Hibs were ****** brilliant today

[AFKA5814_Hibs]

I've been probably a bit too critical of the team of recent days. They have been brutal, Boxing Day the players, I thought, they were ****** awful, but today was one of those days when I was proud to be a Hibby, the players and the fans were ****** brilliant.

GGTTH. :agree:

[Wheat Hound]

****ing amen to that.....GGTTH

[EdinMike]

I'm actually a bit peeved, obviously enjoyed the game and the result. But is it the old case of "Only Turning up for the Big Games" ?!

If it is, then Thursdays a "Big Game" as well mind lads...:hibees

[Forza Fred]

Tin hat on with qualification - I only rose from my bed to watch the last 25 minutes or so - from just before Sparky was substituted, so thd superlatives used to describne our performance up to that point may well be warranted, and what I saw was an anomaly.

I thought at the time of Sparky beinbg pulled off that it was a poor substitution - effectively from that point on we were attack-less.

Wave after wave of Celtic attack followed, and never for one minute, despite my most fervent hopes, did I think we were not going to concede at least one goal because we were sitting so deep.

I would hate to see us employ the same tactics during the derby, as to be honest I thought we rode more than our fair share of luck at times, and Williams was outstanding.

On another day without heh luck, we could concede 3 or more goals under such pressure - apart from one Maybury 'run'at the defence,and another down teh left we seemed intent on kicking the ball anywhere, and I mean anywhere, to preserve our lead.

Such tactics may be fine for the last couple of minutes or so, but not for 20 odd minutes.

Nobody is happier than me with the result and it could be argued that our defence proved they can deal with sustained pressure and therefore I am wrong - but I don't hink I am, and we need to continue to take the game to the opposition when in the lead - I think deliberately sitting so deep in the derby could be suicidal.

[jodjam]

Tin hat on with qualification - I only rose from my bed to watch the last 25 minutes or so - from just before Sparky was substituted, so thd superlatives used to describne our performance up to that point may well be warranted, and what I saw was an anomaly.

I thought at the time of Sparky beinbg pulled off that it was a poor substitution - effectively from that point on we were attack-less.

Wave after wave of Celtic attack followed, and never for one minute, despite my most fervent hopes, did I think we were not going to concede at least one goal because we were sitting so deep.

I would hate to see us employ the same tactics during the derby, as to be honest I thought we rode more than our fair share of luck at times, and Williams was outstanding.

On another day without heh luck, we could concede 3 or more goals under such pressure - apart from one Maybury 'run'at the defence,and another down teh left we seemed intent on kicking the ball anywhere, and I mean anywhere, to preserve our lead.

Such tactics may be fine for the last couple of minutes or so, but not for 20 odd minutes.

Nobody is happier than me with the result and it could be argued that our defence proved they can deal with sustained pressure and therefore I am wrong - but I don't hink I am, and we need to continue to take the game to the opposition when in the lead - I think deliberately sitting so deep in the derby could be suicidal.

Decent points but i felt sparky had to come off. When playing the lone striker role in that sort of match the effort required must be phenomonal. He had ran himself, along with others, into the ground

[Jay]

Griffiths asked to come off about five mins before he did. he seemed to complain about his knee.

[bingo70]

I think forza makes a good point but I also agree with the op.

Imo we're still not a great team but we were ****ing brilliant today in that every single player played to the best of their ability and beat a team with far greater resources. If a neutral watched the game though with no appreciation of how bad we were last season then I think they'd say we were too defensive and possibly lucky to hang on.

We're not at the standard of our best team under McLeish or Mowbray yet so we were always going to find it difficuilt to stand toe to toe with them in the possession stakes so the best we were going to hope for imo was to defend well and try to nick a goal on the break and we did that marvelously so pat and the players deserve a huge amount of credit.

I think Thursday is first and foremost about not getting beat, now they've found this revolutionary idea of playing with two up front imo if we play with the same system as today that'll frustrate them as we'll win the midfield battle and imo we'll win.

[Pretty Boy]

As a team Celtic have resources we can only dream off and I felt throughout we had our tactics almost spot on.

