Worse than Maeda, Rodgers must finally dismiss the Celtic flop who has lost 100% of his duels.
Celtic extended their impressive start to the 2024/25 Scottish Premiership season with a 2-0 victory against Hearts at Parkhead on Saturday.
The Hoops have preserved five clean sheets in five league matches, winning all five. They currently lead the division and won the title in Brendan Rodgers’ first season back in Glasgow.
Summer signings Arne Engels opened the scoring for the Scottish giants from the penalty spot after Nicolas Kuhn’s cross was touched by a defender, giving the Belgian the opportunity to put the ball past Craig Gordon.
The experienced Jam Tarts goalie may have been unhappy by his contribution to Celtic’s second goal. Luke McCowan, who was also acquired in the summer, came off the bench and sent a left-footed attempt past Gordon from the outside of the box, which was assisted by a weak hand from the shot-stopper.
The Hoops’ near-perfect start to the league campaign continued, although there were some lackluster performances, particularly Daizen Maeda’s on the left side.
Daizen Maeda’s battles with Hearts
After scoring against Rangers before the international break, the Japan international was moved to the left side, but struggled to make an impression at the top of the pitch.
Maeda, as usual, was full of running and seeking to menace in behind and along the flanks of defenders by receiving long passes and through balls.
However, none of his runs led in a clean scoring opportunity for the striker, as Gerald Taylor’s magnificent sliding challenge in the first half kept him from going one-on-one with Gordon.
The 26-year-old attacker created two chances for his teammates, but neither were ‘huge chances’ and he failed not claim an assist for either goal.
The winger had a dismal performance, losing two of his three physical duels and only completing one dribble.
Maeda had virtually little attacking influence in the contest and did not perform much defensive effort to assist keep the clean sheet, as seen by these statistics.
However, he was not the poorest performance on the pitch for Celtic. Yogo Furuhashi had a miserable day and must now be dropped from the starting XI by Rodgers.
Kyogo Furuhashi’s dismal performance against Hearts
The 29-year-old striker scored his first goal of the season against Rangers before the international break, but struggled in front of goal again against Hearts.
Rodgers maintained him in the starting lineup following his goal against the Gers, but was not rewarded with a great performance from the Japanese striker, who struggled both on and off the ball.
Kyogo had a ‘great chance’ to score when he was one-on-one with Gordon, but his shot went wide of the post. This was one of his four missed opportunities.
He was also a liability while not in possession for the Hoops. Hearts defenders won all three physical duels against him at Parkhead, indicating he struggled with the toughness of the contest and lost all of them.
These statistics demonstrate that he was even poorer than Maeda, who at least provided two opportunities for his teammates and won one of his three duels against Rodgers.
| 24/25 Premiership | Kyogo Furuhashi |
|---|---|
| Appearances | 5 |
| Shots | 20 |
| Big chances missed | 7 |
| Goals | 1 |
| Assists | 1 |
| Stats via Sofascore | |
The seasoned attacker has struggled in front of goal this season, having wasted 24 ‘great opportunities’ and scoring 14 goals in 38 league appearances last season.
These data reveal that Kyogo has been a very wasteful finisher for Celtic over the last 13 months, giving nothing little outside of his goals owing to his poor possession play and lack of inventiveness.
With all of this in mind, Rodgers must ultimately remove the striker from the starting lineup for the club’s first Champions League match of the season against SK Slovan on Wednesday night at Parkhead.
Kyogo, who scored two goals in six Champions League appearances last season, should be demoted to make room for Adam Idah.
Why Adam Idah should be released.
The Ireland international has failed to score since joining the club on a permanent transfer from Norwich City this summer. However, on Saturday, his goal was ruled out by VAR owing to an offside on Greg Taylor in the build-up.
His success during his loan term at Parkhead in the second part of the 2023/24 season implies that the 6 foot 3 star has the potential to replace Kyogo for this match against Slovan.
| 23/24 Premiership | Adam Idah | Kyogo Furuhashi |
|---|---|---|
| Appearances | 15 | 38 |
| Goals | 8 | 14 |
| Big chances missed | 7 | 24 |
| Conversion rate | 27% | 14% |
| Aerial duel success rate | 64% | 26% |
| Stats via Sofascore | ||
As shown in the table above, Idah outperformed the Japanese attacker in the Premiership, with a higher conversion rate and a higher goal-to-‘big chances’ missed ratio.
The former Norwich academy product also won a substantially greater proportion of aerial duels, suggesting that he might be more effective in European games, when Celtic may want an outball when under pressure to advance up the pitch.
Therefore, Kyogo should be mercilessly removed from the starting XI following his dismal performance against Hearts, and Idah should be released against Slovan.
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