Daizen Maeda

For all his flaws, his attitude, work rate and perseverance deserves a lot of credit. Always a willing runner and a very good take and finish.

 

I don't even consider him to be bad technically, people always talk about him like he's like Kenny Miller or something, chasing his touch, can't control a ball.

He's not massively skilled but he controls a ball well especially for a mad pace merchant, far more skilled than players like Niall McGinn, Agathe, Cha or whoever. Has a lot of nice touches and backheels and wee turns and stuff as well.

Not really a dribbler but his control of the ball i've always thought was surprisingly good for someone that fast.

His crossing and finishing is not great but then he never really attempts to cross anyway, he always practices that low pass into the box on his left foot and it's quite successful, probably set up a good 6/7 goals with it. Plus his finishing also not being great he still does score a good amount from the left, despite being totally different to Jota, Elyounoussi, Sinclair etc he'd probably still score 15-20 a season from the left. Just he scores more headers and tap ins and from runs in behind rather than cutting in to shoot.

But anyway his ball control is quite good, he isnt one of those players with loose control who is easy to disposses or who over runs the ball etc I feel like actually Abada gets the ball took off him far more by having looser control of the ball.

 

Good good by him last night. First one I can remember of him not tackling it in. Playing better now off the bench. Should just keep him as a impact sub, comes on when everyone else is * and runs by them.

 

Since he signed:

30 starts
12 goals
9 assists

 

First non scrappy goal

Some first touch and finish it was.

 

Impossible not to love him. That goal was brilliant last night. Touch and finish were spot on.

Can’t argue with his numbers since signing. 21 goal contributions in 30 games - a fair chunk from the bench.

 

400 appearances from the bench

 

43 appearances all in, roughly a goal or assist every 120 minutes. He's doing alright for a guy some on here insist is never a footballer every other week.

 

Never doubted he’d contribute.

 

Missed the game and just seen his goal now. Looks exactly like the type of goal he was scoring plenty of in the J league. Pleased for him.


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For all his so called bad touch he has, aswell as contributing with a lot of goals, his delivery into the box is far better than Abada

 

This is a double-edged sword...

On one side his contribution at any other team in the league, including the Huns, would see him being touted as best player in the league level.

On the other, with us, he's so well supplied that these good numbers should be fantastic.

Can't knock fans for wanting/expecting better, given some sitters he's missed etc. But at same time we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water. He's a fantastic squad player, who should only be played from the start for rotation and injury/suspension reasons. He's still an absolute steal for what we paid for him...

 

He scored a big amount in Japan, think he just needs to find his feet still and the goals with fly in. Being asked to play a totally different role/style too

 

I love the guy but this isn't really true, he had one really high scoring season before he came here, and under Ange in Japan he mostly played the same role as a left winger.

 

That’s what I mean, he can score a lot when he’s on form just needs to hit that accuracy again. Also…had to relook at his Wikipedia…did not know he was in portugal on loan for a year??

 

All those praising him last week after motherwell have gone quiet eh?

Saturday was another example as to why he shouldn't be stating games especially at home.

Hes absolutely no use in games were teams come n park the bus. Doesn't have ability to beat players or create and offers very little. Was a bizarre decision to start him ahead of Jota, abada and even Forrest, who seems to have been ditched again.

Motherwell was perfect example of when he should be used, games away from home when we are ahead and teams are trying to get back into it and leaving space so he has room to run in behind. That's his strengths

 

Why mention Giakoumakis?? Strange!!

Different players suit different games as he has shown consistently this season Maeda is not suited to games at home where teams park the bus bcoz he creates absolutely * all.

As iv said he has his uses as motherwell away proved but starting him at home to Ross County instead of Jota was a poor decision

 

Sorry I was in the wrong thread. Doh.

 

DAIZEN MAEDA admits he once behaved like a bit of a doughball during his high school days.

But a year-long ban from football and a part-time job in a BAKERY set him on the path to the World Cup with Japan.


Maeda, 25, was a promising teenager when indiscipline saw him expelled from the prestigious Yamanashi Gakuin University’s high school team for 12 months.

The Celtic star admits the penny dropped as he trained alone in the mountains and took on a job making curry bread in a local shop.

Coach Kazuaki Yoshinaga’s hardline stance taught Maeda a valuable lesson and the Hoops striker reckons it was the making of him.

He said: “If it wasn’t for that one year, I don’t think I would be playing football like this now. Until then, I was doing naughty things, and I really only thought about myself on and off the pitch.




In that year, I learned I can’t do anything on my own, and I can play with the support of many people, and the importance of running for the team. It all connected.

“When I was expelled from the team, I didn’t know if I would be able to return at any time. I loved football and I didn’t want to quit football, and if I transferred schools it would be like going giving up.

“I stayed and trained alone. There was a mountain near my school and I would run there, and also around the field.

“There was an * team in the area and I was eventually allowed to train with them, so I was grateful.




Around that time, I started working part-time at a local bakery in the mornings. Before going to school, I used to wake up at 5am and ride my bike to get there at 5.30.

"I would fry curry bread but sometimes I would make holes when turning it over with chopsticks — I really made many mistakes!

“After a year, I was told that I could return to the football team from scratch. There was another classmate who was expelled with me, so for a while we worked on various things and gradually joined the general training.

“I haven’t forgotten that period and how everyone worked to help me, including the people at the bakery. It was very important for me.”




Maeda’s career has been on the rise ever since and he is now in contention to start Japan’s World Cup opener with Germany on Wednesday.


He wishes that his Celtic pals Reo Hatate and Kyogo Furuhashi were with him but he wants to do the nation proud in Qatar.

He said: “Yes, I feel sorry for them both.

“It’s a shame they are not going to the World Cup but I will do my best on behalf of them in Qatar.

“I think we have a chance. The first game that we have against Germany will be very important.


We are targeting victory in that match and hopefully that will put us in a good rhythm.

“Celtic and the national team have very different playing styles so I need to adjust my game.

“It puts different demands on me mentally and physically but I need to adapt to play well.

“My full focus is on Japan. Once I finish international duty my focus will return to Celtic.




Hopefully I will still have plenty of energy for the games when I come back but I am not thinking about that too much at the moment.”

Maeda is one of four Celtic players at the Qatar finals and he hopes Aaron Mooy, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Josip Juranovic have success with their countries.

He said: “We are all in different groups so I think we will be wanting each other to do well.


Hopefully we can all qualify and we will get a chance to play against each other in the later rounds.



It would be very exciting to make it through the group stage and come up against one of my team-mates.”