Yes, the last 20 minutes or so were uncomfortable but for all Celtics possession and pressure I don't remember too many clear cut chances. Williams had a couple of brilliant saves and they missed an absolute sitter but apart from that it was a lot of huffing and puffing with no cutting edge. Had Doyle taken a couple of chances we could arguably have been out of sight.

We could have continued to try and attack Celtic but the effort the players had put in meant that we would have been running the risk of being picked off. I thought flooding the midfield and defence was clever as it started to frustrate Celtic and they resorted to high balls into the box that we dealt with relatively comfortably. Ideally we could have done with an outball to make it stick up top but we don't have that player at the moment so we relied on guys willing to put their body on the line and sheer guts and determination to see us through. That makes me hugely proud of the team.

Whilst everyone is entitled to their opinion I think we shouldnt be downplaying how good that performance was. Celtic played a similar way against Barcelona twice and were, correctly, praised for it. I'll criticise the players and manager when I think they deserve it but its nothing but praise from me today.

[Borderhibbie76]

While I take the point from forza, the last 20 were backs to the wall however, first half in particular we created all the clear cut chances and could easily have been 3 nil up! I think its easy to forget just how bad we were last year and to have taken 4 out of 6 points from the champions and a team in last 32 of champions league is a phenomenal effort and I was proud to be there yesterday!!

[Spike Mandela]

Decent points but i felt sparky had to come off. When playing the lone striker role in that sort of match the effort required must be phenomonal. He had ran himself, along with others, into the ground

Hope I am wrong but I suspect Celtic will make a bid to get Griffiths in this window and yesterday's performance may just have cemented the idea for Neil Lennon. Griffiths never stopped running and scored a great goal and £200k wouldn't even register with Celtic, they have nothing to lose. The next Stokes I fear.

[blackpoolhibs]

We have just beaten a team who beat the best team i have ever seen in my entire life, probably the best team thats walked on this planet?

I thought the manager set the team up 100% right, and Griffiths was always going to be coming of with 15-20 minutes to go. In fact he was knackered and had stopped shutting down the defenders before he was hooked.

Celtic are better than us in every position, but yesterdays tactics and with the players giving their all was superb, scoring that early goal helped us enormously.

It gave us something to hang onto, and boy did we do that well. We also could have score another couple but that did not happen. Celtic were always going to have more of the ball, they were always going to push us back, but we as a team played that well defensively we restricted them to very few real chances.

There were no negatives from yesterday, why anyone would feel the need to look for one is beyond me?

[Forza Fred]

There were no negatives from yesterday, why anyone would feel the need to look for one is beyond me?

One can offer a personal opinion, which may be right or wrong, without necessarily 'looking for negatives'

Calling it the way we see it'' I believe it is called.

On the other hand we can choose to ignore any possible warning signs, and not work on them.

My view, is that and I repeat, I would feel a lot more comfortable if instead of attempting to 'defend a lead' and sitting so far back, that we do not go into a defensive shell around our penalty box - I really don;t think past expereince suggests our defence is regularly capable of doing this succesfully.

While we did win yestrday, we didnt against Motherwell.

Again my view, is that hopefully against Hearts we will not defend so deeply - I really thought we rode our luck in the last 20 minutes at times, and we wont always do that- we cant always rely on teams missing from three ór four yards..'

Delihgted with the three points, just prefer us to defend higher up the park where any simple mistake may be capable of being corrected in time - if it happens around our penalty spot it may not be possible.

[heretoday]

Hibs were not "brilliant" yesterday. It was backs to the wall stuff as you well know.

Celtic were the controlling team throughout and it was only due to the fact that their strikers missed a couple of absolute sitters that we avoided our usual defeat from them.

Get real.

I only hope that the team didn't go out and get wrecked in celebration because Hearts will be fresh after having their game called off.

[VickMackie]

Tin hat on with qualification - I only rose from my bed to watch the last 25 minutes or so - from just before Sparky was substituted, so thd superlatives used to describne our performance up to that point may well be warranted, and what I saw was an anomaly.

