Celtic could end the day sitting clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership table or trailing this afternoon’s opponents at Parkhead by three points.
They are preparing to welcome Aberdeen to Paradise in the eighth match of the league campaign, with both sides having won all seven of their games thus far.
Both locked together on 21 points, a winner in Glasgow would put daylight between them and the loser, whilst a draw would maintain their joint-status at the top.
Brendan Rodgers, and his opposite number, has had two weeks to prepare for this game thanks to the October international break, and will be hoping that none of his players have come back nursing any issues after playing for their respective nations.
The Hoops went into the break off the back of a 2-1 win over Ross County in Dingwall in a difficult afternoon for the Scottish giants. They were 1-0 down at half-time, thanks to the first goal they had conceded in the league, before second-half strikes from Alistair Johnston and Nicolas Kuhn secured all three points.
One player who could be ruthlessly dropped from the starting XI after that win before the international matches is left-sided winger Daizen Maeda.
Daizen Maeda’s performance against St Johnstone
The Japan international started on the left flank for Celtic against Ross County before the break and endured a frustrating game for the Hoops.
He came into the game off the back of a mixed night in Germany against Borussia Dortmund, as he scored a goal and also made an error that directly led to a goal in a 7-1 defeat in the Champions League.
Maeda then played 68 minutes of the win over Ross County but the score was 1-0 to the hosts when Rodgers eventually decided to withdraw him from the pitch.
The winger had not done enough to get the Hoops back into the match and was taken off, which then contributed to Celtic going on to win the game 2-1 – scoring both goals inside the final 14 minutes.
As you can see in the table above, Maeda had plenty of chances to find the back of the net, taking three shots and having one ‘big chance’, but failed to do so.
He was also a liability from a physical perspective as Ross County’s defenders won five of their six duels with the 26-year-old lightweight, who only played 26 minutes for Japan during the break.
Rodgers must now brutally ditch Maeda from the starting XI by boldly unleashing Luis Palma from the start for the first time this season, after his impressive friendly performance during the break.
Why Luis Palma should be unleashed
A selection of first-team players were involved, along with B team starlets, in a friendly clash with Sligo Rovers in Ireland whilst the others went away with their respective countries.
Celtic won the game 3-2 and all three of their goals were scored by Palma, who struck twice in added time to take the Hoops from 2-1 down to 3-2 up.
As shown in the highlights above, all three of his goals were great examples of his attacking positioning at the far post whilst playing as a left winger.
The forward was in the right place at the right time to finish off all three chances with ease after crosses from the right flank and gave Rodgers a timely reminder of what he is capable of.
Palma is yet to start a match in the Premiership this season but did show signs of quality at the start of his Celtic career in the first half of last term, with former Celtic man Peter Grant lauding him as a “real threat” and claiming that he “causes havoc” on the pitch.
As you can see in the table, the Honduras international produced a remarkable 21 goals and ‘big chances’ created combined in 18 starts in the Premiership.
Maeda, meanwhile, managed six goals and five ‘big chances’ created in 25 starts in the division, which suggests that Palma offered more to the team at the top end of the pitch with his quality as both a scorer and a creator of goals.
The former Super League star has only scored two goals in the Premiership in 2024, however, and it would take a show of faith from the manager to believe that his friendly masterclass can revive the forward’s career at Parkhead.
Given that Aberdeen have won all seven of their games this term, Celtic could do with the left winger’s potential to be a difference-maker in the final third. That, along with his hat-trick against Sligo Rovers, is why Rodgers must boldly unleash the winger from the start this afternoon.
The alternatives for Celtic
Palma is not the only other winger the Northern Irish boss could call upon if he decides to drop Maeda from the starting line-up, though, as Hyun-jun Yang and James Forrest are also in the mix.
However, neither of them are likely to offer the goal threat that Palma has the potential to provide from the left wing against Aberdeen this afternoon.
Since joining the club in the summer of 2023, in the same window that the Honduras international did, Yang has produced one goal and three assists in 36 appearances in all competitions for the Scottish giants – with zero goals and zero assists in five outings this term.
Forrest, meanwhile, has registered four assists in ten matches in all competitions for Celtic this season, but is yet to find the back of the net so far.
The Scotland international has scored 109 goals in 505 games for the Hoops but has not scored more than six goals in a Premiership term since the 2019/20 campaign.
Therefore, Yang and Forrest have struggled to offer a goal threat for Rodgers and that is why Palma, after his hat-trick against Sligo Rovers, should be boldly unleashed ahead of them.
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