Confess your unpopular Celtic-related opinions

Wild call. What you dont appreciate is the moments of real quality that Jota offers. Even in the first half vs Hibs he almost set up two goals from crosses that nobody else in the squad is able to pull off.

if you look back to one of the pivotal moments from last season, when CCV scores at Ibrox from the loose ball in the box, its Jotas cross that causes mayhem due to the height and length pace it comes in at.

Theres so many moments of quality that Jota brings, even when he isnt having the best overall performance that nobody else is capable of in our squad.

 

In Japan Maeda played as a striker who played off the shoulder of the last man. You can see that he likes to try and get in behind and he is best when on the front foot and getting in behind the defence. He has set up quite a few goals from playing in crosses when played in behind the defence.

At the weekend Maeda held his wide position and took the ball from Taylor quite a lot but from his movement you can tell he wants the ball played ahead of him and not behind him.

I dont think he is the best technically but he can really hurt teams with his movement pace and work rate and its why he has held down his place in the team.He knows he is most effective when the ball is played ahead of him and he can run in behind. Agatha wasnt the best technically either, but his pace and work rate made him so effective for us.

 

I am not trying to say Maeda isn’t a good asset, he has a unique skill set with his work rate, stamina and pace, however my main point is for to get the best out of Maeda and Abada you need a Jota or Haksabanovic on the other side to provide genuine creativity.


Maeda had a spell there post World Cup where he was actually going past players but in his last few performances he seemed to be drifting back to struggling with that and blasting crosses out of the park.

I do think he is a good option for us and when we are talking about building teams having different options are good to have.

I think the front 3 you are suggesting for Europe sees us struggle to get out. When it is basically your only option to go direct in behind and the opposition defence are quick we will get nowhere. For me to improve in Europe you need players who can get on the ball and play under pressure, Abada and Maeda both struggle with this. Having one of them as an option in behind as well as Kyogo works as we have differing options.

 

I dont disagree with a lot of what you are saying, both Haksabanovic and Jota are better dribblers of the ball and i think unarguably better technical players. Even having a player like a mooy who is able to open up play with his intelligent runs and passes is a huge benefit to Maeda.

But Maeda offers so much more in other areas that benefit the team and he also creates chances both for himself and for others due to his work rate.
Im sure his conversion rate might be low but i would bet he ranks amongst the highest in chances created.

 

And if you look at Maeda's goal at Ibrox, it's his pace and work rate that made all the difference. We can do this all day long.

I'm not discrediting Jota. I'm sure you aren't discrediting Maeda either. Thing is, we disagree on Jota being indispensible. Haksa is a similar player to Jota. The former is a better finisher. The latter is a better creator. Both of them are technically-gifted wingers who can create goals/assists out of nothing. If Jota were to leave, we already have his replacement in Haksa. Can't say the same thing about Maeda. No other winger on the squad can do what Maeda does.

 

Agree to disagree. I doubt we can outplay the likes of Real Madrid, Man City, PSG, Bayern, etc. The way I see it, our best bet is try to outrun them.

 

You deserve flak for it. Jota is the best player at the club.

 

It had a lot more to do with Morelos picking a horrendous pass.

 

I dont like the way the Green Brigade have taken the Papa Francisco allez chant and changed to Ange Postecoglu allez.

Although I love Ange and all that he is doing for our club. You cant take the Pope's football chant and change the words to it. Its not on in my opinion

 

Or us forcing Morelos to pick a horrendous pass with our pressing game.

 

If Henrik Larsson hadnt got injured early in the John Barnes season we would have had him and Viduka up front all season, scored a shitload of goals, may have won the league that year and John Barnes would have kept his job and we'd never have had Martin O'Neil and all the glory that went with it.

Imagine that. I suppose looking back it was actually for the greater good that Henrik broke his leg which is incredible to say but its true

 

If he never broke his leg he'd probably have left after that season as well. In 2000 he'd only have been 28 turning 29 in September, Man Utd or Arsenal or whoever would likely have thought they'd get 4 good seasons out of him and he'd be worth spending £10million or whatever on at the time.

But after breaking his leg then after the following season where he proved he was fit and still the same he was turning 30 which probably put teams off and we ended up having him another 4 years

 

He turned down a move to Man United and signed a new contract the year before in the Josef Venglos season. Became our highest paid player ever I believe. But Alex Ferguson did try and sign him then and he did turn them down

 

Joe Hart has been great since signing for us BUT he needs replacing asap

 

I don't know whether you're joking or are genuinely offended by it mate haha.

A couple of things. Firstly, I doubt Papa Francisco is devastated that a few thousand young guys in the away stand at Pittodrie are no longer singing 'his song' with the same frequency.

Secondly, is Papa Francisco the one leading our charge for a treble? No, that man would in fact be Angelos Postecoglou, so I can fully understand why his name is sung a tad more often than the pope's. Haha.

 

Exactly. Ange is bigger than the pope anyway..

 

My point being that Jota provides so many moments of quality that create goal scoring chances. He has moments of quality in games that nobody else in the team is able to produce. He is a lot more than just a flashy dribbler. Its just lazy to say that, if you genuinely think that, i dont actually believe you watch our full games.

we could give examples all day, but at the end of the day id bet my house i could give a lot more.

 

That's a given. It will be in the summer. I think Joe will hang his boots up.

 

Much prefer it as Ange Postecoglou Allez personally

 

He's far far more than a flashy dribbler but what I will say is that I don't think he's as good as we thought he'd be. That 1st 6 months he looked tremendous, some of his performances in europa league in particular were real stand outs, he then got the injury and was out a while and struggled to recreate the early form (I actually think that helped us to sign him) and although there have been flashes of real quality this season he's not hit the heights of those first few months, although to be fair to him I don't think playing on the right wing helps him.

As for selling him and keeping Maeda that's just * wild.

My "unpopular opinion" would be moving ur most talented winger out of position and limiting ur 2nd most talented winger's (Haksa) game time for a guy who runs about a lot but with very little footballing ability is bonkers