Daizen Maeda

Head clearly isnt in the right place and i dont blame him.

Needs a spot on the bench though as we cant afford to have them performances.

 

wonder why yang wasnt hooked at half time too he was worse than maeda

 

I thought that was going to be the change take Yang off and move Maeda wide.

 

Yeah I'm a bit concerned by the substitution to be honest.

Yang was offering nothing either and seemed the likely one to make way. Move Maeda out to the right and bring off the player we actively wanted to punt in the summer. The fact Rodgers kept Yang on and decided Maeda could come straight off was alarming. Don't think we've seen that from him before.

As for his performance, I'm struggling as to whether there's something there mentally with him or whether he just isn't particularly good. You need to be pretty technically efficient to play as a Celtic striker in Europe - especially away from home. Maeda isn't and has never been that.

But the fact Rodgers saw enough to actually hook him instead of try to utilise his pace in behind down the right side was eyebrow-raising.

Seemed like Maeda was back on it with his goal at Killie but not overly sure now. Something doesn't feel right.

 

Hopefully he just needs reassurance from the club that he is part of there long term plans or be told that if a decent offer comes in then he can go, we need a fully functioning Maeda, he is too good to be allowed to drift in the current mediocrity.

 

Think Rodgers was quietly raging at him to be honest. 3 or 4 times he was caught offside because he was too lazy to get himself back onside. Which you could see on the camera angles afterwards, just walking back.
I assume that's why he was hooked. Yang is absolutely pish but he puts the effort in. Not much to go on I know
Maeda has given everything for us but you can't have that carry on last night. Being offisde is fine but doing it 3 or 4 times in that same manner is inexcusable for me

 

I think we have seen a few players whose head's have bern turned looking disinterested and Maeda certainly looked that way last night. I might have old fashioned values but we are still paying his wages and he should still be doing his best for his teammates however, it's just another situation that should never have arisen and just another indictment of how badly our club is run

 

i dont know where this notion that yang puts the effort in comes from ,he is regularly caught too far up the park because he is too lazy to track his man

 

You could tell after the game Rodgers was quite angry with him to be honest. Was asked about Maeda's attitude and things like that and he obviously put a strong face on and said how he's committed etc. But he also said "Obviously he wasn't at his best tonight......nowhere near it". Thought that last bit was a wee dig at him.

Don't want to read too much into potentially throwaway remarks but that's just how it came across to me. Doesn't criticise if he doesn't see some sort of worth in it.

 

I'm trying for wee Yang alright

 

A great footballer and i love him but he works best at LW. He work as a striker domestically but he falls short in europe.

BR noticed it, changed it and things went well after that.

 

I am getting the feeling that the club, between the board and the manager have managed to completely * up what seemed a harmonious and productive relationship between Celtic and Japanese footballers.

Kyogo left in a bizarre transfer to Rennes, with Jota coming back to us. Kyogo was never at his best under Rodgers and I blame Rodgers for a lot of that.

Daizen catapulted into the limelight and had an incredible season and became the darling of the support despite his technical limitations. Club * him over big time in the Summer maybe and Rodgers playing Idah over him at the start of this season wasn't helping.

Reo been miles off it for ages and had seemingly wanted away for a while.

Now you have Inamura and Yamada who have both looked ok in preseason absolutely bombed out by Rodgers in what feels like a game between him and the board.

You also had Iwata who many felt was not given a fair chance.

You cannot help feel that the Japanese players are unhappy with their general treatment recently. It's no wonder players are not at their best with what's been going on - that we know about.

 

Hes been incredible for us but its clear the collapsed move has impacted his performances.

Hes never really looked like a player in the past thats been too bothered by a bad miss here or a bad touch there. Hes always just got on with it and kept going. This season he looks off though. Just not switched on.

Rodgers seldom makes early subs even when we are playing * so the fact he hooked him at half time was an indication to me that he wasnt happy with maedas focus.

 

We've got Tounekti for LW and I think Iheanacho offers more as ST. There is a glaring gap at RW, play him there until January, hopefully his form picks up and we can still get a decent price for him.

 

He tried against Red Star, but it didn't happen for him. Scared their GK a few times. I think Lennon is too harsh on him.

 

I don't think it's a deliberate lack of effort, it's lack of ability and football intelligence as well as being played at CF - which is clearly beyond him for the reasons above.

He's regressed back to when he started with us.
Maeda is a very limited player with one superpower (running) and when you limit that, this is what we are left with.

 

I dont think he works as a striker in this system. He would work under Ange though in the Kyogo role.

 

Between having a new baby a few months ago and the mess of the non transfer, that he was told he could have, his head is scrambled. Understandably.

I think the best option is benching him for a while, with a warning that if he doesn't work his way back into the team quickly there's a chance there is no move for him in January, because no one will be interested in a player that hasn't shown anything all season, and he could fall out of the Japan squad for the world cup as well. Give him something else to focus on.

 

I think this is mismanagement of our squad at the same magnitude as turning down £9m for Boyata who was out of contract at the end of the season and then refused to play against AEK Athens.

To be offered anything north of £15m for Maeda at 27, having told you he wants to go since February, and having shown clear signs his scoring rate last year wasn’t sustainable, shows pure negligence in our decision making.

Given we play in the SPFL players really need recycled to keep them fresh and hungry. It is a fairly unique challenge we face in being (or should be) miles ahead of most of our domestic competition but face massive step ups in Europe. To me it’s plain to see guys like Kyogo, Maeda and Hatate all stayed longer than they intended to, when there was interest out there in them.