Celtic are gearing up to start the season proper against Ross County at Celtic Park tomorrow lunchtime. The Bhoys have been off putting in the hard yards in the Portuguese Algarve and also over in Asia with their tour of Japan. All the games have given the new boss Brendan Rodgers time to assess his squad and also get valuable minutes into the legs before the competitive action.
It was a mixed bag of results this pre-season; some good, some bad, some indifferent. The horror of losing six goals against Yokohama F. Marinos had everyone on edge as we looked to gain some momentum ahead of the season’s start against the Staggies at Paradise. Scoring four goals, it seems we had no problem putting them away, but keeping them out was an issue.
The clean sheet against Gamba Osaka really helped to assuage any fears of a crumbling infrastructure at the backline, particularly after the way we conceded so many poor goals towards the end of the last campaign when Cameron Carter-Vickers was sidelines through a knee problem. It was a much-needed boost against a team who were more than halfway through their own domestic season.
It was onwards to the Republic of Ireland afterwards to face English Premier League side, Wolverhampton Wanderers. We could and should have been out of sight in he Aviva Stadium in Dublin that day; however, due to missed chances and a dodgy penalty call we had to settle for just the draw on the day. Nevertheless, it was a good workout against strong opposition.
Then James Forrest’s Testimonial match on Tuesday night against Athletic Club from Bilbao, which saw us fall behind straight away. Despite this though, we went on to recover well and finish the stronger of the sides in a 3-2 victory to salute a living Celtic legend. Another stern test overcome with some of the new bhoys impressing too.
So it’s Ross County tomorrow then and Malky MacKay will be hoping to spoil the celebrations and the jubilant atmosphere as we look to gain momentum in the Scottish Premiership. The Hoops were training hard up at Lennoxtown this week and the boss and his backroom staff have been putting the squad to work ahead of the big one.
Watch the Hoops train at Lennoxtown below…
Paul Gillespie
