Callum Booth missed out on St Johnstone’s Premiership opener against Ross County and was only brought on for the last couple of minutes in Istanbul.
The left-sided defender was back in the starting line-up when Motherwell visited McDiarmid Park on Sunday – no slight on Reece Devine, who has hit the ground running on loan from Manchester United – and his performance was the type of composed and influential one Saints fans have come to expect.
Booth was a man of the match contender – and the Opta statistics back up his importance to the Saints team.
Highest number of touches
At a very basic level, Booth was the Saints player most involved in the game.
Over the course of last season it was more common to see Jason Kerr or Jamie McCart’s numbers ahead of the rest but Booth’s 73-touch total was five more than the next man, Hayden Muller, and two more than Devine in Dingwall the week before when Saints enjoyed even more possession.
Most accurate
A couple of the Saints defenders dipped below their usual standard of passing accuracy, with McCart at 66.7% and opposite wing-back, Shaun Rooney, the lowest outfield Perth player by some distance on 57.1%.
Given his heavy workload, Booth’s 85.4% was very impressive.
So too was the fact that he was second behind David Wotherspoon in terms of the number of passes made in the opposition half as well as the passing accuracy percentage in that section of the field.
Saints favoured his side of the pitch
Callum Davidson’s men had spells of sustained control during both forty-fives but they were particularly dominant, in terms of possession certainly, in the opening period.
It was 55% v 45%.
And during that time Saints enjoyed their success predominantly on the left (45.5%) compared to through the middle (18.7%) and down the right (35.8%).
Further forward than Shaun Rooney
This is probably the most surprising statistic of them all.
Rooney is perceived to be the out-and-out marauding wing-back and Booth the more defensive-minded player, more natural even as a traditional full-back.
Their average position maps show, however, that Booth was the slightly more advanced of the two.
Also, both were deployed considerably higher up the pitch than Motherwell’s wide defenders.
The dynamic duo
When you look at the Saints pass matrix on Sunday, by far the most productive combination on the pitch was that between the players who go back to their days at the Hibs academy, Booth and Wotherspoon.
There were 18 completed passes from Booth to Wotherspoon and 17 in the opposite direction.
No other partnership on either team came close.
As anybody who watched the Scottish Cup final will know, it is one of the most important on-pitch relationships Davidson can call upon.
And, with Thursday night’s Europa League return leg in mind, it’s one Galatasaray manager Fatih Terim hasn’t seen yet and may be caught out by.
