Celtic's Daizen Maeda confesses that Ange Postecoglou bonds have been hard to break

The Ange Postecoglou influence has been hard to shake for Daizen Maeda.

Celtic's attacker Daizen Maeda admits he has become an armchair Spurs fan since his old mentor Ange Postecoglou left the Scottish champions for the London club in the summer. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

Not just in terms of the Celtic attacker’s playing habits. Even his viewing habits have been impacted. It is understandable that the Australian’s football style would have become hard-wired for the Japanese international when it was back in 2020 they first linked up at Yokahama F Marinos. And the 25-year-old is candid that his near four-year asssociation with the man now in charge at Tottenham Hotspur hasn’t made for a simple transition as Brendan Rodgers has made alterations to Celtic’s previously-embedded system.

“For the manager it is obviously the second time, but for me it is a new manager,” said Maeda, who moved to Glasgow in January 2022. “We are trying to do new things, so individually and as a team we have to adapt to the new style of play. That quite often happens in football. For me that means I have to adjust to the new tactics, the training, work hard and try to make adjustments in the games. Personally I feel that the tactics of the previous manager are kind-of instilled in my game. So obviously I have to change to the new style. However, the league has already started. You have to get the results as you apply the new style and that is what we are trying to do.”

Yet, even in his off-time from the club, Postecoglou continues to loom large. In his early days in Glasgow, the player said that he was a baseball rather than football watcher in his free time. That has changed over the past year-and-a-half but only since the summer has he acquired a favourite team to catch on the box. ”Obviously Ange went to Spurs, so I have started watching their games and I was impressed by their Manchester United win,” he said.

Celtic will learn their Champions League group opponents in Thursday’s draw. And wins more than any particular opponents are the focus for Maeda when thinking ahead to the club’s participation in the elite competition for a second successive season. “After the draw last year, I was very excited with the opponents that we got,” he said. “However, we didn’t win any games so we ended up very disappointed. So this year, again, I am looking forward to the draw but when it comes to the games we have to play very well and get wins. There is no team in particular I would like to draw. But I do think about playing Real Madrid again. Not for revenge, but to show that any team that comes up to the Champions League is strong and that we can get wins and show we are a different team. I want us to demonstrate that.”