Celtic suffered their eighth Scottish Premiership defeat of the season, going down 2-0 to Dundee United at Tannadice Park on Sunday.
The surface was in a poor state, but that cannot serve as an excuse given that both teams had to deal with the same conditions. Second-half goals from Will Ferry and Emmanuel Agyei were enough to see off Martin O’Neill’s side and leave Celtic in a perilous position in the title race.
Celtic now sit third in the table, five points behind leaders Hearts with seven matches remaining. Rangers are also ahead of them. While a Scottish Cup semi-final against St Mirren still offers a route to silverware, the Hoops are in genuine danger of ending an already troubled season with nothing to show for their efforts.
The pitch was undoubtedly a factor in the quality of play, with unpredictable bounces making clean ball control difficult for both sides. But Celtic’s response to those conditions was completely wrong. Their default approach of slow, precise, possession-based football was entirely unsuited to a surface that punished that style at every turn. They needed to be more direct, more aggressive, and more willing to go long and put the ball into the box. Instead, they played as though conditions were perfect, and Dundee United were allowed to control the tempo and win the match comfortably.
Reo Hatate was one who suffered particularly because of the surface, struggling repeatedly to read the bounce in duels and losing the ball in a midfield contest that directly led to Ferry’s opening goal. But for all Hatate’s difficulties, there was a Celtic player whose performance was even more alarming.
Daizen Maeda had a wretched afternoon on the left flank. He missed Celtic’s best chance of the match, failing to convert at the far post, did not register a single shot on target across the full 90 minutes, and had 15 fewer touches than goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo. He created nothing of note for his teammates and was largely anonymous throughout.
Maeda won the Premiership Player of the Year award last season with 16 goals and ten assists, but this campaign has been a stark contrast to that form. He has scored only seven goals from an expected goals tally of 12.22 in the Premiership this term, the largest underperformance in the Celtic squad and the worst such gap in the entire division among players of his standing. He leads the league in expected goals yet ranks 13th in the scoring charts, a statistic that captures his season in a single line.
Celtic should consider selling Maeda this summer if there is genuine interest. The risk of his decline continuing is too great for a club trying to rebuild its squad, and the funds raised could be directed toward a more clinical forward. That is easier said than done, but addressing the wastefulness in the final third is one of the most pressing tasks facing whoever takes permanent charge at Parkhead.