John Hartson last night was on the Go Radio Football Show discussing Celtic striker Daizen Maeda, who was the only fit striker available to us at the weekend, and how the Japanese international has performed since joing the club back in January.
Maeda signed on the first day of the January transfer window alongside fellow countrymen Reo Hatate and Yosuke Ideguchi. The attacker has signed initially on a loan move until the summer but Celtic have agreed to make the transfer permanent when that deal expires.
While talking about Celtic’s lack of firepower at Easter Road on Sunday, Hartson commented that he thought Maeda had a poor game, an opinion that I admit I agree with. The Welshman goes on to state that he is impressed with some of the players strengths such as his pace and the runs he makes, but what really matters as a Celtic striker is that you are one of the outstanding players in the team, providing goals or assists regularly.
“I thought they had nothing through the middle on Sunday. Maeda had a poor game to his standards. They kept the ball well and made Hibs work. But in terms of efforts on goal, we expect more from Celtic.
“I think he’s started off okay. I like him, I think he’s sharp, he darts in behind and makes really good runs. But ultimately like I said about Giakoumakis a few weeks ago, as a Celtic centre forward you have to stand up. You have to be the outstanding player, be the one that scores decisive goals. If you’re not scoring, you have to be assisting.”
The former Wales international goes on to explain that he is a fan of Maeda and thinks that the goals will come in the future but that unfortunately at Celtic you aren’t provided the luxury of having time to bed in. He says Maeda will be expected to start providing the goals now especially with Kyogo and Giakoumakis both out and Albian Ajeti of course being a long term absentee. He continued:
“I really like Maeda but I think he’s struggled to get a load of goals. With Kyogo and Giakoumakis out he’s the only one that Celtic are relying on. “I think it’ll come for him, but there’s no bedding in time at the moment. You’ve really got to get going now and start scoring goals.”
Big bad John is spot on with his analysis of Maeda. As a former Celtic striker himself he knows the expectations that come with the role, and as he said ultimately a player in that position will be judged by his goals and assists. I have to admit I have been disappointed with a few of the Japanese strikers performances recently which culminated in a poor showing against Hibs on Sunday.
You can’t fault Maeda for his efforts, he runs tirelessly throughout the game chasing everything down but although it’s clear that he’s full of endeavour, unfortunately we are yet to see much end product. On Sunday as I watched him he almost reminded me of our former Polish striker Patryk Klimala.
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What I mean by that is the fact that he looks like his game is suited to making runs in behind the defence, a striker who would be at his best against teams who hold a high line. Not many teams in Scotland will play like that against Celtic, where most teams are more than happy to defend deep making themselves as difficult as possible to break down. I feel like this may negate Maeda’s main strength, his pace.
A few times on Sunday when the ball was put into the box I just felt like if Giakoumakis would have been playing he would have been on the end of a few of the chances but that Maeda just wasn’t picking up the right positions inside the box. I have no doubt he will improve with time as he is still in the infancy of his Celtic career, but as Hartson said getting a few more goals and assists, especially a few decisive ones, will certainly help him quell any concerns some of us may have.
Conall McGinty
The old boy who sat beside me spent a good few weeks describing John Hartson a big lump o’ wid ,as he went eleven games without scoring after joining the Hoops. Soon changed his tune, as will Hartson.
Maeda is certainly a good player and if he’s half as succesful as Hartson was we’re onto a winner.
Might be next season until we see the best of all the newest signings, all have had tough seasons before they arrived, but hopefull there is enough left in the tank to impact on the run-in. 40/1 for a hat-trick tonight. Worth a sky-diver Conall? Perhaps a tad optimistic 🙂