von Fightin-Irish » Mi 11. Jul 2012, 10:04
http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/spl/4422576/Augsburg-0-Celtic-0.html
NO goals — and no winning start in Germany
But more importantly for Neil Lennon, this game was no disaster.
Last night’s draw with Bundesliga outfit Augsburg was hardly the most exciting game in the world.
But with less than three weeks to go until the crucial Champions League qualifiers, Celtic got exactly what they needed out of this.
Ninety minutes to get the mistakes out of their heads, blow the cobwebs away and sharpen up before the qualifiers that will shape their entire season.
You couldn’t expect a sparkling performance given the experimental line-up Lennon deployed.
Kelvin Wilson and Charlie Mulgrew were joined by young prospect Filip Twardzik in a three-man defence.
Making his first start in six months, Beram Kayal was charged with protecting the defence, while Andre Blackman, Joe Ledley, Dylan McGeough and James Forrest made up the rest of the midfield.
Up front, Gary Hooper and Anthony Stokes filled the two berths.
But with many players missing from their German training camp, it’s no wonder Lennon went with a makeshift side.
The Celtic manager has given extra time off to Georgios Samaras and Mikael Lustig after playing in the Euros, while Victor Wanyama and Emilio Izaguirre arrive later this week.
South Korean midfielder Ki Sung Yueng was also missing due to his involvement in the Olympics.
But after SunSport’s exclusive today about Liverpool’s interest, who knows if he’ll be back at Parkhead at all?
It was also the first sign of the SPL champions in action since their summer clear-out.
Cha du-Ri, Mark Wilson, Glen Loovens, Daniel Majstorovic, Niall McGinn and Darren O’Dea are all gone.
But in the small German town of Donauworth — 90 miles north of Munich — it gave Lennon the chance to see some of the players he hopes can progress this season.
One player who has already travelled that road is Forrest.
The young winger turned 21 last week and was made captain to celebrate the milestone.
Despite having a state-of-the-art all-seater stadium just down the road, Augsburg stuck to the usual pre-season routine German clubs seem to have of taking their friendlies to the feeder clubs in the community.
Nestled in the middle of a forest, the locals still turned out though — along with a healthy smattering of Celtic fans.
Around 4,000 punters came to support their team, who made history last season by securing top flight football for the second year in a row.
The Hoops were pretty rusty in the opening 45 minutes. First touches were heavy, ideas weren’t executed properly. The usual pre-season problems.
That sluggishness led to the Germans breaching that three-man defence at will. The Bavarians’ winger Marcel de Jong whipped a low cross in from the left that Fraser Forster leapt to get a strong hand on before the defence cleared.
Three minutes de Jong threatened again, this time sending a curling effort over the bar.
It was uncomfortable enough for the Celtic players in the clammy heat, but the hosts weren’t in the mood to let them relax.
Just after the half-hour mark, former Celtic target Knowledge Musona should have scored for Augsburg. The ball fizzed across goal and from six yards out he barely made contact.
Celtic’s first real chance came after 40 minutes with Stokes and Hooper at the heart of it.
The Irishman spotted Hooper’s darting run, but last season’s top scorer was stopped in his tracks with a crunching tackle from Gibril Sankoh.
Despite being a friendly, there were no wholesale changes at the break.
Lennon waited until midway through the second half until he took off Forrest and put on Paddy McCourt, with exiled striker Darryl Murphy climbing off the bench for Gary Hooper a few minutes later.
He wasn’t on long before he spun his marker in the box and smashed a vicious left-foot strike off the junction.
Then Lewis Toshney and Tony Watt replaced Kayal and Stokes and got the runout they needed.
In the end that seemed to be enough for everyone.
Well, everyone except the 4,000 fans.
