Rodgers must finally drop Celtic man with no league goal in months

Celtic moved to an impressive nine points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership table on Saturday after they beat Hibernian 3-0 at Parkhead.

The Hoops can move 12 points clear of Aberdeen, who have played one more match, if they win their game in hand over their closest rivals, and look to be on course for a fourth straight league title.

They have not failed to win the Premiership since the 2020/21 campaign, when Steven Gerrard secured the title for Rangers, and that does not look likely to change at this moment in time.

Brendan Rodgers opted to leave the likes of Cameron Carter-Vickers, Reo Hatate, Kyogo Furuhashi, and Paulo Bernardo on the bench from the start and his team were still able to secure a relatively comfortable victory.

An opening goal from Arne Engels settled the early nerves, after Hibernian missed a one-on-one early on, and an own goal from Joe Newell made it two, before Kyogo came off the bench to make it 3-0 late on.

The two goalscorers were far from the only players who caught the eye with their performances for the Scottish giants in the clash at Paradise, though.

Celtic’s top performers against Hibernian

The player of the match for Celtic, arguably, was goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, who joined on a free transfer from Anderlecht in the summer transfer window.

Hibernian carved out several opportunities to find the back of the net, with a whopping five ‘big chances’ to Celtic’s four, but they could not find a way past the great Dane.

The veteran shot-stopper made a stunning nine saves to keep his clean sheet and seven of those saves came from shots inside the box, as he thwarted multiple one-on-one chances with fantastic saves with his feet.

Without his terrific shot-stopping, Hibernian – given the five ‘big chances’ that they created – could have easily got something out of the match with the opportunities that they had.

Nicolas Kuhn had another strong showing down the right flank for the Scottish giants with two key passes and one ‘big chance’ created, but was not rewarded with an assist for his effort, as his teammates let him down in front of goal.

The Hoops skipper, Callum McGregor, caught the eye with 131 touches and 118 passes completed for Celtic in the middle of the park, which shows that he provided a metronomic presence in possession for his side.

However, there were some players who did not step up and perform against Hibs. One dud who struggled at Parkhead on Saturday was left winger Daizen Maeda.

Daizen Maeda’s performance against Hibernian

The Japan international was selected from the start on the left wing and simply failed to have much of an impact on the game defensively or offensively.

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You know what you’re going to get from Maeda in the pressing game, as he is always running and closing down opposition defenders to win the ball back, but the forward struggled badly in physical contests.

The 27-year-old lightweight lost six of his nine duels, including five of his seven ground battles, and this shows that the Hibernian players found it far too easy to get the better of him.

As you can see in the table above, Maeda also failed to make an impact on the match from an offensive perspective for the Scottish giants.

The Japanese dud had fewer touches than Schmeichel (45), a goalkeeper, and did not register a single shot on target or ‘big chance’ created for the team, which illustrates how little he contributed to the win for the Hoops.

He failed to get into the match, as shown by his lack of touches, and did not do enough with the ball at his feet when his teammates did find him in good positions.

Therefore, Maeda was one of the worst performers on the pitch for the Premiership champions, as the winger struggled badly in and out of possession.

Why Brendan Rodgers must drop Daizen Maeda

Rodgers must, now, finally ditch the forward from the starting XI because his form in the Scottish top-flight has left a lot to be desired for a number of months.

Maeda’s last goal in the Premiership came on the 28th of September against St. Johnstone, which means that he has gone nine games – and months – without a league goal for the club.

The Celtic dud has also only recorded one assist in those nine matches, which means that he has one goal contribution in nine games and over two months in the division.

These statistics show that Maeda has consistently failed to deliver quality in the final third for the Hoops, particularly when you consider that Kuhn – on the opposite wing – has contributed with three goals and two assists, despite being an unused substitute against Ross County recently, in the same period.

The Japan international has only scored two goals in 14 appearances in the Premiership this season, and Rodgers must finally drop him from the XI after another lacklustre display against Hibernian.

As you can see in the table above, James Forrest – who has rarely started for the Scottish giants in the league – has provided more creativity than Maeda this term.

Forrest may not offer a greater goal threat, given his failure to score so far this term, but the Scotland international could offer better passing and crossing to create chances for others.

The Celtic academy graduate came off the bench to assist Kyogo’s goal on Saturday with a clever pass to split open the opposition’s defence in the second half.

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Therefore, Rodgers should unleash Forrest ahead of Maeda next time out in the Premiership, to see if the veteran winger can provide more quality in the final third.