Direct success, Kwon and Yang verdict; 3 things we learned as Celtic draw with Wolves

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Celtic put in a good performance as they drew 1-1 with Wolves on Saturday.

The Hoops drew their penultimate pre-season friendly against the Premier League side, with an early Kyogo Furuhashi goal cancelled out by a late Matheus Cunha penalty.

While friendly encounters can often be a little difficult to get excited about, it was a relatively encouraging performance from Brendan Rodgers‘ men against a side with a far bigger budget.

Here’s what we took away from the match.

A home from home

Rodgers said before the game that Celtic had lulled Wolves in to thinking the match would take place at a neutral venue. (Celtic)

The Hoops boss was joking, but there was a fair bit of truth in what he said. It was like a home game for Celtic, with the vast majority of the Aviva Stadium supporting the Scottish champions.

The Wolves following seemed to be confined to one tiny stand behind one goal, with the rest of the stadium cheering on the Hoops.

‘A Grand Old Team’ blared on the tannoy as the players entered the pitch, adding to the feeling that this was like a game at Celtic Park.

Celtic go direct

It was notable that much of Celtic’s success in the game came from direct play.

Kyogo’s goal was extremely direct, and took just two passes after he stole the ball at the top end of the pitch.

The Celtic midfield, in particular Callum McGregor, looked keen to find the ball over the top throughout the match. Liel Abada and Daizen Maeda were the main beneficiaries, and it must be said that both have looked pretty good so far in pre-season.

We’re unlikely to have the same space against most Scottish teams this season, but the tactic may be one to watch in the Champions League.

Kwon and Yang verdict

Rodgers was able to hand out Celtic debuts to both Hyeokkyu Kwon and Hyunjun Yang, as well as more game-time for Odin Thiago Holm.

The two South Koreans started off lively with Kwon winning the ball and feeding it wide for Yang to fire a shot on goal.

It was a really small sample size but the initial feeling is that both will have something to offer this season.

It would be good to see more of them on Tuesday night against Athletic Club.

In other news, Yang has set an ambitious vision for next year’s Olympics