What I love about listening to the football commentary on Celtic matches is how you can pick up little nuggets of information that is not normally out there in the public domain about the club.
And yesterday’s live commentary of Hearts vs Celtic was no different. Former Celtic hero, Chris Sutton was speaking about Daizen Maeda and after the Japanese winger fluffed another cross into the Hearts danger area, Sutton shared what he spotted the Celtic player doing with Harry Kewell prior to kick-off at Tynecastle.
Sutton said during Sky Sports commentary, “He just has to be a little bit more careful with that final ball.
“Practising his crosses, he was, before the game with Celtic coach, Harry Kewell, on that right-hand side.”
It seems that Kewell is now working really closely with Maeda as Sutton also claimed that the Celtic coach has helped improve the 25-year-old’s finishing as well.
Daizen Maeda update will please the Celtic supporters
Maeda’s final ball is something that deeply frustrates the Celtic supporters. The Hoops winger is a flying machine down both flanks and will beat almost any player for pace to get himself into the opponents danger area.
However, he does lack, at times, that killer ball. That cross that if it was delivered on more than half of the occasions it currently is, would lead to Celtic scoring more goals than they normally would.
Many fans will argue that if Maeda did have that part to his game then he wouldn’t be at Celtic as he would be the complete winger.
But my argument to that would be is that it still doesn’t mean he should try and improve it. I have shared some stats that Celtic published about Maeda a few weeks back that showed just how important he is to Celtic.
He’s not just a runner that works hard in the press. He is also very effective at shooting. But just imagine what he could do for the team if he perfected the delivery of his final ball.
And who better to learn from than Harry Kewell? The Australian has vasts amounts of experience playing at the highest level for Liverpool and Leeds United and anything he can pass on to improve Maeda at any level would be nothing but beneficial not only for the player, but for the team as a whole.
In other news, ‘He’s got great technique’: Brendan Rodgers says he told 22-year-old Celtic player he needs to score more goals