Hibs vs Celtic Match Report 11/08/24

My on-the-whistle report

Why this game?

Two sides with very contrasting starts to the season face off on a Sunday lunchtime

The story of the game: 

After being swatted aside by St Mirren, you can imagine that the last thing David Gray wanted up next was Celtic and that his pre-match messages will have been along the lines of “play fast, play intense”.

Under three minutes into that plan, a deft lofted flop over the top from Kuhn set Kyogo free in space with Hibs caught playing far too high. While Kyogo didn’t manage to finish the job himself, Bursik could only palm his shot to the followers in - Forrest sending it back across for Kuhn to tap it in. All too easy.

With Celtic given the gift and invited to direct the game from a goal up, they duly obliged and set a pace of tedium - playing mainly in front of the Edinburgh side with Hibs only really offering threats from set plays. When Celtic did put the pace and the press on, they got joy - a Forrest press forcing a mistake that left Kyogo through on goal on an angle and his shot curled surprisingly wide. It was a brief reprieve as less than a minute later a pressured GK clearance ended up on Celtic’s right. Hibs would be sucked in to Kuhn and leave a great big pocket of space for Callum McGregor - one easy ball and the captain would rifle the ball into the opposite corner leaving Bursik with no chance.

A couple of minutes later, a low Johnston cross would be turned onto his own bar by O’Hora dangling a leg out and, less than a quarter of the game in and Hibs really should have been three down. Celtic had not needed to be anywhere near their best and a series of opportunities were ended not by defensive interventions but by heavy touches and slight miscalculations.

The second half saw Hibs not even come out of the blocks quickly and Celtic impose their dominance immediately with a succession of chances - McGregor hitting the post the highlight of them but Kuhn and Kyogo had multiple goes at it also. On the hour, Hibs finally started to play and get some passes together, able to threaten from crosses. It was a temporary respite as order soon restored itself. 

Celtic played in second gear from then on. Keiron Bowie came closest to punishing such relaxing with a bullet of a shot on an angle that glanced the bar but, in truth, Celtic barely even needed to hit second gear against a Hibs side that were perhaps one of the easiest tasks they’ll have this season.

Standout players:

Celtic didn’t have to be at, or near, top level so, for a player over whom doubt has been placed, this was a welcome reminder that Greg Taylor is a very good left back. While it doesn’t exactly need said that the likes of Matt O’Riley and others are a bit above Hibs, Kuhn has begun to approach that level also - his ball through to Kyogo that resulted in the opener was a delight and perfectly weighted and his danger was such that his presence allowed the space for McGregor’s goal. Once Celtic entered cruise control, he was more muted but one analyses games for the moments that count, not the holding patterns that follow.

Joe Bursik in the Hibs goal did what he could with minimum fuss - he had no chance on the goals and, while his palms found Forrest at the opener, it was a strong hand and pushed away into the area it should be. 

Analysis:

One of the key tenets of pressing is to act like wolves and hunt in packs. Hibs did but these wolves were toothless. Hibs gave up multiple chances by being overeager and getting consistently sucked into their man. McGregor’s goal was a direct result of Kuhn ending up with four men around him while carrying the ball - as a result, Celtic merely had to be where Hibs weren’t and there were plenty of places to go. It was as if players were keen to track their man but not aware enough of their colleagues to know when to pass responsibility for the marking on and drop back into shape.

As a result, it was pretty difficult to understand the logic of how Hibs set up. I can understand playing high in the first few minutes to attempt to get a foothold in the game and stop Celtic from getting into a rhythm (and getting caught out doing so) but I can’t understand a defensive set up that allowed simple 5 yard or lower passes take out multiple players because the pressing was too unstructured. Hibs looked, bluntly, patched together.

Signs for the season:

Hibs’ next games go Celtic (A), Dundee (H), Killie (A) to the end of August. On the evidence of today, it’s hard to see where they get a result out of those games but I imagine they will desperately need one by the end of it. Their season won’t be defined by games against Celtic but where you normally see Glasgow giant dominance just eventually wear sides down in the win, Hibs’ loss was entirely from their own mistakes and Celtic would not have had to have been much sharper than they were for a two goal win to have been significantly higher.

Celtic will be happy. With time in the window to go, they can get some players in and the key will be that they get sharp for the big double-header vs Rangers and Hearts in the first half of September. On this look, there’s a little bit of progress to go to hit that level, but nothing Brendan Rodgers would be concerned about.