other player who managed that total is Odsonne Edouard, who left the Hoops in August.

That shows just how important having a shot on goal is to Turnbull’s game, and the 22-year-old should be encouraged to keep having shots on goal by Hoops