Rodgers and the Transformation of Maeda

Brendan Rodgers has credited Jack Lyons for his influence on the transformation of Daizen Maeda from an erratic finisher into a prolific marksman.

Lyons is a background figure at Celtic with a fascinating back story, at the age of 28 he is described by Transfermarkt as Celtic’s Match Analyst

Famously Rodgers picked up on a tactical blog from the teenage Lyons during his first stint as Celtic manager, invited him in for a chat and created a job for him at Celtic, in 2019 he followed Rodgers, Chris Davies, Kolo Toure and Glen Driscoll to Leicester City.

It is an amazing tale of how an outsider was brought in to a critical role, trusted by Rodgers to assess opponents and analyse areas of improvement for players in first team football.

Back in 2012 Jim McGuinness came in from Donegal GAA to take up a role with the Celtic Development squad but the Lyons story surpasses that.

Fans have been amazed by the transformation in Maeda who started the season as the Plan C striker and is now on a run of 17 goals in 17 matches.

The workrate of the former Yokohama F Marinos forward has always been praised and admired since he joined Celticbut over the last two months his instinct around goal has brought comparisons with an iconic Swedish number 7.

Maeda has been scoring all sorts of goals. Sent in one-on-one his record is exceptional, he can pop in with headers and will appear at the front or back post to finish off the work of his team-mates.

Managers rarely give away trade secrets but discussing Maeda’s latest exploits at today’s media conference Rodgers ensured that the role of Lyons was acknowledged:

There’s a wee bit of everything there really. I think that he works closely with Jack Lyons here, one of our young coaches who will focus individually on some of the details on that and what we see in him.

He’s also very coachable and he’s a great learner and that’s what you want in your players.

You can have players that are very good players but they’re not very coachable. But his ability to learn is also what has helped him.

So he gets pointed out items with all the coaches and we’ll speak to him as a manager and Jack will do specific stuff with him as well. But all of that he’s shown an ability to learn and so that’s always a good sign.

Maeda goes to St Johnstone on Sunday hunting down a hat-trick, he has 30 Celtic goals for the season so far and was robbed of one more by the ‘incompetence’ of Alan Muir away to Hibs.

At the business end of the season it takes a special type of player to step up and deliver, no one is doing that quite like Maeda with the low profile influence of Lyons hard at work in the background.

James Maddison name checking former Celtic analyst Jack Lyons here as they go top of the Premier League.
Replaced by Peter Houston I think?
Have we even fully replaced the staff Rodgers left with? https://t.co/RjvjQaZV8E
— The Grand Auld Podcast (@GrandAuldPod) January 19, 2021

After scoring against Chelsea to put Leicester into top place in the EPL in January2021 Maddison said.

I remember a game we played Sheffield United earlier in the season, I always watch the games back and Jamie Carragher said in commentary that ‘James Maddison needs to get his numbers up if he wants to be challenging for the England spots and being talked about’.

Me, the gaffer and Jack (Lyons) the analyst sat down – Jack will be buzzing that I name dropped him. We sat down and looked at where I could get more goals. Playing a bit deeper, I was a No 8 today, little things like breaking into the box, getting beyond that line.

And almost smelling where the ball is going to drop. It is not an easy thing to do. And Frank Lampard was the best at it, arriving late and scoring goals.

That is what I did today, Mark Albrighton, I saw him got his head up and I just kind of drifted onto the back line.

And that is something I will keep improving on, scoring goals, because everybody wants numbers. I want numbers, I want goals and assists, I want everyone talking about me and I am getting a good return at the minute.

Leicester finished that season in fifth place in the EPL and won the FA Cup, the following November Maddison was included in the England World Cup squad before moving on to Spurs in the summer of 2023 for £40m.

Things went wrong for Rodgers in the 22/23 season but at FA Cup win even under Lockdown conditions will forever be remembered by the club alongside the magic of Maddison and Youri Tielemans.