Scottish champions Celtic<\/a> simply have to win in midweek to keep their Premiership<\/a> title hopes alive, having ensured they remain firmly in the race, for now, following Sunday’s draw in the derby.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It had all begun so poorly for Martin O’Neill<\/a>‘s men at Ibrox, enduring a car-crash first-half in which everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the Parkhead side.<\/p>\n To their credit, the Hoops responded after the break to flip the fixture on its head, deservingly drawing level at the death through Reo Hatate’s nerve-jangling rebound from the spot, following Kieran Tierney’s earlier header.<\/p>\n That second-half showing has to be the blueprint now, although having ended the game as Celtic’s man through the middle, is Daizen Maeda<\/a> really the answer at centre-forward?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is rather damning of the club’s recruitment that once again the Hoops resorted to utilising Maeda as a makeshift striker, with Junior Adamu hooked at the break, Tomas Cvancara not even making it off the bench and Kelechi Iheanacho absent from the matchday squad.<\/p>\n The Japanese winger had endured a miserable first half of his own at Ibrox, memorably firing in a wayward cross from the left that comfortably evaded the likes of Adamu in the centre.<\/p>\n There were signs of life after moving centrally, having produced the header that led to Dujon Sterling’s late handball, although Maeda still looked a shadow of the player who had previously lit up this fixture in years gone by, registering just 25 touches in all on the day.<\/p>\n That lack of impact also saw the 28-year-old lose the ball eight times, fail to register a single key pass and record just a 69% pass accuracy rate, having dipped even lower with a 40% pass rate in Thursday’s trip to Stuttgart.<\/p>\n Perhaps Sunday’s second half did show there are still signs of life regarding Maeda and his compatriot, Hatate, although this is not the player who hit 33 goals last term, having previously switched comfortably between operating on the left flank and through the centre.<\/p>\n Still with only seven Premiership goals to his name this season, having only scored once since O’Neill replaced Nancy back in January, the former Yokohama man is no longer the certain starter that he once was.<\/p>\n Indeed, Celtic’s most reliable attacking threat appears to be coming from a different source.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n While last season’s free-scoring brilliance may have been something of an anomaly, what had also been a feature of Maeda’s game even before then was his remarkable work ethic, having been dubbed a “one-man closing down machine<\/a>” by Chris Sutton back in 2022.<\/p>\n \n Maeda’s performance in numbers vs Rangers<\/strong>
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\n <\/picture>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n \u00a33m Celtic star is looking like the player Maeda used to be<\/strong>
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