I thought at the time of Sparky beinbg pulled off that it was a poor substitution - effectively from that point on we were attack-less.

Wave after wave of Celtic attack followed, and never for one minute, despite my most fervent hopes, did I think we were not going to concede at least one goal because we were sitting so deep.

I would hate to see us employ the same tactics during the derby, as to be honest I thought we rode more than our fair share of luck at times, and Williams was outstanding.

On another day without heh luck, we could concede 3 or more goals under such pressure - apart from one Maybury 'run'at the defence,and another down teh left we seemed intent on kicking the ball anywhere, and I mean anywhere, to preserve our lead.

Such tactics may be fine for the last couple of minutes or so, but not for 20 odd minutes.

Nobody is happier than me with the result and it could be argued that our defence proved they can deal with sustained pressure and therefore I am wrong - but I don't hink I am, and we need to continue to take the game to the opposition when in the lead - I think deliberately sitting so deep in the derby could be suicidal.

You could use the same words for Celtic VS Barca.

We won. Who cares.

[VickMackie]

Hope I am wrong but I suspect Celtic will make a bid to get Griffiths in this window and yesterday's performance may just have cemented the idea for Neil Lennon. Griffiths never stopped running and scored a great goal and £200k wouldn't even register with Celtic, they have nothing to lose. The next Stokes I fear.

I agree. Would be much better than that Miku or whatever he is called.

[lord bunberry]

One can offer a personal opinion, which may be right or wrong, without necessarily 'looking for negatives'

Calling it the way we see it'' I believe it is called.

On the other hand we can choose to ignore any possible warning signs, and not work on them.

My view, is that and I repeat, I would feel a lot more comfortable if instead of attempting to 'defend a lead' and sitting so far back, that we do not go into a defensive shell around our penalty box - I really don;t think past expereince suggests our defence is regularly capable of doing this succesfully.

While we did win yestrday, we didnt against Motherwell.

Again my view, is that hopefully against Hearts we will not defend so deeply - I really thought we rode our luck in the last 20 minutes at times, and we wont always do that- we cant always rely on teams missing from three ór four yards..'

Delihgted with the three points, just prefer us to defend higher up the park where any simple mistake may be capable of being corrected in time - if it happens around our penalty spot it may not be possible.


If you look at the whole game we had run ourselves into the ground and it was inevitable that we were going to tire and end up sitting deep we rode our luck a bit but i thought when we did get the ball up the other end doyle held it up well. I wouldn't think the game will pan out the same way against hearts as i would imagine we will have more of the play and have to do less runningwhen we don't have the ball

[Heisenberg]

Hibs were not "brilliant" yesterday. It was backs to the wall stuff as you well know.

Celtic were the controlling team throughout and it was only due to the fact that their strikers missed a couple of absolute sitters that we avoided our usual defeat from them.

Get real.

I only hope that the team didn't go out and get wrecked in celebration because Hearts will be fresh after having their game called off.

Don't remember any sitters tbh, only one I can think of that was a clear chance was the one that samaras hand balled down and another played blasted it over the bar. On the other hand Doyle missed two sitters in the first half and Deegan has a clear shot at goal inside the penalty area but he kicked the ground. We weren't without chances.

Celtc had the majority of the ball and a large number of long shots but we did really well to keep them out and stifle them. Give the team a bit of credit.

[#FromTheCapital]

Hibs were not "brilliant" yesterday. It was backs to the wall stuff as you well know.

Celtic were the controlling team throughout and it was only due to the fact that their strikers missed a couple of absolute sitters that we avoided our usual defeat from them.

Get real.

I only hope that the team didn't go out and get wrecked in celebration because Hearts will be fresh after having their game called off.

Disagree, I thought hibs were great yesterday with a few standout performances. Sure it was backs to the wall but what do you expect playing the Scottish champions especially after taking an early lead. We defended very well and our midfield were also very good. We were unlucky not to add to the tally. Was like watching a different team to the one who got beat off Ross county only a few days ago.

Although I agree with forza's post about the 5 in midfield I also thought this put us under more pressure just like it did against Motherwell.

