Goals from Daizen Maeda and David Turnbull meant that Celtic were able to get a 2-0 win over Norwich City in their pre-season friendly at Parkhead. This was the Hoops’ toughest test till now, having struggled to get results recently. While they have looked brilliant at times, Ange Postecoglou’s side have not been able to hold up the levels for the entire 90 minutes. Fortunately, that was not the case against the Canaries.
The win will give them a lot of confidence, with the Premiership opener against Aberdeen just a week away. Not only was this a win for Celtic but a clean sheet as well.
Norwich City are a very decent team without a shadow of a doubt. Although they might have been relegated from the Premier League recently, the Canaries have been yo-yoing between the Championship and the top flight for years now, and will be one of the favourites to get promoted this season once again.
Norwich City manager, Dean Smith, seemed to be impressed with what he saw against Celtic. As reported by The Herald, he said:
"“Celtic are a good level team.“You can see what they have been working on.“They have good rotation and movement, full-backs coming inside and the wide players drift onto the outside and try to give overloads in different parts of the pitch. They have really good movement too.“They are probably a Premier League team in the making.“[It was] a really good test for us. Obviously we’ve got Hibs tomorrow but it’s a great game to have going into Cardiff next weekend.“A real test because of the way they play, they have really good technicians of the ball and play at speed.“I’m happy with it.”"
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Now, while being a Premier League team in the making might not feel like a huge compliment, considering Celtic are one of the best supported clubs on the planet, one also has to look at the constraints that they work under.
Just this summer till now, Nottingham Forest, who are returning to the Premier League for the first time in the 21st century, have shelled out around £73 million in transfer fees.
Celtic cannot compete with that in the transfer market. They cannot even come close. Yet they have built a team that outplayed one of the better Championship teams and could probably compete with some Premier League sides as well. That deserves immense credit and is something worth celebrating.