Postecoglou Must Unleash £18k-p/w Celtic Whiz Vs Inverness

Celtic's outstanding 2022/23 campaign draws to a close this evening as they take on Inverness at Hampden in the final of the Scottish FA Cup.

The Hoops can secure the domestic treble, after winning the Scottish Premiership and the League Cup earlier this term, with a victory today.

Ange Postecoglou is tasked with picking the side to go out and achieve their aim and the head coach could make one key change to his team from the one that faced Aberdeen last weekend.

Will Daizen Maeda start against Inverness?

Celtic winger Daizen Maeda should come back in from the start after serving his suspension – from a red card in the loss to Hibernian – against the Dons and replace Israel international Liel Abada out wide.

The youngster started in place of the 25-year-old last time out and was hooked at half-time after he created one chance and failed to register an effort on goal.

Maeda must now return to the XI as the Japanese dynamo has proven that he has what it takes to step up and perform in the big matches in the cup.

In the semi-finals of this competition, the forward was selected from the start in the Old Firm clash and registered an assist for the winning goal from Jota.

He also started the semi-final and final of the League Cup earlier this season and chipped in with a goal against Kilmarnock and an assist against Rangers to win the trophy.

Abada, meanwhile, has not started a match in the FA Cup since the round of 16 against St Mirren and did not start the last two matches of League Cup run.

This suggests that Postecoglou trusts the Japan international more than the 21-year-old when it comes to the high-pressure games in cup competitions as the boss has consistently selected him ahead of the young talent in the latter stages.

The £18k-per-week whiz has repaid the manager's faith in him by being directly involved in three goals in three semi-finals and finals combined this season in the domestic cup outings.

Maeda, who has scored eight goals and provided five assists in 25 Premiership starts, is a player who works his socks off for the team and can provide endless running out wide.

Postecglou has described him as a "selfless" player with "outstanding" effort on two different occasions and this, along with his inclusion in the team's big games, shows how highly the head coach rates him.

Therefore, the wing wizard should be unleashed from the start against Inverness this evening ahead of Abada, who has not been trusted in the latter stages of the cup competitions this season.