Forgivably Sluggish, Delightfully Fresh.

Celtic 3-1 FK Krasnodar
​

Pre-season friendly
Hofmaninger Stadion, Bad Wimsbach, Austria
Thursday, July 3, 2014​

Celtic kicked off their pre-season campaign in Austria with a battling performance against last season’s fifth placed Russian Premier League outfit, FK Krasnodar. There were plenty of familiar faces in the starting line-up, with the likes of Virgil Van Dijk, Mikael Lustig, Charlie Mulgrew, Scott Brown all togging out for Deila’s managerial debut.


Deila’s quick, passing, attacking football philosophy was immediately evident in Celtic’s play. Within 40 seconds of kick-off, The Bhoys strung together an impressively rapid flow of passes, followed by a pin point long ball to Anthony Stokes who made no mistake with the lobbed finish.


The Celtic lads worked hard early on and it was clear that the new boss had emphasised the importance of quick coherent closing down while the opposition is in possession. With Johansen (who played under Ronny Deila at Stromsgodset before his move to Glasgow) pulling the strings in midfield and Virgil Van Dijk holding the defensive line together, it looked a promising start to Deila’s reign.


After 20 minutes Krasnodar equalised, beating Celtic stopper Lukasz Zaluska all ends up.


On 35 minutes, Mikael Lustig collided with a Krasnodar player and needed treatment on the pitch. However, the Swede soon returned to his feet to play out the rest of the half, suffering no evident ill effects from the collision.


A few minutes later, Krasnodar broke away on the attack. The move was soon broken down by the experienced Celtic defence with the ball then falling to the surprisingly deep Anthony Stokes. Perhaps in an effort to impress the new management staff, Stokes attempted to carry the ball out of defence, despite being surrounded by two or three Krasnodar players. The Russians pinched the ball from the striker but squandered the resulting opportunity.


On 37 minutes, Stefan Johansen proved that it’s always worth your while to close down the goalkeeper. Krasnodar played the ball back to their keeper with the menacing Johansen pinching the ball off the keepers toe and finishing at a very tight angle to put the Hoops 2-1 up.


Just before the half time whistle, Lukasz Zaluska made an impressive stop to keep Celtic in the lead.


For the second half, Ronny Deila sent out a totally new starting 11, consisting mainly of youth. Young Italian ‘keeper Leo Fasan took over the gloves from Zaluska while Eoghan O’Connell and Stuart Findlay provided the cover at the heart of the defence. Beram Kayal, Callum McGregor and Liam Henderson made up the midfield with Bahrudin Atajic leading the line alongside Leigh Griffiths and Teemu Pukki. Adam Matthews and Callum Waters were also given their opportunity to prove their worth.


As the second half got under way Fasan was quickly called into action, making a stunning reaction save. 60 seconds later, Krasnodar hit the crossbar with Fasan catching the resulting rebound.


Soon after, Adam Matthews burst down the right flank. He played a clever cut-back ball to the well positioned Callum McGregor who placed a cool finish into the keeper’s bottom right hand corner.


As the half progressed, the youth acquitted themselves well with Callum McGregor and Liam Henderson performing particularly well in the middle of the park. Leigh Griffiths also provided a bit of a creative spark and pace in the attacking third.


On 61 minutes, Teemu Pukki forced a decent save from the Krasnodar keeper, winning a corner for his team which unfortunately amounted to nothing.


10 minutes later, Leo Fasan made yet another stunning save after a great strike from the opposition, which was headed straight for the top corner.


With 8 minutes left on the clock, Kayal made a tired tackle which resulted in a free-kick for FK Krasnodar in a dangerous position. However, it was Fasan to the rescue yet again, who stopped yet another dangerous effort by the Russians.


3 minutes later, Krasnodar sliced open the Celtic defence to leave their striker 1 on 1 with the Italian keeper. Fasan spread himself well to make probably his best save of the half for Celtic. He certainly seems to be determined to stake his claim for the No.1 jersey, with former Hearts and Sunderland ‘keeper Craig Gordon signing for Celtic just hours before the game.


In the final play of the game, Stuart Findlay made an incredible block on the line to keep Celtic 3-1 up.


Although this was an impressive performance by Celtic and hopefully a sign of things to come, the lack of fitness in the side was very evident. However, one thing to take from this game is that Deila is certainly getting his message across to the players- Quick flowing attacking football while in possession, quick, coherent closing down and pressure to win it back.


My man of the match: Leonardo Fasan. ​

Slaw

Published on behalf of the author Slaw