Brendan Rodgers didn’t spare his top names after today’s 1-1 draw with Rapid Vienna.
The Irishman started with what looked like his strongest XI but they were barely able to put a move together in the first half.
At the back the defence looked slack but held on until almost half-time until a poor Dedryck Boyata pass back resulted in Rapid getting a penalty which they converted from.
“The first half team were poor from a technical perspective, it looked like they had never played together which was disappointing,” Rodgers told Celtic TV after the final whistle.
“We spoke to them about that at half time and they made a much better start to the second half, the first sixty minutes.
“The guys coming into the game changed it, we changed our shape to 3-4-3 and the boys that came in were excellent. They dominated the ball, pressed the game in numbers, they did much better. There was a better tempo to the game going forward.”
— paul the tim (@paulthetim) July 1, 2017
Jonny Hayes earned Celtic their equaliser from the penalty spot with Rodgers delighted by his new signing.
“He made an incredible run to get onto the ball then was fouled but that’s what Jonny can do,” the Celtic boss added.
“He’ll take you up the pitch very quickly and has the ability to go inside and outside. I thought that he was a real threat when he came on.”
James Forrest and Erik Sviatchenko were the only changes to the Scottish Cup Final side in the starting line up but in the Austrian heat Celtic toiled to make an impression.
Against BW Linz in midweek Rodgers switched his side around at half time but waited till the hour mark to make changes against Rapid.
Emilio Izaguirre, Tom Rogic and Dembele all made their first appearances of the tour with the French striker equalising in the 72nd minute.
CELTIC (4-1-2-3) Gordon (Hazard 63); Lustig (Ralston 63), Sviatchenko (Simunovic 63), Boyata (Izaguirre 63), Tierney (Miller 63); Brown, (Bitton 63), Armstrong (Henderson 63), McGregor (Rogic 63); Forrest (Hayes 63), Griffiths (Dembele 63), Sinclair (Mackay-Steven 63)
Not Used: Aitchison, McCart, Doohan