Moritz Jenz and Aaron Mooy received Celtic debuts as Ange Postecoglou’s team put a successful seal on their pre-season schedule ahead of next weekend’s big kick-off.
The champions get the defence of their crown underway against Aberdeen on home soil on Sunday week. With new signings Jenz and Mooy introduced as second-half subs, Celtic defeated Norwich to complete an unbeaten six-game build-up.
Goals either side of the interval from Daizen Maeda and David Turnbull were enough to see off the English Championship outfit and set the hosts up for the unfurling of their league flag and the day-one clash against the Dons. Winning was a bonus for the boss. In terms of the afternoon, it made it 20 goals in those six pre-season games shared around an impressive tally of 13 different scorers.
In terms of the upcoming competitive action, the opportunity to get more valuable minutes into the legs of 21 players was crucial as he altered an entire outfield team through the course of the second period. Jenz and Mooy were amongst those post-interval changes after signing this week to round off a positive day’s work for the Aussie and his troops.
The hosts moved the ball around well enough in the opening period without really testing visiting keeper Tim Krul before their 36th minute opener. Norwich, who had familiar faces such as Scotland stars Grant Hanley and Kenny McLean as well as ex-Celtic attacker Teemu Pukki in the starting line up, had opportunities before the break.
Pukki glided a header over, while dangerous wide man Milot Rashica forced Joe Hart into a low stop and Todd Cantwell had a strike blocked.
However, nine minutes from the break, Maeda struck with a delightful back flick.
Norwich wanted offside when Matt O’Riley’s attempted pass spun into the path of Josip Juranovic, but the flag stayed down and the Croat’s drilled cross to the near post was cleverly knocked past Krul by the Asian ace.
Postecoglou made seven changes just before the hour mark with fans getting a first sight of Jenz as well another look at Alexandro Bernabei.
The central defender’s first act was to make a key block and Cameron Carter-Vickers soon did the same as the men from Norfolk hunted a leveller.
Turnbull, though, was next to strike midway through the second half with a sweet finish to seal a home win.
Slack defending allowed Giorgos Giakoumakis to collect free possession and he shifted a pass into his fellow sub.
The playmaker, who almost moved to the Canaries before signing for Celtic, smartly shifted the ball onto his right peg and drilled a low finish into the bottom corner past Krul’s replacement Angus Gunn.
Mooy replaced Hatate with 15 minutes to go as Postecoglou made more subs and could have scored with a late shot that was blocked, but it ended satisfactorily for the boss and his team as they now move into the serious business. Here's 3 talking points from Parkhead.
SELECTION CLUE?
Managers have often used the final warm-up game of pre-season to give their starting line-up for the first competitive outing a game together. If that’s the case, Postecoglou will have a front three of Jota, Kyogo and Maeda up front, Reo Hatate and O’Riley beside Callum McGregor in midfield and Greg Taylor and Stephen Welsh in the backline for the Premiership opener against Aberdeen. Or, having changed everyone of the outfield players in the second half, it might just have been a case of getting the right minutes into legs. Fans will find out next Sunday.
REO SO IMPORTANT
With McGregor at the hub and O’Riley in the hole, Japanese ace Reo Hatate was vital shuttling between the pair and his energy is going to be crucial to the team in the season ahead. Just as he did in midweek to score against Legia Warsaw, the midfielder made loads of little darting runs from deeper positions into areas beyond the main striker. Those types of bursts will be crucial when Celtic, as usual, face packed defences in the Premiership.
DEPTH OF QUALITY
Postecoglou was able to put basically the full squad on the bench and the 13 subs made an eye-watering line-up for Celtic’s rivals. In the Premiership, a starting team of Siegrist, Ralston, Jenz, Jullien, Bernabei, McCarthy, Turnbull, Mooy, Forrest, Giakoumakis and Abada could win most games. Add Ideguchi, Johnston and Bain added with the injured Carl Starfelt also set to return to the scene and there is competition in every single department. The manager is still on the lookout for more signings and the champions have tremendous options across the park.
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