Celtic were embarrassed in Denmark after a horror first 45 minutes against FC Midtjylland ended Martin O’Neill’s hope for a rare away win in Europe.
Celtic’s defeat to Midtjylland exposed some big deficiencies in the Hoops’ first-team squad as the Danish champions ran riot in a crazy eight-minute spell.
O’Neill watched his side relinquish three goals as basic defending and pressing was the undoing of his Celtic team in last night’s Europa League disaster.
But with a pressing king like Daizen Maeda in the team, O’Neill explains why the one man who defends from the front for Celtic was benched for Hoops legend James Forrest.
- READ MORE: Martin O’Neill’s message to Celtic fans chanting ‘sack the board’ after FC Midtjylland defeat
James Forrest started for Celtic vs FC Midtjylland because of ‘concern’ over Daizen Maeda
It’s a damning indictment on Celtic’s recruitment process when the club are still relying on a 34-year-old winger to start in the Europa League.
However, Celtic do have Maeda and O’Neill shares why he was left on the bench for the legendary Hoops winger.
O’Neill told TNT Sports prior to kick-off, “First of all, Maeda, he came on for quite a long, long part of the [Rangers] game. He’s back just from an injury.
“So I think the medical team are a bit concerned about him starting the game tonight, if that was the case.
“James Forrest has done really well in the two games, or the participation of the two games that he’s been involved with since I’ve arrived.
“And so, yeah, listen, let’s try and get at them if that’s the case, because if you sit back here all evening, you’ll get done anyway.
“They’re strong. They’re very, very good with set pieces, but not just set pieces. They’ve actually got very good players as well too. But we’ll listen, let’s have a go.”
Daizen Maeda’s Celtic stats in 45-minute FC Midtjylland cameo
Maeda was brought in for the second half of the Europa League tie as O’Neill tried to rescue something in Denmark.
And whilst the score ended 3-1, Maeda’s stats from Fotmob did not make good reading:
- Minutes played: 45
- Rating: 6.8
- Total shots: 0
- Accurate passes: 3/8 (38%)
- Chances created: 1
- Touches: 15
- Touches in opposition box: 1
- Successful dribbles: 1/1 (100%)
- Passes into final third: 1
- Tackles: 1
- Blocks: 0
- Clearances: 1
- Headed clearance: 1
- Interceptions: 0
- Recoveries: 2
To be fair to Maeda, his performance was indicative of the whole team’s performance in Denmark.
Hopefully, O’Neill can pick the Bhoys up ahead of Celtic’s next fixture against Kilmarnock on Sunday.
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