Ross County have been handed the daunting task of an away trip to champions Celtic as they kick off their Scottish Premiership campaign on Saturday – and they will travel to Glasgow with 13 summer additions.
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However, that positive start was offset when Griffiths was forced off with an apparent muscle strain 20 minutes in.
And Johansen admitted the Celtic players’ thoughts may have been drifting towards Wednesday’s crucial clash.
If Griffiths, who has played second fiddle to Nadir Ciftci in the Champions League so far, is fit it will enable his Norwegian manager to execute his intended game plan. “We will see if he is back Wednesday or Saturday”.
“But we have to show the consistency which we did do in the last three months of the season”. The mental maturity of their performance at home to FK Qarabag, a technically accomplished side, was rewarded with the first leg’s only goal eight minutes from time.
“It is going to be a nice day and hopefully we can do the same as last year when we beat Dundee United 6-1″, he said.
Lisbon Lion John Clark unfurled the championship flag and the attempt to claim a fifth successive title for the first time since Clark was a player in Jock Stein’s side 45 years ago was off and running after only three minutes.
Celtic didn’t reach the play-off qualifying round of the tournament last season through their on-field prowess – they had administrators at Legia Warsaw to thank for that.
“We have to better in the cup competitions as well, that is something we are keen to do”.
Wes Fletcher scored on his debut to give Motherwell a 1-0 win at Inverness while Hamilton were held to a 0-0 draw by 10-man Partick Thistle, who earned a point despite having Frederic Frans sent off on 26 minutes for picking up two bookings. Personal awards show that you had a good season but in the end it is what you do with the club that counts.
The Hoops could welcome back a host of players for the match in Azerbaijan.
Celtic manager Ronny Deila felt his side’s midweek European exploits had taken their toll.
Deila stated after watching his charges defeat the Staggies that it was just a slight knock and he was optimistic the prolific marksman will be in contention for what is a massive fixture. Nothing is pulled.
County came out after the interval, though, showing some enterprise and Gordon made good blocks from Curran and substitute Raffaele De Vita, who had replaced Stewart Murdoch.
“There are no problems with Nir Biton and he will be ready”.
“We are not 100 per cent sure yet about Charlie”.
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“He’s had a few chances and we’ve seen in training that his finishing is good”.
