IT was a day for experimentation on and off the pitch at Celtic Park. Brendan Rodgers will be hoping for quicker reward for his creative thinking than that experienced by the Celtic supporters for theirs, but both know it’s all about small steps.

The new manager took a bow ahead of the friendly with Wolfsburg – Rodgers’ first home game – just as Celtic were unveiling their new standing section against the German club. With space for 3000 people, Celtic fans have needed patience for a proposal that first surfaced in 2008 to come to fruition.

For years, standing went completely against the grain but Celtic finally embraced their supporters’ wishes in 2013 and have become the first British club to offer the rail-seating area which is a common part of the Bundesliga experience.

So, Wolfsburg were fairly apt visitors to the east end of Glasgow. As much for the role they could offer on the pitch, as off it. A team which reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League last season, narrowly losing to eventual winners Real Madrid after Dieter Hecking’s players had everyone on their feet with a 2-0 first leg success in Germany.

Rodgers will be hoping to turn around his own Champions League assignment with the same effect. That ignominious defeat to Lincoln Red Imps in Gibraltar last Tuesday in the second qualifying round, first-leg, offers the chance of atonement to Rodgers and his players on Wednesday in the return leg.

If the Scottish champions produce even a fraction of the vision and creativity they showed against Wolfsburg, they should ease through. The German side also eliminated Manchester United from the Champions League, so if they can defeat the side which saw off the Red Devils they should surely have too much for the Red Imps.

Sublime goals in each half from Callum McGregor and Ryan Christie, cancelled out the unfortunate own goal from Eoghan O’Connell, who could do nothing about Paul Seguin’s shot. Rodgers used a different XI for each half and was repaid with plenty of fine performances.

“We set out the two teams in either half, differently,” said Rodgers. “The players coped very well with it. There were real good moments in the first-half in terms of our pressing game and creating chances. We had seven real good chances in the first-half. We set up differently in the second-half and minimised Wolfsburg to the minimum chances. I thought it was good.”

Nir Bitton missed the Wolfsburg outing after picking up a hip injury in Gibraltar and is doubtful for the second leg. However, as Rodgers pointed out, Celtic have midfielders in abundance and the new manager may discover that Bitton is someone he can ultimately do without.

The Israel international has been linked with a £6m move to Spanish side Espanyol recently, and the reality is that he slows Celtic down as an attacking force. That was underlined in Gibraltar as Celtic chased an equaliser and Bitton frequently chose the wrong option, or the wrong direction.

In contrast, McGregor once again showed his finishing quality as vividly against Wolfsburg as he did against Ajax last season in the Europa League. So too, did Christie, who offers Celtic huge attacking potential if the new manager takes more of risk on him than Ronny Deila did.

The first-half midfield trio of McGregor, Stuart Armstrong and Patrick Roberts – with Scott Brown in the sitting role – created plenty of chances for front pair Leigh Griffiths and Moussa Dembele. In the second period, it was Christie and Nadir Ciftci in attack, while Tom Rogic, Scott Allan, James Forrest and the ever-impressive Liam Henderson produced swift interchange which opened up the German side. "Every player is under consideration for Wednesday,” said Rodgers. “If I see enough in training and in the game, irrespective of age, they will get a chance.”

Just as crucially, the same offer is also being made to the fans by Rodgers for Wednesday. There could be 50,000 against Lincoln Red Imps and if the new manager’s ‘honeymoon period’ was halted in Gibraltar, the olive branch was held out by the crowd against Wolfsburg.

Rodgers was especially pleased with the new standing section. “Celtic supporters have always been the 12th man,” he said. “It is a wonderful stadium and, when it is bouncing and rocking here, there are not many to touch it. It was interesting to see the standing area and the boys over there were non-stop. They were brilliant.

“The players respond to that. As supporters, I hope they can see we are looking to progress and evolve here as a team, but we need them and we will need them for every single game of the season. If we can get them right behind the team, it is going to be a tough place to get a result, for sure.”