Let’s not get carried away here, but some of our fringe players have real questions to answer, both to the Celtic boss and to the wider game as they try to move forward with their career.
They will have to seize that initiative in the remainder of our pre-season games.
That was a different sort of pre-season game, and I personally think we’d have won that comfortably had it been a competitive match. That it wasn’t allowed some of our players to be far more slack on the ball than they otherwise would have. That we didn’t win anyway was a result of us shooting ourselves in the foot.
Pre-season is about fitness, so I wouldn’t have taken this game too seriously even if we’d lost it by a couple, by still …
The big lad at right back, I thought he struggled a bit.
If we’re going to do something in the transfer market this week it might well be at central defence. Ange will know this. He will know that something needs to happen in that position.
I thought the best man in the Celtic team, when he came on, was Kyogo.
Much as I do love big Giakoumakis and think he’s a formidable striker, the best footballer at the club is the Japanese bhoy and he is always going to terrorise defenders.
He showed us, again, what he will do for us with his sharpness and eye for goal. He was always waiting to exploit every mistake.
The other two standout moments were the goals from the midfield players. Turnbull and O’Riley are set to battle it out for the attacking midfield position, and right now I could honestly not tell you which of the two I prefer. I think both are absolute quality.
That was a proper ding-dong battle, and even those who I thought struggled a bit have plenty of time to get up to speed. We’re only in the second game. For some of these guys it was the first, so let’s not be too harsh on anybody.
A few errors aside, that was a pretty decent performance in a lot of ways against a good side who were not taking the game easily or lightly, but gave us a right few digs along the way.
Nevertheless, I thought we deserved the win and but for some sloppy passing and defending, I would have given most of the lads pass marks for how they played.
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I was only able to watch the game up to the first goal. Had to take the Old Man out. Liked what I saw. Thing is I’ve now watched a couple of reruns and will not pass judgement on the Bhoys til the fourth game. To me that’s when they have had a good chance to bed in. If the same players are still making the same errors, then fair enough. Right now it was a solid second game, and the cream are looking good. Let’s hope that we see some others come through. Second string need to step up now.
I agree with most of the,but must say for a pre season friendly.the other team where very physical and up for it
It was a decent test for us and there were more pluses than negatives, Joe Hart totally fkd up at the first goal and once again two aerial crosses could not be properly defended. Notwithstanding that, the opposition are not exactly CL class so we have to improve and improve fairly quickly in that regard. Our goals were good and our overall play was also good despite all the personnel changes. I will not comment on our new LB, it will be kinder not to at this early stage.
Hart looked like he had arthritis getting across goal .
hatate was,by a mile,the best player on the park.
The Defending was Shocking and losing goals to cross balls has been a feature we need to sort out once and for all … pre season is about cementing the basics into place along with fitness , our defence was a Shambles … not good enough .
Probably down to getting used to a new team and a new approach but I thought Bernabie was caught the wrong side of the ball too often and left us exposed in the left back area.
Hopefully this is ironed out during pre Season as he settles in and gets used to our approach.
It was an away game and there were positives and negatives. I’d like to see Reo and Guchi on the pitch together to see if the theory of them buzzing around annoying midfielders, breaking up play, actually works in practise.
We do though seem to be stuck in a recurring defensive nightmare, one where we can’t cope with cross balls and set plays. Its only the second friendly but this Cadbury soft centre defending is something opposing teams know is our weak spot and given that we should have a man on each post until/if this improves
We know that pre-season games are just glorified training sessions, that the punters normally have to pay for!
Only saw the ‘howler’ as that was what the SMSM was promoting, naturally.
Yes, Hart looked like he was having a casual stroll for that 3rd goal.
But, he – and the others – can have as many howlers as they want in pre-season.
It only counts in the league/cup games, when minds will be properly focused.
Quietly confident for our team in the season ahead, domestically.
A wee bit apprehensive about the CL games which will be tough, but a great learning experience for Ange and the squad.