[hibsbollah]

Hibs were not "brilliant" yesterday. It was backs to the wall stuff as you well know.

Celtic were the controlling team throughout and it was only due to the fact that their strikers missed a couple of absolute sitters that we avoided our usual defeat from them.

Get real.

I only hope that the team didn't go out and get wrecked in celebration because Hearts will be fresh after having their game called off.

Very harsh. Celtc have money to buy quality throughout their team we can only dream of. On that basis they are always going to have more possession and create chances but pressing the opposition is just as important (as teams like Barca have shown) and on that basis we were brilliant.

There was also some slick possession passing, 44% possession-56% is quite even, hardly 'backs to the wall'. We created a few good chances, six shots, Doyle missed three score able chances, Deegan miskicked with only Forster in front of him, with more composure we could have scored three or four.

I agree with you about not getting carried away before the derby.

[spike220]

Hope I am wrong but I suspect Celtic will make a bid to get Griffiths in this window and yesterday's performance may just have cemented the idea for Neil Lennon. Griffiths never stopped running and scored a great goal and £200k wouldn't even register with Celtic, they have nothing to lose. The next Stokes I fear.

Yes I have been saying this too. The only thing I see that would prevent this from happening is:

1. LG is difficult to manage
2. LG would not want to be eclipsed or a bit part player
3. Fenlon & Lennon are friends

[Mr White]

I thought every hibs player did their job well yesterday and its great to see such a positive thread title. What I was surprised at was how shaky celtics defence looked, not just for the goal but several times they looked like gifting us openings under minimal pressure.

[SMAXXA]

Hibs were not "brilliant" yesterday. It was backs to the wall stuff as you well know.

Celtic were the controlling team throughout and it was only due to the fact that their strikers missed a couple of absolute sitters that we avoided our usual defeat from them.

Get real.

I only hope that the team didn't go out and get wrecked in celebration because Hearts will be fresh after having their game called off.

Pish. Hibs were brilliant, not in the sense of playing amence football but in the way we defended and were so solid in our set up. I agree it was backs against the wall for a long period of the game and we sat really deep but again the fact we defended so good deserves praise and imo we were brilliant yesterday.

In context of brilliant of course.

Every one to a man from Hanlon, to Taiwo to Doyle, hats off.

[blackpoolhibs]

Tin hat on with qualification - I only rose from my bed to watch the last 25 minutes or so - from just before Sparky was substituted, so thd superlatives used to describne our performance up to that point may well be warranted, and what I saw was an anomaly.

I thought at the time of Sparky beinbg pulled off that it was a poor substitution - effectively from that point on we were attack-less.

By your own admission you only saw the last 25 minutes, we'd created some very good chances and should have converted at least one of them. Celtic are a good side, they will push teams better than us back.

We were set up well, and although we did sit further back than you would like, i felt quite comfortable and apart from a couple of times, we were solid. Sparky was shot, he'd ran himself ragged, i said to my mate he should be coming off now and that was five minutes before he did go off.


Wave after wave of Celtic attack followed, and never for one minute, despite my most fervent hopes, did I think we were not going to concede at least one goal because we were sitting so deep.

Well at the game it did not look that way imo

I would hate to see us employ the same tactics during the derby, as to be honest I thought we rode more than our fair share of luck at times, and Williams was outstanding.

On another day without heh luck, we could concede 3 or more goals under such pressure - apart from one Maybury 'run'at the defence,and another down teh left we seemed intent on kicking the ball anywhere, and I mean anywhere, to preserve our lead.

On another day we might lose 3 or 4 goals against Celtic, thats the case for all the teams in our league, but yesterday we didnt, and it was proved by the result the best way to go. Celtic wouldnt push up and attack Barcelona, we did what Celtic would do in Europe.

Such tactics may be fine for the last couple of minutes or so, but not for 20 odd minutes.

I dont think you realise just how much effort we had put in during the first 70 minutes, and when you see how bare our squad is and just who we could bring on, and who they could bring on, its frightening. Celtic pushed us back, they are a very good side, pushing forward and leaving gaps imo would have been a huge mistake.

