Ange Postecoglou: Perseverance key for Daizen Maeda’s troubles in front of goal

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou admitted “perseverance” was key as he assessed both his side’s struggle to turn performances into Champions League points and Daizen Maeda’s troubles in front of goal.

Maeda missed two good chances on Tuesday night as Celtic suffered a 2-0 home defeat by RB Leipzig which ended their hopes of reaching the knockout stages with two matches remaining.

The Japan attacker has also squandered good opportunities against Real Madrid and Shakhtar Donetsk and has only scored one goal in 17 appearances in all competitions this season.

Postecoglou pointed out that the 24-year-old was a work in progress and that he would continue helping him with his development.

“It’s just perseverance,” he said. “I know people look at the end product – and he was a bit unlucky on a couple of occasions, but he puts in an enormous work-rate.

“We felt from last week, down their right-hand side, they could be a threat going forward and I thought his defensive work was outstanding. And that helps us as a team.

“But he has got to learn the other side of the game at this level is really important in terms of finishing the end product.

“He keeps getting into those positions, every game he does, but goals are eluding him.

“But we can’t scrap him just because he is not the finished product yet. We have just got to persevere.

“All our players, apart from Joe (Hart), if you look at them age-wise and experience-wise, this is a massive jump for all of them.

“I am being really ambitious with the way I want to play our football and that’s going to be testing for them.

“But I am not discouraged by the way we are going. If anything, I am encouraged that we need to keep going down this route.”

Maeda is far from the only culprit in front