Alex Rae knows a thing or two about the dangers of Kyogo and Daizen Maeda when both were at Celtic.
Rae was part of Philippe Clement’s coaching staff at Rangers having joined in October 2023 after the sacking of Michael Beale.
Of course, Clement got one over Celtic on a couple of occasions throughout his Glasgow derby record, but the Hoops were usually the stronger and more successful team.
That was largely typified by Kyogo as the central striker and Maeda on the left wing, and the pair terrorised Rangers’ defence for years at Celtic Park and Ibrox.
Rae on Clement’s method to stop Kyogo and Maeda
Rae knows that all too well and after discussing Maeda’s SFWA Player of the Year nomination on Clyde 1 Superscoreboard, the ex-Rangers staff member was asked about the Celtic star.
Host Gordon Duncan wanted to know how much of the pre-match Rangers analysis was on Maeda, with Rae replying that is more about Kyogo than his compatriot.
Rae then explained how Rangers tried to unsuccessfully combat Celtic’s former dynamic duo: “Well it wasn’t about him under Phil, it was Kyogo who was the one central – he (Maeda) was coming off the left.
“What they would do is they’d almost pivot around to a two (up front). So the difficulty is trying to get your centre-halves to split as much as possible because they try and do a double function.
Whereas Maeda would try and pounce on the right centre-back, as well as on (James) Tavernier. So you were trying to play back across to the ‘keeper and suck them (Kyogo and Maeda) in and get the ball out to your full-backs.
“We done it at Parkhead in the opening derby of the season for 10 or 15 minutes, and then all of a sudden they nick it (the ball) a couple of times, you get nervous, and the rest is history on that day.
“But you have to try and play through it, you have to try and stretch them as much as possible and try and discourage those two. Now, trying to discourage Kyogo and Maeda is very difficult!”
“They just strangle the life out of the opposition and it’s just the philosophy they have.
Kyogo and Maeda were deadly against Rangers
Kyogo ran Rangers ragged across the 17 games he played against them for Celtic between 2021 and his final derby at the start of 2024.
He scored eight against the Ibrox side in total and only lost four times.
Maeda’s record against Rangers will continue with Kyogo now at Stade Rennais after a £10m January transfer move, which hasn’t gone well for him.
Maeda profited from that deal by becoming Celtic’s new central striker and he will surely increase his goal tally over the next couple of seasons.