Nobody is happier than me with the result and it could be argued that our defence proved they can deal with sustained pressure and therefore I am wrong - but I don't hink I am, and we need to continue to take the game to the opposition when in the lead - I think deliberately sitting so deep in the derby could be suicidal.

The TEAM proved that YESTERDAY they could deal with sustained pressure, each game is different and yesterday was great. We could do the very same thing and lose, it wouldnt make yesterdays tactics wrong.

[Stevie Reid]

So once again we are just lucky when we win, and a great performance against a team in the last 16 of the Champions League in which we defended brilliantly, kept a clean sheet, and could and should have scored more, is still not good enough for some on here.

Unbelievable.

[lyonhibs]

To be honest, only my deepest, darkest fears that I'd get battered if they had equalised prevented me from voicing what I felt with about 10/15 minutes to go, which was that we would hold on, and do so relatively comfortably. Every player defended like absolute trojans yesterday, and there was always going to be a period when Celtc had the majority of the ball. As mentioned they created about 2, 2 and a half decent chances in the last 20 minutes, but that's why we have a goalie after all.

I couldn't believe that was - almost - the same team that had looked so utterly clueless against Ross County.

[Malthibby]

To be honest, only my deepest, darkest fears that I'd get battered if they had equalised prevented me from voicing what I felt with about 10/15 minutes to go, which was that we would hold on, and do so relatively comfortably. Every player defended like absolute trojans yesterday, and there was always going to be a period when Celtc had the majority of the ball. As mentioned they created about 2, 2 and a half decent chances in the last 20 minutes, but that's why we have a goalie after all.

I couldn't believe that was - almost - the same team that had looked so utterly clueless against Ross County.

:agree: As others have said, it's the Hibs way, but if we can get some consistency I do believe that second place is there for the taking.
GG

[Gogs B]

Having been at the game, I started to think in exactly the same way as the comments expressed below. First half was a real surprise as we were snapping and snarling at Celtic, not letting them play, counter attacking to good effect. It was something akin to a real Hibs side. I couldn't believe it to be honest.But, as the second half unfolded we just sat back and let them come at us. Why? Why do we have to adopt to this mindset just cause its Celtic.?
Tin hat on with qualification - I only rose from my bed to watch the last 25 minutes or so - from just before Sparky was substituted, so thd superlatives used to describne our performance up to that point may well be warranted, and what I saw was an anomaly.

I thought at the time of Sparky beinbg pulled off that it was a poor substitution - effectively from that point on we were attack-less.

Wave after wave of Celtic attack followed, and never for one minute, despite my most fervent hopes, did I think we were not going to concede at least one goal because we were sitting so deep.

I would hate to see us employ the same tactics during the derby, as to be honest I thought we rode more than our fair share of luck at times, and Williams was outstanding.

On another day without heh luck, we could concede 3 or more goals under such pressure - apart from one Maybury 'run'at the defence,and another down teh left we seemed intent on kicking the ball anywhere, and I mean anywhere, to preserve our lead.

Such tactics may be fine for the last couple of minutes or so, but not for 20 odd minutes.

Nobody is happier than me with the result and it could be argued that our defence proved they can deal with sustained pressure and therefore I am wrong - but I don't hink I am, and we need to continue to take the game to the opposition when in the lead - I think deliberately sitting so deep in the derby could be suicidal.

[Hibbyradge]

Nobody is happier than me with the result

I am.

[down-the-slope]

I am.

Aye but not as happy as me :greengrin

[Sir David Gray]

Hibs were not "brilliant" yesterday. It was backs to the wall stuff as you well know.

Celtic were the controlling team throughout and it was only due to the fact that their strikers missed a couple of absolute sitters that we avoided our usual defeat from them.

Get real.

I only hope that the team didn't go out and get wrecked in celebration because Hearts will be fresh after having their game called off.

Unbelievably harsh.

We were playing against the best team in Scotland by an absolute mile, a team that beat the best team in the world by an absolute mile just a few weeks ago.

