[Official TC Thread] Olimpija Ljubljana v. Celtic, Wed 6 Jul, 18:00ko, Celtic TV

LEIGH Griffiths’ deadly double fired Celtic to a deserved 2-1 victory over Slovenian champions Olimpija Ljubljana in an entertaining pre-season friendly.
Scotland’s Player of the Year showcased the lethal finishing which saw him score 40 goals in the last campaign in the Stadion Stozice as he found the net with blistering strikes in each half, rendering Miha Zajc’s reply for the home side a mere consolation.
It was another performance in which Brendan Rodgers will take plenty of positives from, coming on the back of the Hoops’ 1-0 triumph over Sturm Graz.
The manager would also have been encouraged by a lively debut from new signing Moussa Dembele, who signed last week from Fulham on a four-year deal.
Leading the line for the Hoops, the young striker was quickly to the fore, teeing up fellow forward Leigh Griffiths in the third minute, who curled narrowly wide from the angle of the box.
It was one of several encouraging attacks for the Scottish champions in the early stages of the game, with Liam Henderson also offering plenty of enterprise down the left.
The home side got their first glimpse of goal when Denis Kilnar volleyed over, before Jakob Novak shot straight at Craig Gordon following a quickly-taken free-kick.
But Celtic always looked the more purposeful side going forward, and Dembele saw the sting taken out of his shot from the edge of the area by a home defender, allowing goalkeeper Aleksander Seliga to make a comfortable save.
Julius Wobay had a curling free-kick saved by Gordon and then Dembele showed his speed to outrun his marker when chasing a through ball, but Seliga was out quickly to save his side.
After a scare when Blessing Eleke headed wide from Zajc’s cross, the Bhoys made the breakthrough. Janko collected the ball and fed Griffiths in the box and the striker showed his sharpness by evading his maker and lashing a shot beyond Seliga.
Scott Brown, who returned from injury in Sunday’s win over Sturm Graz, had been handed a start against Olimpija and his authoritative presence in the heart of the midfield was helping Celtic to control that area of the pitch.
Down the left, Academy Bhoys Kieran Tierney and Henderson were combing to good effect and from the latter’s low cross, Griffiths blasted over as the Hoops went in search of further reward. Tierney also tried his luck after stepping inside a defender but Selgia was able to keep out his low drive.
It was through this regular supply line of Henderson and Tierney that Dembele had a chance to find the target but he couldn’t keep his volley down as Celtic went in at the break deservedly in front.
Dembele continued where he left off as the second-half got underway, forcing Seliga into action within seconds off the restart with an angled shot.
Zajc flashed a shot wide for the Slovenian side but then the Bhoys doubled their advantage. Stefan Johansen intercepted a pass and picked out Griffiths. The striker made progress towards the box and with no tackle forthcoming he took aim and sent a dipping shot inside the post.
Almost immediately, the hosts pulled a goal back when Zajc steered a shot into the top corner, with Tierney racing up the other end and bringing out another stop from the busy Seliga.
With both teams making wholesale changes in the second half, the game became increasingly open, with chances at either end.
Efe Ambrose, getting first run out of pre-season after joining up with the squad yesterday (Tuesday), headed wide from Johansen’s corner and substitute Ryan Christie found the the underside of the bar from Nadir Ciftci’s cutback.
Novak spurned a golden opportunity for Olimpija, while Christie came close on two further occasions as Celtic collected another morale-boosting pre-season victory ahead of the start of the UEFA Champions League qualifiers.


Man of the Match: Leigh Griffiths

 

A decent run out against a potential opponent. they were a decent quality individually but were not as effective a team as we were, nor individually but they gave some problems.

Its still early in pre-season but our defending was pretty concerning, Biton came off his man in the build up to their goal, he got back to him but was in the wrong position to do much about it his tackle if he got it in could onky send the ball closer to our goal rather than away, he followed the ball out left the space and we got punished, pretty sloppy.

there was a few times we looked poor at the back but i think the likes of johansen and biton werent effective enough at protecting the defense.

griff was a stand out he grabbed a brace and his overall play was really impressive, workrate, passing movement, vision was all really good - He seems tobe improving all aspects of his game took his goals in the manner we have become accustom too.

Janko was patchy at best some good some bad some awful.

Dembele looks a real exciting prospect, showed nice touches and a willingness to make things happen, it will great watching him develop under brendan

overall good going forwards and sloppy on the defensive side, decent passing and movement, pressing was ok but we dropped the intensity a bit which is to be expected in pre season.

3 played two wins 1 draw, decent start to build on

 

Anyone got the goals?

 

Posted a few pages back

 

Johansen was * awful again

 

Na can't seem to find the goals tonight will have a look in a bit

 

Cheers Paul

 

get * with that :smiley-laughing002:

 

Rogic has to be starting in the qualifiers for me! We need someone with that touch of class in there that can beat a player, shoot and play the killer pass in behind defences

 

A highly-satisfied Brendan Rodgers spoke to @CelticTV following the Hoops' 2-1 victory over Slovenian champions @nkolimpija


BR: "Another excellent workout for us. The beauty of tonight was we were playing against a team in #UCL qualifying round, a good test."

BR: "It's really unfair for the players as they are only 2 weeks in & they have to come into a really competitive game next week."

BR: "But it's something we have to accept &I felt the players accepted that challenge tonight against a good side & did really well."


BR on changes he made: "We are just trying to get the players up the 90-min mark. Difficult to come in and go straight into 90 min.


BR: "In our last game, a lot of players had 45min, then got players up to 60-70min tonight, will need to manage it again at wkend."


BR: "A great workout for us. Leigh Griffiths' two goals were outstanding and he worked very hard. We also created other chances."


BR on @MDembele_10 "This is only his first week training since coming in and he looked very strong, fast and mobile."


BR: "You could see that combination up there with Leigh Griffiths. I thought he did very well and obviously tired a little."

 

missed the first goal tonight , cheers crow

 

post updated with videos and Highlights

 

Two crackers from Griff tbf. Both goals almost carbon copies of each other but top class finishes.

Brendan must have some headache trying to work out his best team ahead of next week.

 

So give us the round up...

Who impressed? Who didn't?

Janko?
Dembele?
Did Rogic play?

 

Enjoyable game today. Griffiths looking sharp and dangerous as always. Rogic looking good too. Still not sure what our best formation or XI is, but promising signs.

 

Impressed - Griffiths, Dembele (strong, quick and good on the ball). Most played well but those 2 stood out.

Janko was really the only one who didn't play well. Took too many touches to control the ball and never really got by his man.

Rogic did okay when he came on, should have had an assist.

 

Good good. Pity about Janko but I still have high hopes for him. Glad Dembele did well though.

 

Janko's been injured for 6/7 months. It'll take him a bit longer to get into it

 

My assessment:

Defence looked shaky. Janko was the worst. Tierney was spot on as usual.

Brown looked better than end of last season but not outstanding, Bitton and Johansen average.

Griff looked great as always, new boy was good too. Christie should have scored when he came on, he is always and never a threat.