Tomorrow afternoon, Celtic Park will host the first Glasgow Derby fixture against Rangers of the 2022/23 season.
Going into the game, Ange Postecoglou’s squad couldn’t really be on much better form, picking up five wins from five in their opening fixtures of the Scottish Premiership campaign.
On Wednesday, the Hoops also continued their momentum, sailing through to the next round of the Premier Sports cup with a 4-1 win over Ross County.
With his Celtic side on electric form, the majority of Postecoglou’s starting 11 picks itself.
The likes of Joe Hart, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Reo Hatate will return to the side after a well-earned rest during the midweek fixture.
Sections of the support might even argue that the entire team could already be selected thanks to the early form of this squad.
However, there appears to be one position in particular that Ange Postecoglou will have a crucial decision to make before kick-off at 12:30 PM tomorrow afternoon.
That decision is who joins Jota and Kyogo Furuhashi in the front three that will start Saturday’s game; Liel Abada or Daizen Maeda.
The Japanese internationalist has started the season off as Postecoglou’s chosen winger, playing his part in the Hoops opening four games of the campaign.
However, last weekend, Maeda started from the bench in the emphatic 9-0 win over Dundee United, being replaced from the start by Abada.
The 20-year-old very much took advantage of his opportunity in the starting line-up, scoring a second-half hat-trick, with his final strike being set up by the former Yokohama F Marinos man.
Both wide attackers were handed a start during the midweek trip to Dingwall, and this time it was Maeda who got himself on the scoresheet, producing Celtic’s third of the evening.
So, with Maeda and Abada currently on goalscoring form, Ange Postecoglou has the tricky task of selecting which player should start the game tomorrow afternoon.
Previous examples have showcased that Maeda has been favoured for these matches due to his ability to press and defend from the frontline, which proves pivotal at times for Celtic.
However, coming off the back of last weekend’s hat-trick, would it be too hard to drop the Israeli youngster, who has already scored against our Glasgow rivals in last season’s 3-0 victory at Paradise?
Who is the man to start?
Personally, the man I believe that will be named in the team at 11:15 to start the game will be Daizen Maeda.
As mentioned, the 24-year-old has shown how important he can be, not only going forward but also going back, and that could prove crucial with Rangers’ threats from full-back areas.
Maeda has also had his part to play in derby goals before, setting up Jota for the opener of the last derby that took place inside Paradise in April.
No matter which winger is given the nod to go up against the Rangers’ defence, I am sure Postecoglou and the Celtic support will be confident of their ability within this game.
The positive thing is that the player who isn’t starting is almost certainly still going to have a part to play from the bench at a later stage in the game.
So, ultimately, both Abada and Maeda could prove pivotal in helping the Bhoys pick up all three points and stretch our lead at the top to five points.
It is extremely exciting that we can now have these discussions of which player should/will start, with the number of quality options now available to Ange Postecoglou throughout the squad.
In other news, Ange Postecoglou speaks on final Celtic summer signing Oliver Abildgaar.
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