Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou was coy on Liel Abada and his chances of a debut against FC Midtjylland on Tuesday night.
Abada, who arrived at Celtic earlier this week [Celtic FC], was handed some first-team minutes in today’s friendly loss to Preston North End. Generally speaking, the Israeli international showed some good touches on a frustrating evening for the Bhoys. Technically, he lined up as a Triallist in the Hoops today.
With Karamoko Dembelé and James Forrest both missing out, Postecoglou started with Owen Moffat on the right-hand side. Abada, who can play in that role, or up front, was brought on late into the game, but could make an impact on Tuesday.
Celtic boss Postecoglou told Premier Sports:
“[Abada] did alright, he’s been with us a day. We just wanted to give him a bit of a run-out today. He wasn’t out there to be measured or judged, he’s there to sort of get to know the group, get to know the rest of us.”
Asked whether he’d feature against FC Midtjylland, Postecoglou said:
“We’ll see.”
Following the disappointing, albeit materially meaningless loss, Postecoglou seemed frustrated by what he saw. The Celtic manager bemoaned a lack of belief and structure, with forwards Albian Ajeti and Odsonne Edouard both struggling to see much of the ball.
Liel Abada could be thrown in at the deep end for debut, with selection headaches aplenty for Celtic boss
Postecoglou had no update on James Forrest in his post-match presser with Premier Sports. However, the Scotland winger has been back in training, as of yesterday morning.
Neither he nor Karamoko Dembelé played a part today, though. The lively Owen Moffat has impressed in pre-season, and may well start on Tuesday night.
Abada, though, comes to Celtic after having already been through a pre-season. That said, the former Maccabi Petah Tikva attacker would only have had a handful of training sessions with Celtic, and a cameo role in a friendly by Tuesday. It doesn’t inspire an enormous deal of confidence.
However, even at this point in the summer, this is the situation Celtic find themselves in.
Postecoglou could find himself handing the new Celtic man Abada a sink-or-swim moment early on in his time at the club. Like he says, we’ll see.
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