Daizen Maeda the only bright spark as 3/10 teammate a liability – Celtic player ratings vs Dundee United

Celtic suffered yet another defeat as they were beaten 2-1 away at Dundee United on Wednesday night.

The Bhoys have got off to a nigthmare start in the Wilfried Nancy era, and they threw away their lead in the second half after Daizen Maeda had put them ahead in the early stages.

Nancy is already under huge pressure from Celtic fans after his nightmare start, and he would have felt some of that ease a little as Maeda put his team ahead in the 13th minute.

However it was a familiar tale for the Glasgow giants in the second half, as goals from Krisztian Keresztes and Zach Sapsford saw the hosts fight back and secure the three points, leaving Celtic six points away from Hearts at the top of the Premiership.

Nancy’s side had countless chances to put the game to bed before the hosts fought back, in what was ultimately another concerning evening for them.

Daizen Maeda stuns for Celtic yet again

Football Insider revealed in the summer that Tottenham and Brentford were interested in Maeda after a superb 33-goal campaign last time out.

The Japan international has had a quieter start this time around, but he remains as vital as ever for the Bhoys, and that was evident yet again during their midweek loss.

The 28-year-old started on the left-wing of Nancy’s 3-4-3 system during the game at Tannadice, and he ran Ryan Strain ragged on the touchine throughout the first half.

Maeda created three chances for his teammates, while nobody on the pitch completed more successful dribbles throughout the game.

The forward missed a sitter that could have salvaged a point for his team in the latter stages, but aside from that, it was a typically excellent display from him, and worthy of an 8/10 rating.

It was yet more evidence that Celtic’s top priority in January simply has to be keeping hold of their main man.

Kasper Schmeichel is far past his best

Kasper Schmeichel had some huge moments for Celtic last season, but he is firmly under pressure this term, and he turned in another concerning display on Wednesday night.

The veteran goalkeeper has seen mistakes set into his game on a regular basis of late, and he looked shaky throughout in midweek.

The Dane was a liability with his distribution and arguably dived with his wrong hand when trying to get across to Sapsford’s winning goal.

Schmeichel looked unreliable and error-prone between thehttps://www.footballinsider247.com/tag/johnny-kenny/ posts, and his days are surely numbered as the January window approaches.

The gloveman was one of his team’s poorest perfomers in midweek, and was worthy of little more than a 3/10 rating.

Celtic player ratings vs Dundee United

Kasper Schmeichel – 3

Anthony Ralston – 5

Auston Trusty – 5

Kieran Tierney – 6

Hyun-Jun Yang – 5

Callum McGregor – 7

Paulo Bernardo – 6

Luke McCowan – 4

Reo Hatate – 5

Johnny Kenny – 3

Daizen Maeda – 8

Substitutes

Shin Yamada – 5

James Forrest – 6

Arne Engels – 6

Benjamin Nygren – N/A

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