Jonnyboy
17-01-2022, 10:57 PM
Prior to hearing the team line-ups, I was anticipating seeing at least a couple of our new signings as Celtic provided the opposition on the resumption of football after the winter break. As it was, only Bushiri made the starting eleven and Mueller the bench with the others missing for a variety of reasons. Shaun Maloney went with a 3-5-2 at the start but the formation changed a couple of times during the game as Hibs struggled, especially in the first half, with the pace and high press employed by the hosts.
With barely three minutes on the clock, Kevin Nisbet missed a glorious chance to give Hibs the lead. Fed by Chris Cadden, Kevin contrived to hit the post from very close range when scoring looked so much easier to do. Within a minute of that happening, Celtic took the lead when slack play by Campbell saw Abada steal the ball, then feed it to Rogic who picked up the unmarked Maeda who in turn struck a low shot past Macey. It was a sucker punch and a sign of things to come in terms of Hibs defending sloppily, especially the left side of the defence where Doig was being taught a lesson by the quick moving and thinking opponents.
Celtic were dominating the play and Hibs struggled to get out of their own half whilst the hosts fizzed passes right and left with our midfield players chasing shadows. On the quarter hour, Starfelt lost Hanlon in the box when a corner came in from their right but thankfully the headed attempt went wide of the target. Soon after that, Rogic took the ball down with his left knee and fired a right footed volley goalwards but the swerve on the ball took it wide. It was alarming watching Celtic carve us open at will and soon after the Rogic miss, Forrest struck a low shot that looked on target but was deflected wide by Bushiri.
It seemed only a matter of time before Celtic struck again and in fact, they did on twenty five minutes. Taylor picked out Abada in the box and when the recipient of the pass attempted to flick the ball past Doig it struck the Hibs man on the arm and Willie Collum had little option but to award a penalty. Matt Macey was raging for some reason but even without my green tinted specs on I thought it was as clear cut as they get. Up stepped Juranovic to send Macey the wrong way and put the hosts two goals ahead.
I’ll be honest and say that I’ve witnessed many a pumping by Celtic and I genuinely felt another was on the cards as we were offering nothing going forward and sometimes riding our luck at the back as numerous efforts were either deflected wide or saved by Macey. And then, at last, we broke forward and Cadden raced clear on the right, cutting the ball back to the waiting Nisbet who got a clean contact, but the effort was blocked and flew up into the air. As it came down, Campbell tried his luck but again the ball struck a leg and flew up into the air. This time, as it came down, Juranovic managed to con Collum into giving him a free kick because Campbell had not actually made any contact with the Celtic man.
From the resultant free kick, Celtic swept down the park and a pass from their right found Hatate who struck a sweet volley on target but found Macey equal to the task. Over the next five minutes or so, Rogic, Forrest and Hatate again all tried their luck, but a combination of good blocking and lucky deflections stopped the hosts killing the game off before half time. That whistle couldn’t come quick enough for me but before it did, Abada had two decent attempts on goal with one going wide and the other too high. Sandwiched in between those, Nisbet shot miles high and wide from around eighteen yards.
The second half started as the first had ended, with Celtic on the attack and that man Abada forcing a save out of Matt Macey. Moments later, Hatate was given the freedom of the eighteen yard box but fluffed his lines in shooting wide with only Macey to beat. Hibs were seeing a bit more of possession but doing little with it as Celtic pushed for a third with Abada missing an absolute sitter as he pounced on a knock down from Carter-Vickers but from one yard out he hit the ball wide and then crashed into the post. Soon after that, Jamie Murphy replaced Josh Campbell just prior to Jake Doyle-Hayes picking up a yellow card for pulling his man back.
It seemed to me as though Hibs were more in the game now and that may well have been because the manager had reorganised them at half time. Certainly, both Cadden and Doig were venturing further forward whist Doyle-Hayes made a couple of excellent cross field passes in an attempt the stretch the Celtic back line. A further attempt to change things up came when Stevenson and Scott replaced Doig and Nisbet. Two thought here; Doig had endured a torrid time of it and perhaps should have been subbed at half time whilst Scott went to play up front and Doidge was left on the bench.
With fifteen minutes to go, a whole raft of substitutions was made with Allan and Bradley replacing Newell and Wright for Hibs whilst Celtic also freshened things up with three changes of their own. A couple of minutes later, Bushiri was shown a yellow card for a hefty challenge of the ‘got there as soon as I could ref’ variety. When James Forrest failed to beat Lewis Stevenson, something that has happened often when the two face each other, the Celtic man was replaced by Jota who was returning from injury.
Celtic were very comfortable with their two goal lead but needed a good save from Joe Hart to stop a low cross from Murphy picking out Boyle at the back post. Almost immediately after that, Rogic waltzed forward and hit a low effort just wide of Macey’s right hand post and that was pretty much the end of any meaningful action.
