Stiliyan Petrov honestly states who he prefers up top for Celtic – Adam Idah or Daizen Maeda 

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Adam Idah returned to his usual centre-forward role for Celtic against Kilmarnock for the Saturday lunchtime clash in the Premiership.

Celtic’s thriving star Daizen Maeda went back out wide, as Brendan Rodgers rang the changes following that pretty poor showing against St Johnstone last time out. 

Despite Celtic putting five goals past Kilmarnock, Idah didn’t get on the scoresheet during his hour on the pitch, but Maeda did find the back of the net after 11 minutes.

When Kyogo Furuhashi left Celtic during the January transfer window, many thought that it would open the door for the Irishman to start more matches and really find his goalscoring feet.

But, instead, Idah has watched Maeda score goal after goal as the main striker for the champions-elect.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	CelticCeltic	33	26	3	4	97	22	75	81
2	RangersRangers	32	20	5	7	66	33	33	65
3	HibernianHibernian	32	13	11	8	50	41	9	50
4	Dundee UtdDundee Utd	33	14	8	11	41	40	1	50

It must be frustrating for the big-money summer signing from Norwich City because it just puts extra pressure on his shoulders.

• READ MORE: John Hartson doesn’t hold back and calls out Adam Idah after his latest Celtic showing

Stiliyan Petrov picks between Adam Idah and Daizen Maeda

Stiliyan Petrov was blessed to have played with some serious firepower during his days at Celtic Park, including the King of Kings.

Back in those days, the number nines were easy to find because they were littered around the place, which isn’t the case in the modern game.

Therefore, it shouldn’t be a surprise, with his midfield hat on, Petrov stated that he would prefer to have Idah up top for Celtic, rather than Maeda.

“There are positives and negatives when Idah or Maeda play up front,” said Petrov.

“But, as a midfielder, I would like to have a striker who I can link up with, and he gives me opportunities to play around him. 

“With Maeda, it’s completely different. I mean, he loves to stretch the game. He stretches the game, where sometimes midfielders do struggle to get into their position.

“But when you have a natural number nine. You feel like, ‘I can link up around him. If he moves away, I can get a little bit of space, and that’s what Hatate done’.

“He found that little bit of space, got an opening, and he just finished it perfectly.”

Idah and Maeda’s stats as strikers for Celtic

It’s crazy to think how Maeda has transformed his game since Kyogo left and taken up that responsibility of being the main goalscorer.

It shouldn’t be a surprise because, when he first joined the club under Ange Postecoglou, he came in as an out-and-out striker, but went wide because of Kyogo.

But this is how the Japan star compares to Idah, when you only count their starts as centre-forwards for Celtic this term, as posted by Transfermarkt.