Daizen Maeda has named the man at Celtic who helped convince him to stop playing safely and start using his pace to attack defenders.
Maeda has never lacked pace, but the Japanese forward admits he did not always have the confidence to run directly at defenders.
One former Celtic coach saw that Maeda was holding back and kept pushing him to run at defenders.
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Harry Kewell gave Daizen Maeda belief at Celtic
Maeda has now revealed that Harry Kewell was the man who encouraged him to attack defenders more often during their time together at Celtic.
Kewell kept asking why Maeda was playing safely when he had the pace to attack full-backs.
Maeda told Pivot, “Harry Kewell was at Celtic. He is a legend, and he taught me many things. That had a major impact on me.
“He often asked me, ‘You have all that speed, so why don’t you attack defenders more?’ He kept telling me to play with more confidence. I think that gave me a lot of belief.”
Kewell had identified that Maeda’s problem was not pace. It was whether he believed he could use it against defenders.
Kewell was not trying to change Maeda’s game. He wanted him to stop wasting the pace he already had.
Daizen Maeda admits he played too safely at Celtic
Maeda was asked whether he had been playing too safely and lacked confidence to take defenders on.
The Celtic forward replied, “Yes, I was. Even now, I do not play while thinking that I am an especially skilful player.
“I just want to continue improving little by little.”
The admission is surprising because Maeda has rarely looked short of confidence in a Celtic shirt.
Maeda admits that he often chose the safe pass rather than backing himself to beat his opponent.
Kewell saw a player taking the safe option when he had the pace to hurt defenders. Maeda listened, backed himself and Celtic have been reaping the rewards ever since.
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