Losing to Celtic at Parkhead is not unusual as is losing to a Celtic side that plays with pace and aggression. Despite that I felt there were a couple of positives to take from the game, the most obvious one being the performance of Rocky Bushiri. The guy hasn’t played in an age; was new to his team mates and they to him and yet I thought he put in a good shift, looking strong and composed and displaying a skill of reading the play. Needless to say, he’s my man of the match.
The players
Macey – Matt had no chance with the first goal and the second was a penalty. I thought he looked pretty solid throughout and pulled off a couple of decent saves.
Bushiri – As I’ve said, his performance was man of the match quality for me. He reads the game well, has a turn of pace and looks like he’s been here for months.
Hanlon – Not Paul’s best game tonight. Too often caught out by the quick movement of the Celtic front men.
Doig – I spent the first forty five minutes cringing at how poor Josh was defensively. He was caught out a number of times and you need only look back at the number of passes/crosses delivered into our box from that side.
Cadden – Kinda flitted in and out of things and spent most of the game defending rather than offering width on our right. Did, however, set up a fantastic chance for Hibs to take the lead but sadly it wasn’t taken.
Newell – Another who flitted in and out of the game, Joe worked hard enough but has this annoying habit of slowing the game down when we least need that to happen.
Doyle-Hayes – I’ve criticised Jake in the past for turning back as his first reaction when he received the ball but tonight, I was happy to see a few occasions when he moved Hibs forward with pinpoint cross field passes.
Campbell – I was struggling to see why Josh had been deployed on the left and felt it didn’t suit his game at all.
Wright – Oft criticised but I thought he was fine tonight. Worked hard and chased opponents down which a couple of his team mates singularly failed to do often enough.
Boyle – Peripheral for the most part but when your team mates don’t get far enough up the park to pass the ball to you that’s hardly surprising.
Nisbet – Missing that early sitter basically set the tone for him tonight.
Murphy – Tried his best to get us on the front foot with a couple of decent passes.
Stevenson – For me, the left hand side of our defence only looked strong after Lewis came on.
Scott – JR had commented on his weight, but he looked trim enough to me. Never a central striker though and I’m mystified as to why he was favoured over Doidge.
Allan – Nothing of note to report really.
Bradley – Nothing of note to report really.
Shaun Maloney – Surprised to hear that he told Hibs TV he was pleased with most of the game! I’m guessing he meant he’s had the chance to see how his charges cope with a game of that magnitude.
Referee – I’m away for a lie down because I’m going to say he had a decent game!
Footnote: I’m aware that I’ve been harsh on a few and of the whole performance but I think it’s fair because we were second best all over the park for almost the entire ninety minutes.
With barely three minutes on the clock, Kevin Nisbet missed a glorious chance to give Hibs the lead. Fed by Chris Cadden, Kevin contrived to hit the post from very close range when scoring looked so much easier to do. Within a minute of that happening, Celtic took the lead when slack play by Campbell saw Abada steal the ball, then feed it to Rogic who picked up the unmarked Maeda who in turn struck a low shot past Macey. It was a sucker punch and a sign of things to come in terms of Hibs defending sloppily, especially the left side of the defence where Doig was being taught a lesson by the quick moving and thinking opponents.
Celtic were dominating the play and Hibs struggled to get out of their own half whilst the hosts fizzed passes right and left with our midfield players chasing shadows. On the quarter hour, Starfelt lost Hanlon in the box when a corner came in from their right but thankfully the headed attempt went wide of the target. Soon after that, Rogic took the ball down with his left knee and fired a right footed volley goalwards but the swerve on the ball took it wide. It was alarming watching Celtic carve us open at will and soon after the Rogic miss, Forrest struck a low shot that looked on target but was deflected wide by Bushiri.
It seemed only a matter of time before Celtic struck again and in fact, they did on twenty five minutes. Taylor picked out Abada in the box and when the recipient of the pass attempted to flick the ball past Doig it struck the Hibs man on the arm and Willie Collum had little option but to award a penalty. Matt Macey was raging for some reason but even without my green tinted specs on I thought it was as clear cut as they get. Up stepped Juranovic to send Macey the wrong way and put the hosts two goals ahead.
I’ll be honest and say that I’ve witnessed many a pumping by Celtic and I genuinely felt another was on the cards as we were offering nothing going forward and sometimes riding our luck at the back as numerous efforts were either deflected wide or saved by Macey. And then, at last, we broke forward and Cadden raced clear on the right, cutting the ball back to the waiting Nisbet who got a clean contact, but the effort was blocked and flew up into the air. As it came down, Campbell tried his luck but again the ball struck a leg and flew up into the air. This time, as it came down, Juranovic managed to con Collum into giving him a free kick because Campbell had not actually made any contact with the Celtic man.
