This is how it feels (Celtic 27 10 21)

[Jonnyboy]

Mixed emotions tonight. A dreadful first half display in which we conceded three going on six and a second half where we played as we should have from the start of the game. To be fair, Celtic were electric in that first forty five and had our guys chasing shadows, but the fact remains that our tactics appeared to be to invite them on to us and so conceding as we did was no real surprise. Whatever Jack Ross said at half time should have been said at the start of the game as we finally turned up and produced a better quality of football than we have done recently. Had Murphy’s effort beaten Hart in the second half it would have made it 3-2 and perhaps Celtic may have panicked – or perhaps that’s just wishful thinking on my part.

Changes were made to our starting eleven with Porteous returning at the back and Gogic drafted in to central midfield with Scott Allan not even on the bench. It became obvious from the outset that Gogic was man marking Rogic whilst Newell tried to keep tabs on McGregor. Both Hibs players failed in their mission, particularly Gogic who was roasted on numerous occasions by Rogic with the Celtic man having a field day in providing openings for his three front men. Those three had a ball running our defence ragged, especially in the wider area with Jota and Johnston giving Doig and McGinn a torrid time of it.

A stupid foul by Gogic allowed Celtic a free kick inside ten minutes and as the ball was delivered by Turnbull to the back post, Ralston rushed in unchallenged to send a header beyond Macey. It looked to me as though McGinn had been left with two men to mark and chose the wrong one to concentrate on. Just sixty seconds later it could and should have been 1-1 when Murphy picked out Newell on the six yard line, but Joe took a touch allowing Hart to block when a first time effort would probably have beaten the Celtic keeper.

The visitors were soon back at it again and passing through our midfield at will and so it was no surprise when Carter-Vickers put his side 2-0 up in the 14th minute. The goal came from a corner and the Hibs defence stood like statues as the Celtic man swept the ball home from a central position. Soon after, Nisbet had an effort blocked but, in reality, all of the action was being played out in the Hibs half. Close to the half hour, Rogic thundered in a shot that Macey did well to divert over the bar, but it wasn’t too long after that that Celtic scored again. Hibs made a hash of trying to clear in the left back area, allowing Jota to casually roll the ball into the path of an unmarked Furuhashi who netted from close range. Furuhashi was prominent again a few minutes later but his effort from eighteen yards was well saved by Macey.

Hibs seemed to wake from their stupor for a few minutes, winning a corner which was delivered by Newell. Porteous and Boyle were close together in competing for the ball and the diminutive Boyle got the last touch to head past Hart and make it 3-1. Right on half time, Rogic went down injured in the Hibs box and was replaced by Nir Bitton. I remember thinking Gogic would be a relieved man but ironically, Gogic was subbed off at half time and replaced by Josh Campbell.

At the half time break I sat thinking that Hibs had done exactly the opposite of what we’d all hoped for. Instead of going at Celtic from the off we were passive throughout, allowed Celtic the freedom to play and in doing so, paid dearly for it. As I said earlier, Celtic were superb at times but our set up and tactics gave them license to be so.

Whatever Jack Ross said at half time should have been said to them at the start of the game because Hibs came out looking hungrier, more confident and showing the fighting spirit missing in the first half. Within a couple of minutes, Campbell sent a header wide as he stooped to make contact with a McGinn cross before Celtic swarmed forward again and in clearing his lines, Porteous robbed McGregor on the edge of the box. It looked a strong but fair challenge, but referee Don Robertson thought otherwise and booked Ryan.

Hibs were playing much better and the home crowd was behind them but Celtic still looked dangerous, especially on the break. A Starfelt header was easily saved by Macey before Porteous steered a header over the bar at the other end. Soon after, Boyle was racing through when McGregor unceremoniously dumped him on his backside, earning a deserved yellow card in the process.

With fifteen minutes left, a lovely pass from Doyle-Hayes released Murphy deep in the Celtic box but Jamie’s strong drive was saved by Hart. Moments later, Nisbet was hooked and replaced by Jamie Gullan whose movement would cause Celtic a degree of concern. At the same time, Murphy was replaced by Drey Wright, and the former St. Johnstone man was involved right away in sending Doig free down the left but not for the first time the young Hibs number 3 was wasteful with his cross.

Porteous and Newell had efforts blocked within a minute of each other before Jota fired wildly over the bar from a good position. With the fourth official holding up the board to indicate a minimum of four minutes to play I thought it interesting that Celtic spent that four minutes winding down the clock.

The booing at the end was, I think, largely out of disappointment with the first half in particular as by and large the home support had been right behind Hibs during the second.

