Today marked the first real test for Brendan Rodgers as Celtic took on Yokohama F Marinos in the first fixture of the Japan Tour.
An outstanding first-half hattrick from Daizen Maeda wasn’t enough to prevent Celtic losing 6-4 to the J League side but, despite the scoreline, there was still a lot of positives to take from the match.
Aside from Maeda being clinical in front of goal, Liel Abada looked back to his best, Reo Hatate was outstanding in the middle of the park and youngsters Daniel Kelly, Ben McPherson and Ben Summers all got a run-out as well as fringe players like Liam Scales and James Forrest.
And we got to see another one of David Turnbull‘s piledrivers in the dying minutes of the game. Questions will, of course, be raised about some costly defensive mistakes but at this stage of the pre-season preparations, there is still time to iron those out.
Celtic fans will wait to hear on the injury status of Yuki Kobayashi but overall, there was enough positives to take away despite the defeat against a good side who are halfway through their season.
Brendan Rodgers refuses to play blame game
Speaking post-match, Rodgers said [Daily Record], “It’s a period of the season where we’re only a few weeks in and assessing where we’re at. We could have been better for the first goal before it got to Joe. 25 yards out and there’s a player turning within our organisation.
“But I think we made a number of mistakes for the goals that we gave away. I’m assessing everything at the moment.”
Daizen Maeda impresses the Celtic boss
Speaking about the contribution the Japanese players have made so far Rodgers continued, “These players, their attitude and energy in everything that they do, on and off the pitch, is great.
“The humility that they have and how they work and present themselves is first class. They’re also very talented footballers.
“You saw Daizen. It was a brilliant performance and I’m very happy for him to come back and play so well. He scored three and maybe could have had one or two more. he was excellent in the game and the other players contributed, some more than others over the past few years.”
Brendan Rodgers upbeat despite the result
Speaking specifically about the game, the Celtic manager sounded update despite the result, “I think it was a really good exercise for us.
“It was always going to be a challenge, firstly from a physical perspective. We arrived here in Japan on Monday and were into a game in hot conditions, against a team that are more than halfway into the season.
“But there were some really good bits in the game. Some of our goals were excellent. I thought Maeda was exceptional in his performance. It was everything you’d want in a striker; running, movement and pressing.
“We gave away some poor goals but a lot of that will be due to fitness and improving the structure of the team as we go along.
“So all in all, a really good exercise for us. in a really good atmosphere. The result isn’t the priority at this point so we’ll prepare for when it matters.”
The Celtic manager is clearly not too concerned with the result. The heat in Japan clearly took its toll on a team that is still trying to get up to match fitness for the season ahead.
The most important thing about this tour was to get minutes in the legs of the first team, run the rule over the fringe players and see what the youngsters can offer.
Rodgers will have left the Nissan Stadium with more answers than questions but overall, it was a good workout for the team in the searing Japanese heat.
Celtic now look forward to facing Gamba Osaka on Saturday 22nd of July where Rodgers will hope to end the tour with a win before the next upcoming friendly against Wolves in Ireland.
In other news, Celtic make contact for Mohamed Reda; Brendan Rodgers discusses Korean duo
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