What exactly were you expecting? :confused:

Celtic have resources and players at their disposal that we can only dream of. They have players that will be on about three or four times the salary that our players are on.

When someone says that Hibs were brilliant or awesome, or whatever other adjective you would like to use about yesterday's performance, it doesn't have to suggest that it was like watching the 1970 Brazil team. Defending is just as much a part of the game as performing silky skills and attacking abilities.

It wasn't even a "backs to the wall" job that you decribe either but even if it was then we should be commended for being able to prevent a team that will be playing in the last 16 of the biggest club competition in world football from scoring. We had a few decent chances of our own to score and extend our lead so it's not as if we got the goal after 9 minutes and then spent 81 minutes camped out on the edge of our 18 yard box.

Celtic had a lot of the ball and dominated the last 15 minutes or so, and obviously hindsight is great, but I really didn't feel at any point that we were going to concede yesterday.

We need to give our guys some credit. They've taken more than enough stick over the past couple of years (most of it fully justified) so I think when we've just managed to beat the defending champions, who have beaten Barcelona and Spartak Moscow and will be playing Juventus in a few weeks for a place in the quarter finals of the Champions League then I really think they deserve a wee bit of praise.

[allezsauzee]

Ehhh I thought we did ok yesterday for a team that's in 'freefall'!

[ancient hibee]

Hibs were not "brilliant" yesterday. It was backs to the wall stuff as you well know.

Celtic were the controlling team throughout and it was only due to the fact that their strikers missed a couple of absolute sitters that we avoided our usual defeat from them.

Get real.

I only hope that the team didn't go out and get wrecked in celebration because Hearts will be fresh after having their game called off.


Celtic controlled the game so well that our goalie didn't make a save for well over an hour by which time of course they were a goal down and should have been two.According to the SPL stats in fact they did not have a huge amount of the ball compared to us.

[blackpoolhibs]

I am.


Aye but not as happy as me :greengrin

I dont believe you two are anywhere near as happy as me? :greengrin

[hibbybrian]

I dont believe you two are anywhere near as happy as me? :greengrin

everybody knows that you're a grumpy bassa compared to me :greengrin

[hibsbollah]

Unbelievably harsh.

We were playing against the best team in Scotland by an absolute mile, a team that beat the best team in the world by an absolute mile just a few weeks ago.

What exactly were you expecting? :confused:

Celtic have resources and players at their disposal that we can only dream of. They have players that will be on about three or four times the salary that our players are on.

When someone says that Hibs were brilliant or awesome, or whatever other adjective you would like to use about yesterday's performance, it doesn't have to suggest that it was like watching the 1970 Brazil team. Defending is just as much a part of the game as performing silky skills and attacking abilities.

It wasn't even a "backs to the wall" job that you decribe either but even if it was then we should be commended for being able to prevent a team that will be playing in the last 16 of the biggest club competition in world football from scoring. We had a few decent chances of our own to score and extend our lead so it's not as if we got the goal after 9 minutes and then spent 81 minutes camped out on the edge of our 18 yard box.

Celtic had a lot of the ball and dominated the last 15 minutes or so, and obviously hindsight is great, but I really didn't feel at any point that we were going to concede yesterday.

We need to give our guys some credit. They've taken more than enough stick over the past couple of years (most of it fully justified) so I think when we've just managed to beat the defending champions, who have beaten Barcelona and Spartak Moscow and will be playing Juventus in a few weeks for a place in the quarter finals of the Champions League then I really think they deserve a wee bit of praise.

I think Celtc have an income somewhere between 10 and 15 times our income, and their top tranche of players can earn 7 or 8 times what they could earn at Hibs. We need to look at yesterday within that context.

[basehibby]

To be honest, only my deepest, darkest fears that I'd get battered if they had equalised prevented me from voicing what I felt with about 10/15 minutes to go, which was that we would hold on, and do so relatively comfortably. Every player defended like absolute trojans yesterday, and there was always going to be a period when Celtc had the majority of the ball. As mentioned they created about 2, 2 and a half decent chances in the last 20 minutes, but that's why we have a goalie after all.

