The Australia tour is in the books for Celtic and it was a good experience for the Bhoys to say the least. Of course, the main purpose of it was to give the fans Down Under a glimpse of the team and they got that. On the other hand, while Ange Postecoglou’s side were winless, the performance against Everton was a major positive for them ahead of the second half of the season.
Celtic and Everton played out a goalless draw, and the Toffees went on to win on penalties. But it was the Hoops who dominated possession and created the better chances on the day.
On the other hand, Everton seemed content on sitting back and playing on the counter attack. This just goes on to show the kind of respect and reputation that Postecoglou’s side have already earned, that a Premier League side would do that in a friendly game.
As reported by Everton’s official website, Asmir Begovic told evertontv after the game:
"“It was nice to win, nice to put on a performance, and when you play a team like Celtic you know you’re always going to be in for a competitive game – that’s exactly what we got today.”"
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Celtic can hold their heads high of the performances that they have put in this season against the big teams.
At the same time though, one cannot deny the fact that they have been found lacking badly in the final third of the pitch, with their finishing. That is an area where they will need to improve and quickly, if they are to progress further with this team.
Postecoglou deserves a lot of credit for what he is getting out of this team though and it goes against the narrative of lot of people to see a Premier League team having to sit back against Scottish Premiership opposition. But sometimes you just have to admit that that’s how good Celtic are right now. Onto the second half of the campaign, and defending the league title!