In defence of Celtic's Daizen Maeda

His arrival in January, along with that of his international compatriot Reo Hatate and Matt O’Riley, played a defining role in swinging the Premiership title pendulum in Celtic’s favour.

This season though, there seems to be a consensus among some that the Japanese forward is underperforming.

So is this criticism of Maeda unwarranted or is it fair?

Here, we take a look at the former Yokohama F Marinos man’s data to find out.

The dataset used throughout includes all Scottish Premiership attacking midfielders and wingers that have played at least 300 league minutes this season. Each metric is per 90 with all data sourced from TCW's data provider, StatsBomb.

This is, of course, still a small sample of games at this stage of the season with at least another 400-500 minutes of data required to draw more robust conclusions.

However, this can still give some insight into how Maeda has performed in a few key areas in the early part of the season and inform the debate around his contribution.

Expected goal contributions

Maeda has not found the net in the league so far this season but the underlying numbers for his output are respectable enough.

Although he has produced less in the way of expected goals (0.13 per 90), certainly not as much as his Celtic counterparts Jota or Liel Abada, Maeda is contributing in terms of creating opportunities.

His 0.29 per 90 expected goals assisted, calculated from the expected goal value of an assisted shot, is broadly comparable with Jota (0.31 per 90), so he is still generating decent-quality chances for his teammates during his time on the pitch.

One reason behind his creation of more for others, compared to his own chances, is that a sizeable proportion of his minutes last season came as a centre forward while this season he has been used exclusively as a winger/wide forward.

That said, his combined xG and xG assisted is currently 0.42 per 90 compared to 0.70 per 90 last season, so he is down a bit in terms of his expected output.

Again, as mentioned these are still small sample sizes though, with his 4.4 90s played this season compared to 13.6 90s played last season, and, as with all data presented here, more is required before making more definitive judgements.

Passing

Some further underlying attacking metrics, OP (open play) key passes and successful crosses, can give further detail on how Maeda is performing in an attacking sense at this stage though.

Again, looking at these metrics, he is not quite at the same levels as Jota or Abada but is closer to the latter.

He has still produced an above-average number, for this dataset, of 1.59 open play key passes while his successful crosses is a little under-average, at 0.68 per 90.

Build-up

To go beyond his attacking output and dig a bit deeper into his performance in the final third, we can take a look at xG buildup and deep completions.

Maeda’s xG buildup, which gives value to possession a player was involved in outside of shots and assists, of 0.4 per 90 is a little below average, and again less than Jota and Abada.

However, he is the standout in this dataset for deep completions, which are defined by StatsBomb as any successful passes within 20 metres of the opposition's goal. His 2.04 per 90 is actually the second most of any Scottish Premiership player with a minimum of 300 league minutes played.

This suggests Maeda is making a reasonably positive impact on Celtic’s buildup in and around the box.

Pressing

That deep completions number aside, which is certainly worth reinforcing, it is fair enough to say that, although still fine enough, Maeda is not quite producing the same levels in an attacking sense as Jota or Abada at this stage.

However, it is by assessing his work off-the-ball that we can see his true value to this Celtic side come through.

Maeda’s intense pressing is one of his strengths and his numbers so far this season are highlighting this again.

He boasts the most possession-adjusted (PAdj) pressures in this dataset, 29.05 per 90, while his 4.08 pressure regains per 90 are over twice as many as Jota and Abada. It is also currently more per 90 than any other Celtic player in the league this season with a minimum of 300 minutes played.

Counter-pressing

It is a similar picture when it comes to counterpressures, pressures exerted within five seconds of a turnover, with Maeda registering 4.08 per 90. Jota is closer to Maeda here but the Japanese international is producing three times as many counter-presses as Abada per 90.

His counter-pressure regains (0.45 per 90) is not as far ahead as others in this dataset compared to his general pressure regains. But again, more than any other Celtic player so far this season.

Maeda’s considerable influence off the ball is clear in the above radar, which compares him to the league-average attacking midfielder/winger across all of StatsBomb’s ‘Pressure’ metrics.

Conclusion

With his one goal coming in the League Cup at the end of August and his four assists in the league before that, it is maybe understandable why some feel Maeda could be offering more.

However, judging any player on just their output is never telling the full story and his numbers indicate, albeit a small sample at this stage of the season, that Maeda is still making a valuable contribution to this Celtic team.

He is their most efficient player off the ball and he is still making a reasonably decent contribution going forward. If he continues to put up similar attacking numbers too, it is more than likely we will see him contribute when it comes to output again in the coming weeks.

Maeda may not be as easy on the eye as someone like Jota or as deadly in front of goal as Abada but that doesn’t make him any less effective – he will continue to be a vital player for Ange Postecoglou as the season goes on.

WIN AN ALL-EXPENSES-PAID TRIP FOR TWO TO WATCH REAL MADRID V CELTIC