Brendan Rodgers should ruthlessly ditch the Japan international from the starting line-up.
On Sunday, Celtic will resume their Scottish Premiership campaign as they get ready to leave Parkhead and visit Fir Park to play Motherwell.
Rangers play before the Hoops on Saturday, so they might enter the game with a five-point advantage in first place, but if their opponents lose points, they could have a chance to overtake them at the top of the standings.
Brendan Rodgers’ side provided the Gers with a chance to go top after they dropped points against Kilmarnock last time out in the Premiership.
A stoppage time equaliser from David Watson in Glasgow was enough to secure a point for the away team, after Kyogo Furuhashi had given the Bhoys the lead during the first half.
Japan international Daizen Maeda was one player that failed against Kilmarnock last weekend; as a result, he needs to be mercilessly benched to make room for January arrival Nicolas Kuhn.
The 26-year-old forward was selected to play on the right side of the attack, with Luis Palma on the left and Kyogo and Adam Idah through the middle, but failed to make much of an impact on the match.
After 68 minutes, Rodgers made the decision to substitute Maeda for the newly returned from international service with his country, citing the winger’s lackluster performance.
Throughout the game, the right-footed lightweight lost four of his six ground duels and one of his two aerial clashes when out of possession, making it all too easy for the opposition to take advantage of him.
In 68 minutes, Anthony Ralston had made zero tackles, interceptions, blocks, or clearances; he did little to support the attacker at right-back.
In addition to his poor performance off the ball, Maeda was unable to provide enough quality play at the top of the field to help his team win.
The table above shows that the opposition goal was not threatened by the Japan international. He did little to aid his teammates put pressure on Will Dennis between the sticks and gave the goalkeeper nothing to work with.
Unfortunately, Maeda’s poor performance was not an isolated incident; thus far this season, he has not contributed much for Celtic in the last third of the Premiership.
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