I couldn't believe that was - almost - the same team that had looked so utterly clueless against Ross County.

The way I see it, we basically did the same to Celtic as Ross County did to us - albeit with considerably more panache.

Vs Ross County, we played 442 vs their 451 and struggled to create clear cut chances - Ross County would have been happy with a draw but got lucky with just about their only effort on goal.

Vs Celtic, we played 451 vs their 343/442 - and Celtic struggled to create clear cut chances - Hibs utilised the numbers advantage excellently in midfield and created as many clear cut chances as Celtic - scoring from one of them.

In a nutshell, I felt as disillusioned as anybody in the wake of the defeat to Ross County, but, in reality it was a difficult game for us to win with a midfield lacking width and pace struggling to get through County's defensive line up. Sure, a team of Hibs' resources should expect to beat teams like County every time, but then, teams with Celtic's resources should also expect to beat Hibs every time and neither should they have any right to beat the likes of Barcelona - thankfully that's not the case and in football there are plenty of upsets.

Tactics aside though, the difference between the two games WAS that every Hibs player worked like trojans, showing a real urgency that I hope they will carry into next Thursday's match at the Pink Bus Shelter.

[basehibby]

Ehhh I thought we did ok yesterday for a team that's in 'freefall'!

:agree: One very pleasant consequence of yesterday's result is that it will have consigned the doom-mongers back to their dens for the time being at least!

For the record BTW, I agree with the OP - Hibs WERE Brilliant from PF and the backroom team who appeared to get the tactics and preparation spot on, to every Hibs player who took the pitch - who all appeared to know exactly what their roles were within that plan and carried them out to great effect.

Forza Fred in Oz - you should have got up earlier and watched the whole match mate - the last 20 minutes were hardly representative, with Celtic naturally trying everything they could think of to rescue a point and Hibs happy to protect their lead. In the preceding 70 mins Hibs created a number of opportunities to stretch their lead while restricting Celtic from anything approaching outright domination and looking relatively comfortable with it.

Would obviously love to see another performance worthy of being tagged brilliant on Thursday :thumbsup:

[Stevie Reid]

Celtic scored at the Nou Camp but couldn't score against us yesterday.

[DaveF]

Hibs were not "brilliant" yesterday. It was backs to the wall stuff as you well know.

Celtic were the controlling team throughout and it was only due to the fact that their strikers missed a couple of absolute sitters that we avoided our usual defeat from them.

Get real.

I only hope that the team didn't go out and get wrecked in celebration because Hearts will be fresh after having their game called off.

Step forward the most miserable ****** on hibs.net

Full marks to Fenlon for the setup and the players for chasing everything down and working their erchies off.

As for the OP. Glad you got home ya drunk :greengrin

[Baldy Foghorn]

First half we were brilliant, got right into them and never gave them any time on the ball at all....That showed by them having only a couple of half chances, we could easily have been 3 up by half-time. Second half they changed their formation, and at times I felt we sat too deeply, however, barring one or two chances, we defended brilliantly.....

So encouraging to see players throwing themselves on the line, blocking, chasing, harrowing, and working so hard as a unit, and for one another... So glad for PF, as he was beginning to get some unjustified criticism IMO....Some need to look at the bigger picture at times, especially our points gained this season in comparison to last season.....

Now bring on the Merricks......

[greenlex]

Step forward the most miserable ****** on hibs.net

Full marks to Fenlon for the setup and the players for chasing everything down and working their erchies off.

As for the OP. Glad you got home ya drunk :greengrin

hes nicked your crown Dave.

[Forza Fred]

:

Forza Fred in Oz - you should have got up earlier and watched the whole match mate - the last 20 minutes were hardly representative, with Celtic naturally trying everything they could think of to rescue a point and Hibs happy to protect their lead. In the preceding 70 mins Hibs created a number of opportunities to stretch their lead while restricting Celtic from anything approaching outright domination and looking relatively comfortable with it.

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You are right, and I did intend to, but life's competing priorities mean that it is not always possible to get up at silly o'çlock on a'Ssunday morning to watch the fitba.

