Celtic reaction: Ange Postecoglou’s men get away with one - big time, Daizen Maeda doubts, Hibs fans pour salt in rivals’ European wounds

Subsequent events at Ibrox ultimately cast Celtic’s toils away to Hibs in a different light.

Celtic's Daizen Maeda cuts a frustrated figure in the Easter Road stalemate and questions are now being asked over the Japanese attacker's contribution. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

Celtic got away with one - big time

As their bluntness in the lunchtime scoreless at Easter Road was being initially digested, it simply could not have been anticipated that the first points dropped by Ange Postecoglou’s men in nine league games would not weaken their position at the top of the cinch Premiership table. Rangers’ inexplicable second-half surrender of a two-goal lead in their later hosting of Motherwell - the first spilled points at home by either of the title rivals since October - allowed Celtic to get away with one. And get away with one big time.

Retaining their three-point advantage doesn’t change the fact that in Leith Celtic were decidely stodgy…or that their manager seriously over-egged his players’ efforts in declaring the acceptability of the display. Moreover, you could flip the situation to suggest, in retrospect, that Celtic missed a golden opportunity to open up a really healthy five-point advantage in the race for the league crown through lacking pizzazz against a seriously-weakened Shaun Maloney side. Ultimately, though, among the Celtic fraternity the feeling following another nerve-shredding day in the championship battle will be relief, not exasperation.

Questions over Daizen Maeda

Celtic’s first back-to-back blanks this season - the stalemate at Easter Road following on from Thursday’s 2-0 defeat away to Bodo/Glimt - have turned the spotlight on the contribution of Daizen Maeda. Not in a good way, with the illness that counted out Giorgos Giakoumalis for the trip to Leith keenly felt as Maeda struggled. The attacker has often been utlised wide on the left since his January move from his homeland, which made the encounter only fourth start in the central striker role. In that berth, though, he hardly looks like a player who will consistently sniff out goals.

He has four from 716 minutes football in Celtic colours. That gives him a scoring rate similar to the universally panned, and now disappeared, Albian Ajeti, who has three in 552 minutes. Maeda isn’t helped by an uncertain touch, while he doesn’t appear to possess the acceleration bursts expected of a player whose running power was talked up. Patently, it would appear wrapped up in his stamina and superb work rate. It remains early days for Maeda, and he has faced a hugely challenging assimilation in bouncing into Celtic straight off the back of his seaosn in the J-League, where he was joint top scorer. However, when/if Kyogo Furuhashi returns in a month’s time, it could be that his game time becomes strained.

Hibs fans rub salt into Celtic’s European wounds

An afternoon from which they could derive satisfaction, the Hibs’ faithful are beginning to see some resilience from their team under Maloney. As it became apparent a point was coming their way, in added time they were able to have fun at the expense of an away support that had infuriated them with incessant “up the ‘RA” chanting by launching into the classic ditty “Oh, oh, oh, it’s magic, you know, Celtic and Europe don’t go”. Ouch.

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