The players

Macey – Had no chance with any of the goals and oddly had very few other efforts that bothered him.

McGinn – I thought Mikey Johnston gave him a torrid time in the first half especially, but he stuck to his task and improved in the second.

Porteous – Voted man of the match by the sponsors I felt they were being very generous as we’d conceded three goals through sloppy defending with the second of those in the area Ryan should have been standing.

Hanlon – Up against three strikers with very quick feet, Paul floundered a bit and was far from his best tonight.

Doig – Josh works his socks off and I felt for him in that first half when Murphy left him to deal with Jota and Ralston on his own. In an attacking sense, his crosses were largely poor in quality.

Boyle – Martin flitted in and out of the game and despite scoring our goal this was not one of his better performances.

Doyle-Hayes – Run ragged in the first half he was much improved in the second and I’m both delighted and relieved to report that he played a good number of forward passes in the second forty five.

Gogic – Taught some expensive lessons by Rogic tonight.

Newell – Joe covered a lot of territory but was let down by his decision making in when to retain and when to pass on the ball.

Murphy - Jamie tried hard enough but was guilty at times of leaving McGinn to mark two men at the back.

Nisbet – I feel sorry for him as he’s left on his own up front so has an excuse for not having shots on goal. What I cannot excuse however is his seeming unwillingness to put in a shift in terms of physical effort.

Campbell – I was very impressed with Josh tonight. He looked calm and composed and not overawed by the occasion. For those reasons and the fact that he caught the eye more than anyone else, he gets my man of the match award.

Wright – The forgotten man did well enough both offensively and defensively and I felt sorry for him when one attempted pass went astray, causing s few groans round about me.

Gullan – Jamie’s movement was excellent and it’s a pity some of his team mates didn’t spot that. One person who did spot that was Nir Bitton who dropped deeper to offer his back four support.

Jack Ross – I sense pressure building from a disgruntled support. Take this second half display and adopt it for the whole game in Dingwall, Jack.

The referee – Don Robertson was very quick to book Porteous but not so quick to book McGregor who had committed a hatful of fouls before Robertson finally took action.

[Greenbeard]

Spot on JB. Agree re Porto not deserving MoM. Not when at fault for the first two goals. Totally misjudges the ball in the air for the first and is caught napping when Carter-Vickers steals a yard on him for the second.
I was just happy it wasn't six at H-T. Could easily have been.
The 2nd half performance overall was promising but promising is f all use when you go 3-0 down in 30 and we continue to leak goals to simple crosses.

[number9dream]

What on earth has happened to our defence?
Celtic were impressive in the first half but those goals were all so soft.
Ross & Potter were defenders, albeit not very good ones, surely they should have some ideas on how to deal with set-pieces and crosses.
JDH can consider himself very lucky to get a run out in the second half. He was an absolute passenger before the interval. At least you noticed Gogic because Rogic was showing him up so often...
Hats off to Campbell, who definitely brought something to the table, even if it was just a bit of dig and determination, which should be a given in every bloody game.
Huge game on Saturday. A clean sheet would be most welcome but we need everyone focused and pulling together for 90 minutes for that to happen.

[Cod Boy]

Murphy should have passed to Boyle who had a tap in.

[NAE NOOKIE]

Our first half 'performance' was gutless, lethargic and pathetic ... nothing short of an embarrassment in fact.

The second half was much better, though how could it have been worse is anybodies guess. How it took Jack Ross until half time to tell the players to press Celtic at the back with far more intensity is baffling, once we started doing it they had far more bother playing out and they were forced to go long far more than in the first half, what that did for Hibs as an attacking force was there for all to see as we won the ball back and got up the pitch far more often.

That's 4 defeats in a row, ok 2 were against the Uglies, but the other two were a shambles against Dundee Utd and another one against an Aberdeen team who up until then couldn't buy a win. Lose at Ross County and it will be time to ask questions of Jack Ross .... if his team are capable of showing the spirit they did in the second half tonight, where the hell is it the rest of the time?

[Tambo]

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Our first half 'performance' was gutless, lethargic and pathetic ... nothing short of an embarrassment in fact.

The second half was much better, though how could it have been worse is anybodies guess. How it took Jack Ross until half time to tell the players to press Celtic at the back with far more intensity is baffling, once we started doing it they had far more bother playing out and they were forced to go long far more than in the first half, what that did for Hibs as an attacking force was there for all to see as we won the ball back and got up the pitch far more often.

