Daizen Maeda has been one of the best players in Scotland since he arrived in 2022.
Even though the Japan star hasn’t been himself this season, Maeda proved why he is such a menace during Celtic’s Scottish Cup semi-final win over St Mirren on Sunday at Hampden.
Inside the opening minute, Maeda closed down St Mirren goalkeeper Ryan Mullen like a caged animal, and it resulted in the opening goal and a costly mistake from the opposition.
However, Mullen has been getting a lot of verbal stick online, from his own fans and even rivals, over his mistake, and many are bringing up the fact that he represented Celtic as a youngster, but Frank McAvennie wanted to shut all of that ‘nonsense’ down.
Simon Houston: “First of all, that boy Ryan Mullen, right, he won’t be the first or the last goalkeeper to be closed down by Maeda. But a lot of abuse he is getting, because he was on Celtic’s books as a youth team player. Nonsense.”
McAvennie: “It’s all nonsense – You just give them a chance, let him pass it back to the keeper, and then you are in there. He either kicks it out of the park or you get control of it, and it’s a goal or something.”
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St Mirren goalkeeper Ryan Mullen defended after his error against Celtic
Things became even worse because Mullen had to go off after 15 minutes, and St Mirren were forced to bring on 17-year-old goalkeeper Grant Tamosevicius.
You even had the situation where St Mirren defender Alex Gogic slammed the abuse of Mullen:
“I have seen some disgraceful tweets about Ryan Mullen after the game,” wrote Gogic on social media.
“Ryan is a top goalkeeper and gives everything on and off the pitch, and by no means did he want to leave the pitch.”
As mentioned by McAvennie on his Let Me Be Frank podcast, you have to look towards Maeda and how painful he makes life for the opposition.
Simon Houston: “A few talking points. First of all, that boy Ryan Mullen, right, he won’t be the first or the last goalkeeper to be closed down by Maeda.
“I can’t understand why so many keepers still don’t appreciate just how fast a guy is over five yards, and how tenacious he is.
“But a lot of abuse he is getting, because he was on Celtic’s books as a youth team player. Nonsense.”
McAvennie: “It’s all nonsense. I am going to be honest with you, see when I played, it wouldn’t have happened to Ally McCoist.
“But I would have scored a lot of goals because I was quick. The same as my dad. You just give them a chance, let him pass it back to the keeper, and then you are in there. He either kicks it out of the park or you get control of it, and it’s a goal or something.
“That’s what Maeda did. He is unbelievable.”
If Daizen Maeda keeps playing like this…
This time last season, Maeda was about to collect Scotland’s PFA Player of the Year, and guide Celtic to the domestic double.
One of those certainly won’t happen this season, and that’s Maeda being named PFA Player of the Year, but another Celtic domestic double is well and truly on.
To put it simply, if Maeda continues to produce the performance he displayed at Hampden, then Celtic have a massive chance of winning the title.
Yes, the Scottish Cup final against Neil Lennon’s Dunfermline is going to be massive, but it’s the title everyone wants, and if Maeda continues to perform in the crazy manner only he knows, then things could get interesting for the chaotic post-split fixtures.
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