Worse than Idah: Rodgers must drop 5/10 Celtic forward who lost 88% duels

Celtic bounced back from their devastating 7-1 defeat to Borussia Dortmund in their last match in the Champions League by securing a draw against Atalanta.

The Hoops battled hard in Italy to earn a 0-0 draw against the Serie A side, with Kasper Schmeichel pulling off a string of impressive saves to keep a clean sheet.

 

Brendan Rodgers’ side rarely threatened at the top end of the pitch, though, as they failed to create a single ‘big chance’, to Atalanta’s seven, and created 0.26 xG.

The Northern Irish manager made a bold call before kick-off by dropping Kyogo Furuhashi for Adam Idah in the centre-forward position, with mixed success.

 

Adam Idah’s performance in numbers

The Ireland international was seemingly brought in for his physicality and ability to hold the ball up from Schmeichel’s long kicks to alleviate pressure.

 

It worked to great effect at times, with Idah winning three of his five duels throughout the game, and that allowed the Celtic defence to push up and give themselves a breather from defending for long periods.

However, the 6 foot 3 marksman did not offer the threat that Kyogo does in the final third and struggled to make things happen for the Scottish giants when the ball crossed the half-way line.

Idah ended the match with zero shots on target, zero key passes, and a pass success rate of 74%, which shows that the forward struggled to make an impact in possession.

He was not the worst attacker on the pitch for Celtic, though, as Daizen Maeda put in another underwhelming performance for the Hoops on the left flank.

Why Daizen Maeda should be dropped

The Japan international must finally be dropped from the team after a string of disappointing showings. In his last three appearances in all competitions, the winger has struggled badly.

 

He has lost 17 out of 22 duels in those three games and failed to provide a goal or an assist for his side, whilst also missing one ‘big chance’ in front of goal.