Rampant Celtic set to stick with deadly duo
BRENDAN RODGERS is set to unleash a strike pairing of Moussa Dembele and record signing Odsonne Edouard for Celtic’s opening Champions League qualifier in Armenia.
Previously reluctant to operate with a traditional strike partnership, Rodgers admits he has spent much of pre-season working on a new system that allows him to operate with two conventional frontmen.
The two Frenchmen started yesterday’s friendly against Shamrock Rovers with Dembele opening the scoring and Edouard netting twice in a handsome victory for the Scottish champions, who lined up in a 3-5-2 shape that he is ready to field in Tuesday’s preliminary against Alashkert in Yerevan.
‘It’s a system I’m doing more preparation with,’ said Rodgers. ‘We have the personnel for it, especially when teams are sat in.
‘First half in particular you see the numbers we have pouring forward and the speed. There are still things I need to iron out with it but we are very aggressive and very fast.
‘Odsonne is such a clever player and he has got everything. And Moussa, with his strength and his power, I think the combination within the system really works well.
‘This was a good exercise for us. At this stage in the season we couldn’t be better prepared.’
Callum McGregor also netted twice in yesterday’s Dublin stroll with substitutes Scott Sinclair and Lewis Morgan completing the rout.
Rodgers admits he wants his team to rediscover the ruthlessness that was the hallmark of his first season in charge.
‘We want to get back to scoring more goals,’ he added. ‘That was one of the key items we looked at when discussing our goals for this year.
‘It’s not necessarily about having two strikers because we normally play with three in a different way.
‘It’s about getting that aggression in attack and I’ve been really pleased with that over pre-season.’
Celtic are due to fly out to Yerevan today, with Rodgers expecting captain Scott Brown to be aboard despite being withdrawn at half-time with a knee problem.
‘Scott is okay,’ he said. ‘He had a niggle when we were away in Austria and it flared up a little bit. It’s nothing overly serious.’
While Brown should travel, both Leigh Griffiths and Marvin Compper have emerged as injury doubts. Neither were in Dublin.
Celtic’s first goal yesterday arrived promptly when McGregor cut the ball back from the right and Dembele finished clinically.
The second was all about Kieran Tierney who, stationed high and wide, accepted a pass from Olivier Ntcham and knocked it beyond Martins Olakanye. The cross invited Edouard to leap and power his header down past former St Johnstone keeper Alan Mannus.
McGregor then broke beyond the strikers to slot home, before Edouard combined a delicate touch that nutmegged Luke Byrne with the brute force of a finish that nearly took Mannus’s arm off as it crashed high into the net.
McGregor bagged his second from point-blank range as he turned Dembele’s low drive in.
Rodgers made a further ten changes soon after the hour mark. Sinclair continued his promising summer form by adding a brilliant solo goal that saw him dribble at the defence and swap passes with Ryan Christie before slotting home.
Morgan did even better on the next counter, picking up Sinclair’s pass inside his own half and then beating the Rovers defence for pace and rolling a shot home.