Will absence of Maeda open the door for Celtic’s forgotten man?

Celtic return home to league action when they welcome the visit of Barry Robson’s Aberdeen side to Parkhead this afternoon. Both teams lost in action in Europe mid-week, with Celtic shipping six without reply in Madrid and Aberdeen losing 3-2 against PAOK Salonika in Greece.

Aberdeen have found it hard to balance Europa Conference League football alongside their domestic duties with Robson’s side currently sitting in 7th place, seven points adrift of third place where they finished last season. That spot is currently taken up by St Mirren, who Celtic narrowly defeated at Parkhead last Wednesday.

The two sides have faced off already this season, with Rodgers’ team getting the upper hand at Pittodrie on matchday 2. Goals from Kyogo Furuhashi, Matt O’Riley and Liel Abada were enough to cancel out a strike from Bojan Miovski and ensure a 3-1 win and three points for the Hoops.

Celtic will be without one of the goalscorers on that day, Liel Abada, with the 22-year-old not expected back for another month or so. Joining him on the injury list was Reo Hatate and, rather worryingly, the list of players currently on the treatment table is continuing to grow. If the 6-0 defeat in Madrid wasn’t bad enough, Brendan Rodgers announced in his prematch presser that Daizen Maeda has also picked up in injury, suffering the blow in the challenge that eventually led to his dismissal in Madrid on Tuesday night.

Speaking on the injury, Rodgers confirmed, “Daizen will probably be up to six weeks out. He has strained his medial knee ligament which comes from when you just knock a player on the foot. It’s a big shame for us because he has been brilliant for me since I came here. His attitude and mentality going into every game is superb. He initiates the pressure for us at the top end. But I always say it’s an opportunity for someone else to come in and play.”

The closing statement from Rodgers will be the main talking point heading into the game. Who replaces the energetic Daizen Maeda?

There are several option at the gaffer’s disposal. He could go for the expereince of James Forrest; the trickery of Yang Hyun-jun; the recently resurgent (for Ireland, at least) Mikey Johnston; or will this create an opportunity for forgotten man Marco Tilio?

All of these wingers will be gunning to get some more minutes in the Japanese international’s absence and to partner Luis Palma in the Celtic wide areas, but losing Maeda is most definitely a massive blow for Celtic over the next few weeks.

 

There could be room for further rotation of the team this weekend, as this is something Rodgers has done in the past to freshen things up following a humbling European defeat.

After that 5-0 defeat to PSG at Celtic Park back in 2017, Rodgers made five changes to the team that welcomed the visit of Ross County to Celtic Park and the Hoops ran out 4-0 winners on the day.

Rotation could be the key to getting some further inspiration out of this Celtic team, and perhaps the introduction of David Turnbull could aid that cause.

The 24-year-old, who is out of contract next summer, will be eager to right the wrongs of the first meeting against Aberdeen this season where he was hooked at half-time following a poor first-half, and he could be afforded the opportunity to do just that after a positive few starts in the league last week.

JAMES MCKENZIE // Follow James HERE