If Celtic fans can take anything away from what we have witnessed this preseason, it’s that we have seen two sides to this Celtic team under Brendan Rodgers.
From the Japan Tour in Yokohama, and last night’s fixture against Athletic Club we saw defensive lapses and slack passing that were punished easily by the opposition.
But what we also witnessed against Yokohama, Wolves, Gamba Osaka and the second half in last night’s tie against Athletic, was some superb attacking play and clinical finishing from the team.
And that is down to the options we now have at the club.
Brendan Rodgers has clearly worked his magic with players that were already at Celtic before he arrived and the addition of Hyunjun Yang from last night’s performance looks like a masterstroke.
The transformation of Liel Abada and Daizen Maeda was covered earlier today by Hamish in this brilliant article here so there is no need to go over them again.
Hyunjun Yang‘s sparkling second-half performance last night shows that Rodgers could have unearthed a gem from South Korea. He looked confident on the ball and wasn’t afraid to take on his men on that right flank.
Give him a few weeks to get up to speed and he could be terrorising Scottish defences in the SPFL.
Hyoengyu Oh looks full of confidence. His work rate for the team is exceptional and his little piece of trickery last night helped create Celtic’s eventual winner. We know he can finish as well after his decent scoring rate last season. He could very well be a big player for us.
From the midfield, we have Reo Hatate. He ran a masterclass in Japan and pulled the strings against Wolves. His forward thinking and runs from midfield will either create space for others or for himself as we saw last night.
He didn’t have his best game for Celtic yesterday but we all know how dangerous he can be.
Then there is Kyogo. His movement and pace will continue to cause defences problems. His work rate against Wolves helped create his own goal and his link-up play is second to none.
And to think I haven’t even mentioned the likes of Sead Haksabanovic, Matt O’Riley, the potential of Marco Tilio and the threat we have coming from our fullbacks.
Now I know it’s just preseason and we shouldn’t look too much into it but is that not what these games are for? To watch the players and make an assessment?
I think this season has the potential to have plenty of goals in it for us. It may even surpass last season’s total. Some people could argue I am getting a little bit carried away. Let’s see what happens on Saturday when Ross County come to town.
In other news, Celtic star Joe Hart and world football react as Italy legend announces retirement on Instagram
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