From the resultant free kick, Celtic swept down the park and a pass from their right found Hatate who struck a sweet volley on target but found Macey equal to the task. Over the next five minutes or so, Rogic, Forrest and Hatate again all tried their luck, but a combination of good blocking and lucky deflections stopped the hosts killing the game off before half time. That whistle couldn’t come quick enough for me but before it did, Abada had two decent attempts on goal with one going wide and the other too high. Sandwiched in between those, Nisbet shot miles high and wide from around eighteen yards.
The second half started as the first had ended, with Celtic on the attack and that man Abada forcing a save out of Matt Macey. Moments later, Hatate was given the freedom of the eighteen yard box but fluffed his lines in shooting wide with only Macey to beat. Hibs were seeing a bit more of possession but doing little with it as Celtic pushed for a third with Abada missing an absolute sitter as he pounced on a knock down from Carter-Vickers but from one yard out he hit the ball wide and then crashed into the post. Soon after that, Jamie Murphy replaced Josh Campbell just prior to Jake Doyle-Hayes picking up a yellow card for pulling his man back.
It seemed to me as though Hibs were more in the game now and that may well have been because the manager had reorganised them at half time. Certainly, both Cadden and Doig were venturing further forward whist Doyle-Hayes made a couple of excellent cross field passes in an attempt the stretch the Celtic back line. A further attempt to change things up came when Stevenson and Scott replaced Doig and Nisbet. Two thought here; Doig had endured a torrid time of it and perhaps should have been subbed at half time whilst Scott went to play up front and Doidge was left on the bench.
With fifteen minutes to go, a whole raft of substitutions was made with Allan and Bradley replacing Newell and Wright for Hibs whilst Celtic also freshened things up with three changes of their own. A couple of minutes later, Bushiri was shown a yellow card for a hefty challenge of the ‘got there as soon as I could ref’ variety. When James Forrest failed to beat Lewis Stevenson, something that has happened often when the two face each other, the Celtic man was replaced by Jota who was returning from injury.
Celtic were very comfortable with their two goal lead but needed a good save from Joe Hart to stop a low cross from Murphy picking out Boyle at the back post. Almost immediately after that, Rogic waltzed forward and hit a low effort just wide of Macey’s right hand post and that was pretty much the end of any meaningful action.
Losing to Celtic at Parkhead is not unusual as is losing to a Celtic side that plays with pace and aggression. Despite that I felt there were a couple of positives to take from the game, the most obvious one being the performance of Rocky Bushiri. The guy hasn’t played in an age; was new to his team mates and they to him and yet I thought he put in a good shift, looking strong and composed and displaying a skill of reading the play. Needless to say, he’s my man of the match.
The players
Macey – Matt had no chance with the first goal and the second was a penalty. I thought he looked pretty solid throughout and pulled off a couple of decent saves.
Bushiri – As I’ve said, his performance was man of the match quality for me. He reads the game well, has a turn of pace and looks like he’s been here for months.
Hanlon – Not Paul’s best game tonight. Too often caught out by the quick movement of the Celtic front men.
Doig – I spent the first forty five minutes cringing at how poor Josh was defensively. He was caught out a number of times and you need only look back at the number of passes/crosses delivered into our box from that side.
Cadden – Kinda flitted in and out of things and spent most of the game defending rather than offering width on our right. Did, however, set up a fantastic chance for Hibs to take the lead but sadly it wasn’t taken.
Newell – Another who flitted in and out of the game, Joe worked hard enough but has this annoying habit of slowing the game down when we least need that to happen.
Doyle-Hayes – I’ve criticised Jake in the past for turning back as his first reaction when he received the ball but tonight, I was happy to see a few occasions when he moved Hibs forward with pinpoint cross field passes.
Campbell – I was struggling to see why Josh had been deployed on the left and felt it didn’t suit his game at all.
Wright – Oft criticised but I thought he was fine tonight. Worked hard and chased opponents down which a couple of his team mates singularly failed to do often enough.
Boyle – Peripheral for the most part but when your team mates don’t get far enough up the park to pass the ball to you that’s hardly surprising.
Nisbet – Missing that early sitter basically set the tone for him tonight.
Murphy – Tried his best to get us on the front foot with a couple of decent passes.
Stevenson – For me, the left hand side of our defence only looked strong after Lewis came on.
Scott – JR had commented on his weight, but he looked trim enough to me. Never a central striker though and I’m mystified as to why he was favoured over Doidge.
Allan – Nothing of note to report really.
Bradley – Nothing of note to report really.
Shaun Maloney – Surprised to hear that he told Hibs TV he was pleased with most of the game! I’m guessing he meant he’s had the chance to see how his charges cope with a game of that magnitude.
Referee – I’m away for a lie down because I’m going to say he had a decent game!
Footnote: I’m aware that I’ve been harsh on a few and of the whole performance but I think it’s fair because we were second best all over the park for almost the entire ninety minutes.