Fraser Forster and Emilio Izaguirre made their first appearances of the season as Celtic drew 0-0 with Dukla Prague in the final match of their four game Austrian tour.
With the Champions League match against KR Reykjavik just four days away Ronny Deila was looking to see as much of his starting XI as possible close to top form but the 90 minutes must have been a concern for the hoops boss.
Deila had expressed some worry about the tempo against Rapid Vienna on Sunday but there was no reaction to those comments as the hoops put in a lacklustre display.
It was only in the last 20 minutes of the match, following the introduction of substitutes Callum McGregor and Nir Bitton, that there seemed some shape and purpose about the bhoy’s play.
Few players will have emerged with pass-marks from the outing but with little time to work with before the game in Iceland Deila will have to hope that his squad quickly rediscover their appetite for the serious action.
Charlie Mulgrew, Kris Commons and Stefan Johansen formed a three man midfield leaving Kris Commons on the right and Derk Boerrigter to support Anthony Stokes but the system never really clicked into play with Dukla presenting an imposing physical presence that denied the hoops the chance to impress their new boss.
Stokes had Celtic’s only noticable effort at goal in the first half but his 25th minute drive was easily collected by the Czech goalkeeper.
Deila refused to make any half-time changes but the pattern of the first half continued after the break with Celtic struggling to put together any worthwhile passages of play.
After 70 minutes Deila made his first changes just after Stokes and Virgil van Dijk had forced the Dukla keeper into his first saves of the day. Biton and McGregor replacing Kayal and Boerrigter as the Norwegian shuffled the side around.
Those changes brought a bit of urgency to the game, with Commons taking a more central role tucked in behind Stokes, with McGregor almost netting within a minute of coming on when he ghosted into the penalty box.
After a brief flurry there wasn’t much more threat to the Dukla goal with the match finishing goal-less leaving Deila with plenty to think about ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League qualifier about KR Reykjavik.
CELTIC: Forster; Matthews, van Dijk, O’Connell, Izaguirre; Mulgrew, Johansen, Kayal (Biton 70); Commons, Stokes (Watt 78), Boerrigter (McGregor 70)
SUBS: Zaluska, Fasan, Lustig, Fisher, Waters, Findlay, F. Twardzik, Henderson, McGeouch, Forrest, Fridjonsson, Pukki, Balde, Griffiths, Atajic
