Yesterday Celtic participated in a friendly match in Poland with Legia Warsaw for Artur Boruc’s farewell party after a glorious career in the game. The Hoops were on top in the first half, thanks to goals from Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda. However, after the break and several changes later we lapsed back into that habit of conceding poor goals in pre-season games.
With just over 10 days or so before we kick-off the cinch Premiership league campaign against Aberdeen in front of a packed Celtic Park, one might be slightly worried at our Jekyll and Hyde performances over both halves of football this summer. Stephen Welsh was speaking to Celtic TV after the game and has insisted we must start to have that consistency flowing during the whole 90 minutes again ahead of Norwich on Saturday then the Dons on Sunday 31 July.
He said: “I thought we were excellent in the first half and could have scored a few more goals but they were good in the second half and I though their early goal gave them momentum. I don’t think we really got going in the second half so I think we need to look at that – making sure we are strong in both halves.
“I think the way we played and the way we were moving in the first 45 was the best we have shown and as I said we need to build on that and take that on.
“We’ve had a few games now and it’s just trying to get into a rhythm. I’ve played in most of them so that’s been good.
“We know the games will come thick and fast – we’ve got Aberdeen in 10 days – so we need to be ready to go. So I think we need to get it properly right against Norwich on Saturday. We need to put in a performance.
“I think we need to start games better – and that means both halves but once we start playing our football we do it really well.”
The fact that Welsh and his fellow Celts – and particularly defenders – acknowledge this has been a feature of our play this pre-season is reassuring to a certain degree. We need to keep that composure and consistency within our game at all times. The foot is being taken off of the gas all too often and it’s leading to sloppy goals given away. With the Norwich game fast approaching we have the chance to correct the wrongs of previous matches against Balckburn Rovers and Legia.
Watch the Stephen Welsh interview with Celtic TV below:
Paul Gillespie
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