Scottish champions Celtic have ensured they remain in the race for now following Sunday’s derby draw and need a win in midweek to keep their Premiership title hopes alive.
Everything started badly for Martin O’Neill’s Ibrox team, who suffered a car crash in the first half and everything that could go wrong for the Parkhead side went wrong.
To their credit, the Hoops responded after half-time to turn the game on its head, leveling the score with Kieran Tierney’s early header followed by Reo Hatate’s nerve-wracking rebound.
Although he finished the game as a midfield player for Celtic, his second-half performances must now be the blueprint, but is Daen Maeda really the answer as a centre-forward?
Maeda’s performance against Rangers in terms of numbers
With Junior Adam hooked at half-time, Tomas Kvankala not even on the bench and Kelechi Iheanacho left out of the match-day squad, the Hoops’ decision to use Maeda as a temporary striker again is pretty damning considering the club’s reinforcements.
The Japanese winger endured a miserable first half during his time at Ibrox, memorable for firing a wayward cross from the left that effortlessly evaded Adam and others in the middle.
He scored a header that led to a late handball from Dujon Sterling, and showed signs of life after moving to center, but Maeda only had 25 touches on the day and still lacked any trace of the player who lit up this game in the past.
This lack of influence has seen the 28-year-old lose the ball eight times and fail to register a single significant pass, with a passing accuracy of just 69%, which fell even further to 40% in Thursday’s away trip to Stuttgart.
Perhaps Sunday’s second half showed there are still signs of life regarding Maeda and his compatriot Hatate, but this is not the player who scored 33 goals last season, and who has previously comfortably switched between playing on the left and in the centre.
With just seven Premier League goals so far this season and just one since O’Neill replaced Nancy in January, the former Yokohama man is no longer the assured starter he once was.
In fact, Celtic’s most reliable attacking threat appears to come from another source.
£3m Celtic star looks like former Maeda
Last season’s free-scoring brilliance may have been something of an anomaly, but a hallmark of Maeda’s play even before that was his incredible work ethic, dubbed a “one-man closing machine” by Chris Sutton in 2022.
‘Strange’ – Celtic star Chris Sutton says his performance against Rangers was like a ‘testimony’
Critics were not impressed.
However, that quality has not been seen as often in recent times, with Maeda only registering ball recoveries in the trip to Ibrox and winning just three of his eight duels.
Maeda, who has scored just four goals in 20 games during O’Neill’s two seasons, does not appear to have improved under the current regime, perhaps due to him losing his place to Yang Hyun-joong on the opposite flank.
The Korean has not been very prolific, scoring just four league goals all season, but he has injected the energy and tenacity that was once Maeda’s main strength.
Indeed, in the game against Stuttgart at Parkhead, Yan gave the hosts a lively second half off the bench, and was again in action against Rangers at the weekend.
Top scorer under O’Neal – 25/26 | |
|---|---|
player | the goal |
Nygren | 10 |
kenny | 5 |
Tunekti | 4 |
Maeda | 4 |
Hatate | 4 |
Engels | 4 |
which one | 3 |
mcgregor | 2 |
trustee | 2 |
Tierney | 2 |
Arguably the brightest in the first half, the 23-year-old has now become a true outlet on the right, twice showing Maeda-like resilience after slipping in to win the ball back with two perfectly timed challenges.
There’s no denying that his final results, with just 23 goals and assists in 99 games for the club, need improvement, but he delivered at key moments in the 2025/26 campaign, whether it was his stunning opener in the last Derby competition or his second goal in January’s 2-2 draw with leaders Hearts.
Like Maeda in his early years, when his final product was questionable and he faced criticism, Yan, whose £3 million sale to Birmingham City fell through, may have the talent to persist.
The manager at the time, Brendan Rodgers, had indicated he would be open to a sale last summer, but the Blues were unwilling to wait for Celtic and Rodgers to sign a replacement and ultimately withdrew.
That looks more like a blessing in disguise given the lack of options on the right side aside from James Forrest, and while Yan is certainly not perfect, he seems to offer more than a player like Maeda at the moment, both in and out of possession.
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