Celtic boss reveals what was 'unbelievable' and what needs to be 'better' after Wolves friendly draw

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers hailed the backing given to his team from the stands of the Aviva Stadium following their bright display that ended in a 1-1 draw with Wolves.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers applauds the players after the pre-season friendly match against Wolves.

Over 28,000 were attracted to the Dublin arena for the hastily-arranged friendly – the vast majority sporting Celtic colours – and were treated to an engaging contest. Following an electric opening spell when the Scottish champions carved out a host of chances and claimed a lead from a class conversion by Kyogo Furuhashi, it looked like they would hold out for the win, only to be denied by a debatable 85th-minute penalty converted by Matheus Cunha. It was awarded after Matt Doherty went to ground easily following the slightest contact with Joe Hart.

The equaliser could not spoil Rodgers satisfaction with an afternoon made by a turn-out he delighted in. “It was unbelievable,” said the 50-year-old. “There are very few clubs – in such a short period of time – could get that number of supporters in, so a big thank you to all the people that turned up. I know people have come from all over Ireland. It is great they came, they made a great atmosphere and we are really appreciative of that.”

Rodgers appreciated the endeavours of his squad on a day when he gave new signings Yang Hyun-jun and Kwon Hyeok-kyu 30 minute run-outs. They appeared as Rodgers ran a host of changes and Celtic’s drop-off in the closing stages led to him pinpointing what he will seek to develop in James Forrest’s testimonial against Athletic Bilbao on Tuesday ahead of the Premiership opener at home to Ross County next Saturday.

“We had some spells of fantastic football against a good side, good players, where you have to defend at times,” said Rodgers. “It was the perfect type of game we needed. Of course, the game gets a bit broken when you are making changes, and you lose that fluency and the rhythm in the game. In the second half and the last 25 minutes we gave the ball away too much, so we have to be better in that aspect.

“This week will be building again on the fitness and aspects of the positioning. The team obviously plays well, but there are certain phases of the game we can improve. I thought the build up in the early stages we were very good, but it is dealing with that under a bit more pressure and working on more positioning elements. On Tuesday we will play two 45-minute teams because players need to get some minutes into their legs.”