The result in Celtic’s first fixture of the Japan Tour didn’t really go the way the fans would have wanted but for Celtic manager, Brendan Rodgers, today’s game was not about the result. It was all about getting minutes into the legs and casting his eye over the squad for the coming season.
From today’s match, it’s easy to highlight the performances of Liel Abada, Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate in spite of the result. All three were excellent in their roles and played a part in helping Maeda get his hat trick against his old club.
But when it was put to the Celtic manager that Maeda’s performance on his return to his old club was something he must have felt some pride in, Rodgers broke off from the discussion to praise Celtic midfielder, Tomoki Iwata for his performance at right-back.
Rodgers said [Celtic TV], “And also from Tomoki [Iwata] as well. I thought he was excellent.
“He played in right back, a position he hasn’t played so much, but he has played it here before. And I thought he did very, very well.”
Tomoki Iwata could be in for a big season at Celtic
The former Japan MVP has never really had a chance to show what he can do properly at Celtic. Sure, last season we saw fleeting glimpses of his ability in the Celtic midfield and from what we saw then from those small snippets, the Celtic fans were impressed.
Utilised in the centre-back role towards the end of last season, Iwata equipped himself well, especially in the Scottish Cup Final where he was partnered up with Carl Starfelt.
And this morning, Iwata was calm, composed and showed great defensive awareness as well as some brilliant attacking intent in his return to his old club.
He showed a great engine to get up and down the park and his assist for Maeda’s third just typified his performance.
Managers love players who are versatile. Rodgers himself tinkered with that in his first spell as the Celtic manager when he deployed Callum McGregor as a left-back and Lewis Morgan as a striker in domestic league games. It’s fair to say that those experiments didn’t really pay off.
But in Iwata, Rodgers clearly has a player that is comfortable playing in a variety of positions and that is something that the Celtic boss will value going into the new season.
In other news, Brendan Rodgers reacts as Celtic lose Japan Tour opener to Yokohama F Marinos
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