On Tuesday evening Celtic took on Sporting Lisbon in a pre-season friendly. Last year in the same fixture Brendan Rodgers Celtic side turned in a good performance and won the game 2-0. I know you can never read too much into pre-season games as its all about getting players match fit ahead of the competitive season but winning breeds confidence.
With the Celtic players who were at the World Cup now enjoying a holiday, Martin O’Neill’s Celtic team that started the second pre-season game was made up of some familiar starting 11 faces and some first team squad players. None of them really did themselves any justice apart from SinIsalo and Celtic were second best in all departments and never really troubled the Portuguese goalkeeper in the first half.
It was the Celtic goalkeeper who was busiest and he pulled of some fine saves before finally succumbing to the Sporting attack. At half time Celtic were lucky to go down the tunnel only 1-0 down.
Engels and Oxlade Chamberlain were the only two changes at half time and it looked like the Ox enjoyed his summer as he looked overweight and unfit. Although in fairness he didn’t not get signed by Celtic until 2 weeks ago and only joined up with the team for the training camp in Portugal.
Celtic made sweeping changes during the second half and we got our first look at Celtic’s new striker Duran. The rest of the subs included third choice goalkeeper Doohan and a mix of B team players and some from the under 19’s.
The highlight of the game from a Celtic point of view was the equaliser from Duran. Hopefully a sign of things to come. Celtic’s young team were cut to shreds by Sporting who continued to impress and entertain their fans who as expected well out numbered the Celtic support which seemed to be less than last years fixture.
The official Celtic website was still able to swing a positive headline after the game – Camilo Duran gets off the mark in pre-season friendly. I noticed that there was nothing on the website about Shin Yamada going out on loan to OH Leuvan in Belgium. When he came to the club last summer during another bleak transfer window, Brendan Rodgers did not fancy him then and Martin O’Neill does not fancy him now.
It’s seems the Celtic website is only there to promote good news and the sale of Adidas kits.
The natives are getting restless and there is no positive swing to that story unless some quality players are added who are first team ready as we can expect some of our better players to leave in the next few weeks.
Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes Celtic Fanzine & Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast
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