Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou has got a very tough decision to make when it comes to Daizen Maeda and Giorgos Giakoumakis for their game tonight.
Celtic come into their Europa Conference League clash with Norwegian outfit Bodo/Glimt 3-1 down from the first leg, and whilst there are no away goals to deal with to make things trickier for them, they are still going to need to be at their best tonight in order to qualify – and a large part of that will obviously come down to which forward can lead the line for them and grab some goals.
The Australian boss has tended to go with one man through the middle for the vast majority of Celtic’s games this season, either with a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 system. So assuming that he does stick with that principle against the Norwegians and doesn’t change things up due to the nature of the tie, then it looks as if it will be a straight battle between the two men as to who will start up top.
Here, we look at what Postecoglou’s best option would be to lead the line:
Daizen Maeda
Having only joined during the January transfer window, 24-year-old Maeda hasn’t had a lot of time to settle into life at Celtic Park, but he’s certainly hit the ground running, with four goals across his first eight games, while he has also put in some impressive numbers when his performances are broken down.
He’s putting up 2.6 shots and 0.4 dribbles per game, but on top of that, Maeda has also shown his ability to bring other players into the game, putting in 0.2 key passes per game and averaging 14.2 passes, whilst completing 74.6% of them in total (via WhoScored).
Giorgos Giakoumakis
Will Giakoumakis become a Celtic cult hero?
Yes!
No!
Not only has Giakoumakis not managed to do well across the course of the season, with just seven goals so far in all competitions, but he falls behind his Japanese counterpart when comparing his statistics this term.
He’s averaging 1.9 shots per game and 0.3 dribbles, but when it comes to bringing people into play, that is where the Greek really falls down, because he so far hasn’t managed to put in a single cross, completes fewer than seven passes per game, and is making just 0.2 key passes per match (via WhoScored).
TIF Thoughts on Daizen Maeda and Giorgos Giakoumakis at Celtic…
Given that Giakoumakis is coming off the back of a hat-trick in their last league game against Dundee, you could make the argument that he’s the man in form right now and that it would be hard to drop him from the side.
It certainly is a tough decision for Postecoglou to make, but in this instance, we think it would be better for him to go with Maeda, simply because he’s managed to prove himself more since he joined the club this season rather than just off the back of their most recent game, and with this game being so crucial to Celtic and one that could go a long way to defining their season, it’s important that they put the best man out there.
If things need to change and things need to be switched up later in the game, then Giakoumakis would be a good option to bring off the bench, but to begin with the role should fall to Maeda.
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