That's 4 defeats in a row, ok 2 were against the Uglies, but the other two were a shambles against Dundee Utd and another one against an Aberdeen team who up until then couldn't buy a win. Lose at Ross County and it will be time to ask questions of Jack Ross .... if his team are capable of showing the spirit they did in the second half tonight, where the hell is it the rest of the time?

That is my concern how it took that first half display to actually play some good football.

I have seen on occasions we can pass the ball around nice and go forward i just don't understand why we don't see it more often and usually start so slow and not bothered.

[JimBHibees]

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That is my concern how it took that first half display to actually play some good football.

I have seen on occasions we can pass the ball around nice and go forward i just don't understand why we don't see it more often and usually start so slow and not bothered.

Agree our last three home games every first half has been awful no energy no one taking the initiative lack of passion and fight.

[JimboHibs]

Its a regular occurance of Paul Hanlon not one of his better games,Paul was poor to then Paul was a rock for us back to his usual best ? Whats his best if there's a consistent trend of him not having one of his better games.You were saying the same thing about Paul Hanlon in 2018 season,you can't be saying he was a rock as per usual when the previous 3 games were not one of his better games.Its all there in your own assumptions,we've still got players playing for us who were average in 2018.Stop skirting around the issue and call them out for what they are bang average,looking back through the threads there isn't one player who you describe who consistently is performing week after week.To many players are comfortable living on a reputation that was never that great in the first place or lets just say some are so over-hyped on the back of 1 half decent performance out of every 4/5 games.

[Crunchie]

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Its a regular occurance of Paul Hanlon not one of his better games,Paul was poor to then Paul was a rock for us back to his usual best ? Whats his best if there's a consistent trend of him not having one of his better games.You were saying the same thing about Paul Hanlon in 2018 season,you can't be saying he was a rock as per usual when the previous 3 games were not one of his better games.Its all there in your own assumptions,we've still got players playing for us who were average in 2018.Stop skirting around the issue and call them out for what they are bang average,looking back through the threads there isn't one player who you describe who consistently is performing week after week.To many players are comfortable living on a reputation that was never that great in the first place or lets just say some are so over-hyped on the back of 1 half decent performance out of every 4/5 games.

He's at the heart of these gutless performances and gives us nothing as a captain, his motivational skills are non existent. Why Ross is being singles out is beyond me when all we need is our so called better players to start manning up and cutting out the basic errors.

[BILLYHIBS]

Thanks for posting Jonnyboy

I tried to warn that we could not afford another passive display on another thread

We need about six quality additions in January

If JR didn’t feel under pressure before he must now realise that after four defeats on the bounce any credit he had in the bank with the Supporters is now rapidly diminishing

Still trying to work out where the 17500 attendance came from they must be counting ST’s sold surely ?

I know don’t call me Shirley

Good report

Well done

[easty]

Macey absolutely should’ve saved the second. We have to defend it better, of course, Porteous was piss poor, but after that you expect any keeper to keep that out.

[Hiber-nation]

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He's at the heart of these gutless performances and gives us nothing as a captain, his motivational skills are non existent. Why Ross is being singles out is beyond me when all we need is our so called better players to start manning up and cutting out the basic errors.

Ross was happy enough to go into the season with Hanlon as captain when it was clear he is nowhere near the player of 3 or 4 years ago and does not lead by example any more.

[Blaster]

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Macey absolutely should’ve saved the second. We have to defend it better, of course, Porteous was piss poor, but after that you expect any keeper to keep that out.

Agree. Thought Macey was slow getting down to it at the game and having seen the goal again on TV he should have got to it.

[The Harp Awakes]

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He's at the heart of these gutless performances and gives us nothing as a captain, his motivational skills are non existent. Why Ross is being singles out is beyond me when all we need is our so called better players to start manning up and cutting out the basic errors.

Bar a few early decent performances, Hibs have been mediocre to poor so far this season. The recruitment has been a shambles and the imbalance in the squad is obvious.

I'm not one of the supporters who has been calling for Ross to go as his over all win record compares well against other Hibs' managers. However, during his tenure the football has not been great to watch, his team failed to turn up in several big Cup games last season and he appears to send his team out like startled rabbits more often than not against Rangers/Celtic.

He's the man at the helm, and he has to take responsibility for the way he sets his team up, their half arsed attitude and poor results. Just as he took the plaudits in finishing 3rd last season.

[Brightside]

Hanlon was far from the issue last night. He made 20+ interceptions. I realise some think he should be somehow controlling all the players around him. But that’s not how football works. He can’t stop players making individual basic errors.

[blackpoolhibs]

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Hanlon was far from the issue last night. He made 20+ interceptions. I realise some think he should be somehow controlling all the players around him. But that’s not how football works. He can’t stop players making individual basic errors.

