Davie Hay: Celtic showed they have more than one string to their bow in professional Rosenborg performance

I always felt they would go through after seeing their performance in the first leg, and while you can’t take anything for granted away from home in European competition, they got through it comfortably.

Ok, it wasn’t always the prettiest on the eye, but they got the required result. It was a resolute performance and similar in many ways to the one they produced over there last summer.

I have heard and read a few mumbles and grumbles about the way that Celtic played, in particular with regard to the way they retained possession. Or didn’t, as it turned out. But it is never as easy to do that in these venues.

Far from looking on the performance negatively, I would say it is a positive for Celtic that they clearly have more than one string to their bow now. Their attacking prowess is clear to see, but it was good in a lot of ways to see them being stuffy and managing a game as effectively as they did on Wednesday night.

AEK Athens will be a step up from Rosenborg in my view, but they haven’t started their season yet, and Celtic will have the edge in terms of match sharpness and fitness.

But the Rosenborg tie has shown the blueprint, and Celtic must make sure that they again take a good lead with them when they travel away from home for the second leg.

They handled the threat of the Norwegians really well, but obviously the further they progress, the higher the quality of attacking threat they will face.

That’s why it was encouraging to see the whole team defending well the other night, and that bodes well for the rest of the qualifiers.

Defence is the area that has caused most concern for Celtic supporters over the summer, particularly at centre-back with such a young pairing in Jack Hendry and Kris Ajer.

But you have to say that those two did extremely well. The goalkeeper made a couple of decent saves too, but what was striking for me was the way that the collective unit performed together defensively.

Everyone was singing from the same hymn sheet and putting everything on the line for the cause, and it was great to see that real team ethic shining through, even if they weren’t playing as well as what they can do when on the ball.

I’ve been really impressed with how sharp the team have looked so far. They have come back in great nick, and having had the experiences of going through these qualifiers in the last few seasons under Brendan Rodgers, they seem to have adapted even quicker this season than they did in previous years.

I firmly believe that Celtic can negotiate their way into the group stages without worrying too much about any quick additions to the squad. With the players they have returning now, such as Dedryck Boyata, Mikael Lustig, Jozo Simunovic and Leigh Griffiths, it will really add depth before you even consider any potential signings.

There is a slight added complication in that league games will now become a factor in between qualifiers, but I think that Celtic have the depth to cope with that.

Ok, if they do make the groups and have to take that step up again, then you might see some quality added in one or two areas, but they have shown that they have the personnel that can cope with what is immediately ahead of them.

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