‘It’s incredible…’ James McFadden stunned by Celtic star not rested by Brendan Rodgers

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Brendan Rodgers rang the changes for Celtic’s win over Ross County on Saturday afternoon.

Despite six new faces coming into the XI from Celtic’s draw against Club Brugge in midweek, it made no difference to the quality that was on display at Parkhead.

Celtic put five goals past Ross County in the first half, one week after scoring four goals in the second half against Hearts at Tynecastle.

It further proves the depth in quality Rodgers has to pick from and how there is no stopping this side.

Four of the players who came into the XI – Liam Scales, Luke McCowan, Paulo Bernardo and Adam Idah – all scored.

From the outfield players who weren’t rested – only Cameron Carter-Vickers played the entire match.

Daizen Maeda was the first player given a breather when Rodgers took him off a half-time, before Alistair Johnston and Callum McGregor played out an hour.

But the player who caught James McFadden’s eyes was Maeda and he explained why.

James McFadden hails Daizen Maeda’s ‘incredible’ high-intensity runs

Maeda is a nightmare to play against because, regardless of the situation, he will make you suffocate as much as he can.

That includes if he is starting his third match in a week and that, after going on international duty with Japan, which would have taken a lot out of him.

McFadden labelled the all-action star’s high-intensity running as ‘incredible’ and explained how if Rodgers decided to rest him, then he would be ‘disappointed’, as he told Sportscene.

“That’s the beauty of having a strong squad,” said McFadden. “You have got players who are coming in that are, first of all, able to play.

“Often, you get a change of personnel and there is a drop in performance levels. But you are looking at hungry players that weren’t involved. We speak about how good Celtic are when they have the ball – but when they don’t have it, the appetite to win it back is incredible. You say when you play against Celtic, once you get on the ball, play a couple of passes, try and compose yourself. They give you no opportunity to do that because of how hungry they are to go and press.

“A lot of these we are seeing is a guy who wasn’t rested in Maeda. I think he would be disappointed if he got a rest because he looks like his favourite thing in the world is to sprint everywhere. It’s incredible. The energy that he shows to go and press, then press again and press again. Then he needs to be that outlet when they win the ball. His (high-intensity runs) must be as high as anybody.”

Celtic’s upcoming fixtures

Given the quality of games coming up for Celtic, you can’t see Maeda getting a rest yet, with a trip to Aberdeen up next.

Celtic are four points clear of the Dons with a game in hand, but this is their chance to properly put a game between themselves and the second-placed side.

After that, the games continue to come thick and fast, including a trip to Croatia on December 10 to take on Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League.