Daizen Maeda

I know Jota is back, Casper is delightful and that CalMac has not put a foot wrong, but it must be a straight fight between these two (a friendly one mind you) as to who is Player of the Year

 

why did he choose daizen on his celtic top but maeda on his japanese top? anyone know?

 

If I were to guess, I'd imagine it something to do with the fact that in Japan (and many Asian cultures) it's custom to say the family name before the given name, so he'd be Maeda Daizen. Where as here the opposite is true.

So here our Japanese players have decided to use the name that is first spoken in English, as they would in Japanese. In English that would be Daizen of course.

Nakamura had Nakamura on his shirt rather than Shunsuke though, so I'd imagine it's a preference that is interchangeable. Maybe Kyogo picked it first and everyone followed suit. Reo, Daizen, Tomoki etc

 

Personal choice, in short.

 

It's all worth considering with Maeda being able to lead the press much more effectively than Idah, especially as Munich hold such a highline.. he was the reason Bayern had to sit deeper and we were so effective especially in the opening 20mins of the match..

If you add Jota's better use of the ball then Maeda's on the left .. I think the tactics and starting line up were correct.

No guarantee we get into those positions with Idah, although I do believe he would have scored the cut back from Engels.. it's pure speculation tho.

 

I just thought it strange that we elected to bench our £9M natural striker for such an all important game. Maeda is better deployed on the left I feel, because he is a converted striker. Not really clinical enough in front of goal to risk against Bayern I thought, and I think Maeda's three missed good opportunities bore that out. When you consider how deadly Idah was against Villa away from home, it made sense to me to capitalise on his hot steak, by starting him against Bayern, and not to let his head drop again by benching him. We focussed on accomodating Jota, and that gamble backfired I feel, rather than going with both Idah and Maeda.

Speculation yes, but informed speculation I would suggest.

 

Aye, I see your points..

But if we analyse the first leg we didn't impact the game until we moved Maeda to the centre and brought Jota and Schlupp on, Schlupp was particularly important in Munich too..

Maeda did miss a chances, but the way we set up was superb..

So, not sure we can criticise Rodgers for one of our best away European performances ever! He got it spot on.. and there's no speculation in that, just facts.