The pitch looked slick but those on top of it looked every bit as adept.

Brendan Rodgers was quick to laud his £1.5m new hybrid surface that has been laid over the course of the last 12 months but as impressive as the zip and pace of the grass was the hunger and appetite displayed by those who took to the field for the friendly against Standard Liege.

The 4-1 win was delivered by a combination of two teams – the strong starting XI for the opening half and a mixture of fringe and youth players for the second – but there was an energy and desire evident throughout the 90 minutes that belied any notion that it was a simple exercise in going through the paces.

To start with, the combination of Odsonne Edouard and Moussa Dembele looks intriguing. Both were high profile contributors on Saturday; Edouard netted a delicious strike from the far side of the penalty box that landed in the postage stamp top corner of the net while his fellow countryman seemed to be everywhere.

Dembele netted the second of the afternoon but he was also back in his own box to volley an effort off the line while he cracked the crossbar with another effort as the game progressed. Last season the striker was hindered after coming back from a hamstring injury to pick up another in the opening weeks of the campaign but this time around he looks menacing and in the mood.

If it transpires that Celtic fend off any interest in the striker in the final weeks of the transfer window then it will be interesting to chart what looks like a potentially intriguing strike partnership developing.

“He’s a class act,” said Rodgers about Edouard. “He links a lot of that together. He can control the ball, turn the ball and slide people in. His goal was a fantastic finish. It just pops up as he goes to finish, but he just guides it into the corner.

“He’s a big talent. That collective unit in the first half looked very, very strong. Speed of movement, crispness of the pass, hungry for the ball. You see the fitness and cohesion with them.”

And while much will be expected from Dembele and Edouard, Rodgers has insisted that he expects a threat in front of goal from more than just his strikers.

“We play with 11 so I’m not worried about what the front two do,” he said. “It’s about the whole team. Callum McGregor and the other attacking players need to contribute. It’s about the cohesion of our team.

“Our top goalscorer last year [Scott Sinclair] didn’t play towards the end of the season. We want goals, we want to improve on our goals record from last year, that’s for sure, but it doesn’t really matter who gets them.

“We want to be really efficient, be really ruthless this season and I can see really good signs of all of that hunger to be up there.”

It would be naïve to read too much into a pre-season game but Rodgers believes the difference to where Celtic were when he first came into the club and where they are now is obvious.

“I was very pleased with both halves,” said Rodgers after the game. “We were playing against a good side, who just missed out on the Belgian league last year and won their domestic trophy, the Belgian Cup. We knew it was going to be a good standard and they have good speed in their team.

“I thought our fluency, and the speed and crispness of our game, was outstanding. In the first half, our shape of the team caused lots of problems for them and then obviously the quality of our goals was exceptional really.

“You come in with a good solid base at half-time and you put out a younger team with some experience around it. and again we were good. The defensive organisation in both halves was excellent and the football was exciting.

“It is still very early stages of pre season but if I think back from when I came in to where we are now: the pitch, the pressing, the speed of it all and the quality and it makes it exciting but we still have a way to go.”

Celtic’s immediate test is getting through the game against Alashkert on Wednesday night without any drama. The Hoops boss could call on one or two fringe players although it is likely that he will start with his strongest XI.

They all began the game on Saturday against Standard Liege, with the exception of Gordon who has a wrist injury. Lewis Morgan has a minor knee injury which kept him out of the game on Saturday although he is expected to resume training again this week. Dedryck Boyata, fresh from his third-place finish at the World Cup in Russia, will be given a fortnight off to take a break before he returns to Lennoxtown although Tom Rogic and Cristiano Gamboa have already been back at it following their experiences in Russia.