GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - SEPTEMBER 14: Celtic's Daizen Maeda shakes hands with Brendan Rodgers during a William Hill Premiership match between Celtic and Heart of Midlothian at Celtic Park, on September 14, 2024, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Celtic’s incredible start to the 2024/25 Scottish Premiership campaign continued on Saturday as they secured a 2-0 win against Hearts at Parkhead.
The Hoops have kept five clean sheets in their five league matches so far, winning all five games, and are sat at the top of the division, having also won the title in Brendan Rodgers’ first season back in Glasgow.
Summer signing Arne Engels opened the scoring for the Scottish giants from the penalty spot after Nicolas Kuhn’s cross was handled by a defender, which provided the Belgian with a chance to roll the ball past Craig Gordon.
The veteran Jam Tarts goalkeeper may have been disappointed with his part in the second goal for Celtic. Luke McCowan, also signed in the summer, came off the bench and fired a left-footed effort Gordon’s way from the edge of the box and it was helped into the back of the net by a weak hand from the shot-stopper.
Whilst it was another impressive showing from the Hoops, who have continued their near-perfect start to the league campaign, there were some underwhelming performances, including Daizen Maeda on the left flank.
Daizen Maeda’s struggles against Hearts
The Japan international was selected to play on the left flank, after his goal against Rangers before the international break, and struggled to make a significant impact at the top end of the pitch.
As ever, Maeda was full of running and constantly looking to threaten in behind and down the sides of defenders to get on the end of long passes and through balls.
However, none of his runs resulted in a clear goalscoring chance for the forward, with Gerald Taylor’s sublime sliding challenge in the first half preventing him from going one-on-one with Gordon.
The 26-year-old forward did create two chances for his teammates throughout the game, but neither of them were ‘big chances’ and he did not register an assist for either of the goals.
He also lost two of his three physical duels during the match, and only completed one dribble, in what was a fairly underwhelming showing from the winger.
Maeda had very little say in the match from an offensive perspective and did not do much defensive work to help to preserve the clean sheet, as shown by these statistics.
However, he was not the worst performer on the pitch for Celtic as Kyogo Furuhashi endured a frustrating afternoon and must now be finally ditched from the starting XI by Rodgers.
Kyogo Furuhashi’s frustrating performance against Hearts
The 29-year-old striker scored his first goal of the season against Rangers before the international break but his struggles in front of goal returned for this clash with Hearts.
Rodgers kept him in the starting XI after his strike against the Gers and was not rewarded with a strong performance from the Japanese marksman, who struggled on and off the ball.
Kyogo was presented with one ‘big chance’ to find the back of the net when he was sent one-on-one with Gordon and the striker fired his effort wide of the post, which was one of the four shots he failed to find the back of the net with.
The former Vissel Kobe number nine only had seven touches of the ball in 72 minutes on the pitch and completed two passes, to go along with his four shots on goal, and did not create any chances for his teammates.
He was also a liability out of possession for the Hoops. Hearts defenders came out on top against them in all three of his physical duels at Parkhead, which shows that he struggled with the physicality of the match as he lost 100% of his duels.
These statistics show that he was even worse than Maeda, who at least created two chances for his teammates and won one of his three duels, for Rodgers.
As you can see in the table above, Kyogo’s showing against Hearts was not out of touch with his form from the previous four appearances in the division.
The experienced forward has struggled in front of goal throughout the season so far, which comes after he missed 24 ‘big chances’ and scored 14 goals in 38 league outings last term.
These statistics show that Kyogo has been an incredibly wasteful finisher for Celtic over the past 13 months or so, whilst also offering very little outside of his goals, due to his weak play out of possession and lack of creativity.
With all of this in mind, Rodgers must finally ditch the striker from the starting XI for the club’s first Champions League clash of the campaign against SK Slovan at Parkhead on Wednesday night.
Kyogo, who scored two goals in six Champions League matches last term, must be ruthlessly dropped from the line-up to make way for Adam Idah.
Why Adam Idah should be unleashed
The Ireland international is yet to score since his return to the club on a permanent deal from Norwich City this summer but was unfortunate to have a goal ruled out by VAR for offside on Saturday, due to an offside on Greg Taylor in the build-up.
His form during his loan spell at Parkhead during the second half of the 2023/24 campaign suggests that the potential is there for the 6 foot 3 star to come in as an upgrade on Kyogo for this clash with Slovan.
As you can see in the table above, Idah outperformed the Japanese attacker in the Premiership, with a higher conversion rate and greater goals to ‘big chances’ missed ratio.
The former Norwich academy graduate also won a significantly higher percentage of his aerial duels and this suggests that he could be more useful in European matches, where Celtic may need an outball when they are under pressure to get up the pitch.
Therefore, Kyogo should be ruthlessly ditched from the starting XI after his poor showing against Hearts and Idah should be unleashed against Slovan.
