Daizen Maeda of Celtic celebrates scoring the first goal during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Dundee United at Celtic Park on January 08, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Q: How much of a miss will Daizen Maeda be for this match?
Alistair Johnston: “Yeah, I mean, for crying out loud, I mean, he scored, I’m not sure what his stats are but he’s got to be one of the most in-form players in all of Europe right now, and he can’t seem to miss right now. So yeah, again, when he’s scoring and creating, he adds just another dimension, but also everyone knows his work rate is unbelievable. He’s a nightmare as a fullback to go up against and I get the joy of having him running after me throughout the week most of the time.
Daizen Maeda of Celtic scores his team’s fifth goal and his hat-trick goal during the Scottish Cup match between Celtic FC and Raith Rovers FC at Celtic Park on February 08, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
“It’s a bummer for us, but at the same time, that’s why we brought in guys like Jota. You know, it’s to have that quality that between all of our wingers, that entire group. So that here is enough quality and depth that when something like that does happen, the suspension, that other guys can step up. So yeah, I think right now between Jota, Yang, and Nicolas Kuhn, like, we’re still really happy with where we are at in terms of our depth and our talent there. It’s a great opportunity for one of those guys to step up, and I’m expecting that someone will in the coming days.”
Q: You are well known for your fitness in this league, how big a jump is it to the top level of football?
Alistair Johnston: “Yeah, it’s funny. I look at the GPS data all the time after matches, and domestically, often it’s different when you’re pinned into another team’s half. It’s not as much long-distance running for me. It’s a lot of overlaps and stuff, but when you look at the GPS data, compare that with, you know, an Aston Villa or something like that, it is a different type of fitness because there’s so many more accelerations and decelerations in terms of you’re defending, you’re constantly in a low block, but you’re constantly stepping out, in and out of things, and for me, the biggest difference I’ve found is the mental concentration, being fully concentrated for 90 minutes.
Birmingham, 29th January 2025. Alistair Johnston during the UEFA Champions League match at Villa Park. Photo: Cody Froggatt / Sportimage
“I mean, I paid the highest price for it against Villa. I went to sleep for half a second, and boom, give and go right behind me, three minutes in the game, that’s one nil. Like, these teams are ruthless with that, and if you take one wrong step as a defender if you’re just, your weight is on your wrong foot, these guys are too athletic, and they’re too good, they’re going to punish you.
“So I think that’s one of the biggest and most difficult steps up which is what we talked about at the beginning, it’s just the physicality of the actual players, but the mental concentration that’s required then is that you can’t slip up because they will punish you, it’s something that, you know, you can maybe get away with it a little bit domestically, sometimes you can be off it a little bit, and a team won’t necessarily punish you for taking a shortcut. At this level though, especially against teams like this where we’re at now, you can’t, and that’s one of those where you walk off that pitch and you’re physically and mentally exhausted. I mean, you can sleep for 24 hours straight after those games, but again, that’s the kind of football that you want to be in.”