I'd never blame any of the defence whatever permutation we have playing, when they have that midfield in front of them.

[Allant1981]

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Hanlon was far from the issue last night. He made 20+ interceptions. I realise some think he should be somehow controlling all the players around him. But that’s not how football works. He can’t stop players making individual basic errors.

He can try organise the defence that he is part of though, thats what being a leader is about, he is the most experienced defender we have at the club, hanlon has been poor the last wee while but not the only one

[Perfect Hatrick]

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Hanlon was far from the issue last night. He made 20+ interceptions. I realise some think he should be somehow controlling all the players around him. But that’s not how football works. He can’t stop players making individual basic errors.

If Paul Hanlon made 20+ interceptions in one game then he should be getting a move to the EPL. That’s about 10x what the players with the highest interception stats average.

[Roxyhibee]

Great report as usual. Thanks for posting these, even (especially) through the bad times. And my god, Hibs are a hard watch just now.

It’s a chore going along to ER just now and I have to say I was generally bored with our style of play last season, despite getting third place. If we don’t pick up our performances next few games, we are in serious trouble.

[easty]

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Hanlon was far from the issue last night. He made 20+ interceptions. I realise some think he should be somehow controlling all the players around him. But that’s not how football works. He can’t stop players making individual basic errors.

Porteous doesn’t defend the set piece for both the opening goals…yet it’s Hanlon who’s getting the flak for not “organising the defence”.

[Allant1981]

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Porteous doesn’t defend the set piece for both the opening goals…yet it’s Hanlon who’s getting the flak for not “organising the defence”.

Im guessing the reply was aimed at my post as i mentioned organising the defence, clearly porteous was at fault last night but in general should your captain and most experienced defender not take responsibility and organise them

[Brightside]

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If Paul Hanlon made 20+ interceptions in one game then he should be getting a move to the EPL. That’s about 10x what the players with the highest interception stats average.

Not it’s not. It’s pretty average when you are getting pumped by Celtic. He had at least 15 headers for starters.

[Brightside]

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Im guessing the reply was aimed at my post as i mentioned organising the defence, clearly porteous was at fault last night but in general should your captain and most experienced defender not take responsibility and organise them

The coaches should be doing it. We look lost at dead balls right now. Something has changed.

[Crunchie]

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Not it’s not. It’s pretty average when you are getting pumped by Celtic. He had at least 15 headers for starters.

Look at his part in the 3 goals, the 3rd especially when as usual he's nowhere and appealing for offside when he's the culprit.
When things are going well he gets all the plaudits for strolling through a game etc, when things are going badly he hides and that's unacceptable in any player let alone our captain.

[Perfect Hatrick]

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Not it’s not. It’s pretty average when you are getting pumped by Celtic. He had at least 15 headers for starters.

https://www.90min.com/in/posts/6028820-ranked-five-players-with-the-most-interceptions-per-game-in-the-premier-league-this-season

Yes, it is.

Winning a header isn’t an interception.

[Brightside]

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https://www.90min.com/in/posts/6028820-ranked-five-players-with-the-most-interceptions-per-game-in-the-premier-league-this-season

Yes, it is.

Winning a header isn’t an interception.

Christ. Winning a header stops an attack. It’s a defenders job. He did plenty of it last night. He didn’t hide. He didn’t shirk his responsibilities. Can we get better? Yes. But we don’t have better. Not even close. If Hanlon threw himself around the pitch like Porto there would be pitchforks at Easter rd.

[easty]

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Im guessing the reply was aimed at my post as i mentioned organising the defence, clearly porteous was at fault last night but in general should your captain and most experienced defender not take responsibility and organise them

If Hanlon didn’t tell Porteous to mark his man, then it’s his fault that Porteous didn’t mark his man?

[Fuzzywuzzy]

The communication between the players seems to be nonexistent. They don't really seem to play as a cohesive unit. It's the role of the captain to relay and organise. We were also giving the ball away far to cheaply last night and not just from slack passing. Losing the ball from cheap tackles.

[Allant1981]

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The coaches should be doing it. We look lost at dead balls right now. Something has changed.

Coaches cant do it on the park though

[Perfect Hatrick]

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Christ. Winning a header stops an attack. It’s a defenders job. He did plenty of it last night. He didn’t hide. He didn’t shirk his responsibilities. Can we get better? Yes. But we don’t have better. Not even close. If Hanlon threw himself around the pitch like Porto there would be pitchforks at Easter rd.

I don’t even have an issue with Hanlons performance on an individual basis.