My original post did make the qualification that I only saw teh coverage from just before sparky sent off.

Maybe we played like Barcelona prior to then, or teh fabled mighty magyars, but my thuoghts that we deliberately played too deep for the remaining 20 minutes or so, I stand by.

Yes, people put their bodies on the line, and we can get away with such defending every now and then, but if it seen as teh 'norm'to defend as deep as we did, then we won;t be having such debates in teh coming months, we'll be loamenting tossing away a lead.

I take on board all the poinst made by those who watched the whole game, but still ferevently hope that should we be a goal up against Hertz, we dont retreat into a defensive shell.

[Green Fish]

Please, please, please - thursday night go into gane with same fight and put those wh**res to bed. GG:flag:

[AFKA5814_Hibs]

Step forward the most miserable ****** on hibs.net

Full marks to Fenlon for the setup and the players for chasing everything down and working their erchies off.

As for the OP. Glad you got home ya drunk :greengrin

I don't remember being drunk. ;-)

[Speedy]

Hibs were not "brilliant" yesterday. It was backs to the wall stuff as you well know.

Celtic were the controlling team throughout and it was only due to the fact that their strikers missed a couple of absolute sitters that we avoided our usual defeat from them.

Get real.

I only hope that the team didn't go out and get wrecked in celebration because Hearts will be fresh after having their game called off.

If it wasn't for our players missing sitters we'd have won 3-0.

I was very impressed with almost all of the players yesterday.

[R'Albin]

Unbelievably harsh.

We were playing against the best team in Scotland by an absolute mile, a team that beat the best team in the world by an absolute mile just a few weeks ago.

What exactly were you expecting? :confused:

Celtic have resources and players at their disposal that we can only dream of. They have players that will be on about three or four times the salary that our players are on.

When someone says that Hibs were brilliant or awesome, or whatever other adjective you would like to use about yesterday's performance, it doesn't have to suggest that it was like watching the 1970 Brazil team. Defending is just as much a part of the game as performing silky skills and attacking abilities.

It wasn't even a "backs to the wall" job that you decribe either but even if it was then we should be commended for being able to prevent a team that will be playing in the last 16 of the biggest club competition in world football from scoring. We had a few decent chances of our own to score and extend our lead so it's not as if we got the goal after 9 minutes and then spent 81 minutes camped out on the edge of our 18 yard box.

Celtic had a lot of the ball and dominated the last 15 minutes or so, and obviously hindsight is great, but I really didn't feel at any point that we were going to concede yesterday.

We need to give our guys some credit. They've taken more than enough stick over the past couple of years (most of it fully justified) so I think when we've just managed to beat the defending champions, who have beaten Barcelona and Spartak Moscow and will be playing Juventus in a few weeks for a place in the quarter finals of the Champions League then I really think they deserve a wee bit of praise.


:top marks

[Lucius Apuleius]

everybody knows that you're a grumpy bassa compared to me :greengrin

Excuse me, I think you will find that I am the happiest clappiest person on this board.


hes nicked your crown Dave.

:agree::take that:LOL:

[JimBHibees]

We have just beaten a team who beat the best team i have ever seen in my entire life, probably the best team thats walked on this planet?

I thought the manager set the team up 100% right, and Griffiths was always going to be coming of with 15-20 minutes to go. In fact he was knackered and had stopped shutting down the defenders before he was hooked.

Celtic are better than us in every position, but yesterdays tactics and with the players giving their all was superb, scoring that early goal helped us enormously.

It gave us something to hang onto, and boy did we do that well. We also could have score another couple but that did not happen. Celtic were always going to have more of the ball, they were always going to push us back, but we as a team played that well defensively we restricted them to very few real chances.

There were no negatives from yesterday, why anyone would feel the need to look for one is beyond me?

Spot on, great post. An absolutely fantastic result.

[Jonnyboy]

If it wasn't for our players missing sitters we'd have won 3-0.

I was very impressed with almost all of the players yesterday.

I'm intrigued deano - "almost all" Who didn't measure up in your view?