Daizen Maeda of Celtic arrives at the stadium prior to the UEFA Champions League Play-offs Round First Leg match between Celtic and Kairat Almaty at Celtic Park on August 20, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
LORD KATSUMOTO – 5.5/10 – Damn, Daizen, just batter it…Shifts in the CL from Daizen are our secret weapon; best from that central front position, right down the middle meaning he can shuttle side to side and terrify
their entire backline. He was pretty constricted by their intense defensive drills until the freedom of the second-half. But the legs were getting heavy. Rest him at the weekend. Start him central next week. You know it makes sense.
Adam Idah of Celtic vies with Aleksandr Martynovich of Kairat during the UEFA Champions League Play-offs Round First Leg match between Celtic and Kairat Almaty at Celtic Park on August 20, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
DUNCAN IDAHO – 2/10 – *sigh* How long do we wait? Nights like these – made for goal-hungry swashbuckling strikers who want to write themselves into history. I think I saw him kick someone at one point, just as the ball failed to stick again and they countered. Apart form that his game took me back to an 80s John Hughes classic movie scene…”Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?…Bueller?”
Brendan Rodgers, Manager of Celtic with James Forrest as he is substituted during the UEFA Champions League Play-offs Round First Leg match between Celtic and Kairat Almaty at Celtic Park on August 20, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
JAMESY – 6/10 – ‘Just the tip, Jamesy, that’s all it took…’He’s heard that before and winced again as their keeper’s extendable fingertips denied Jamesy a glory goal to top off a veteran performance of incessant optimism; one of the few Hoops who looked like they believed getting a positive result was possible. Jamesy always scores when Khazaks are involved, don’t ya know – so play him on Tuesday and they’ll be locking up their Yaks.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s not the players failing to get up to tempo (barring Idah), it’s Brendan not allowing them to take any risk whatsoever. It’s like watching Craig Levein’s Scotland all over again. 0-0 is a good result the mantra. I’m over it. He should never have been taken back but the board knew he was a pushover and so they did.