The new Brendan Rodgers era has kicked off as the Celtic fans got their first real glimpse of what kind of football they are likely to watch under the new Celtic boss.
After being accustomed to the exciting high press, full-blown attacking football that we saw over the last two seasons, we were all left wondering if Rodgers would carry on with a system that has been so effective at Celtic or come in with a completely different style of play.
Celtic forward, Daizen Maeda has revealed in an interview in Japan that Rodgers has indeed tinkered with the tactical set-up of the team and that he has been working on two specific roles at training.
Maeda said [Excite], “The way we do things hasn’t changed that much, but now the manager wants the centre forwards to drop into midfield and get involved on the ball.
“That’s a completely different thing from former coach Ange [Postecoglou], but I think we did the task well today.
“When the front row drops like that, it’s difficult for the centre-backs to judge whether they should or shouldn’t go for it.”
Could Maeda be getting prepped to challenge Kyogo up front at Celtic?
Maeda was then asked if he thought that the changes being brought to Celtic by Rodgers could be a sign that he could be set to provide a challenge to Kyogo in the striking areas.
Maeda said, “I don’t know. I haven’t been told anything yet.
“I played centre forward in camp, so I want to be ready to play both positions.” [translated by Deep L]
If Brendan Rodgers is looking to utilise Maeda as a challenger to Kyogo, that would explain his current dealings in the transfer window. The Celtic manager has been busy adding midfielders and wingers over the last few weeks when many fans thought a striker would have been a priority.
And judging by what we saw yesterday, whatever Rodgers is doing it’s clearly working for Maeda. Without getting too carried away over a friendly performance, you can’t deny that the Japanese winger looked calm, composed and deadly in front of goal yesterday.
It will be interesting to see what the lineup on Saturday against Gamba Osaka will be and whether or not Maeda is deployed in the same role as he was on Monday against Yokohama.
In other news, Yokohama star’s verdict on Reo Hatate; nods to Celtic’s global stature
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