This is how it feels (Celtic 15 10 22)

I’ll be honest, after seeing the Celtic starting eleven, I actually thought there was a chance to take something from this game. How wrong I was, as Hibs toiled through an error strewn game and paid the price by shipping six goals. I was enthused when I heard the Hibs starting eleven as it promised a 4-3-3 front foot approach but that soon went wrong as changes in both set up and personnel over the ninety minutes, counted for little as too many players were making individual errors and the hosts punished us big time.

Lee Johnson made two changes to his starting eleven with Stevenson replacing Cabraja and McKirdy replacing Youan. Essentially, McKirdy and Boyle flanked Kuharevich in the front three with Newell, Campbell and Kenneh in the middle with Cadden, Porteous, Hanlon and Stevenson as a back four.

Inside the first minute we had Hibs attacking but losing possession, allowing Celtic to sweep down the park and Haksabanovic swung in a cross that Giakoumakis headed at goal but thankfully straight at Marshall. The hosts dominated the ball, and their quick passing was causing problems when Mooy had an unsuccessful effort after Forrest had set him up. Celtic were finding loads of space down their left with Haksabanovic giving Cadden a torrid time of it and in the tenth minute, Haksabanovic bamboozled his marker before delivering a deep cross to the back post which Forrest met and fired past Marshall to give his side the lead. Hibs were ball watching and Stevenson was guilty of losing Forrest allowing the winger to score.

At the other end, Porteous got his head to a cross but couldn’t get enough power on the ball to beat Hart. Soon after, Celtic doubled their lead as they broke down their left where a quick interchange of passes set Bernabei free. Boyle had tracked him but couldn’t cut out the cross which was met by Giakoumakis who thumped the ball past a helpless Marshall. It was all Celtic in an attacking sense and Forrest tested Marshall with a left footed effort before the hosts struck again. The Hibs defence was struggling to clear a cross, and the ball landed at the feet of Forrest who struck a shot which Marshall looked to have saved but the keeper mishandled, and the ball crossed the goal line before he could stop it. Twenty five minutes in and Hibs were three goals down and effectively out of the game.

At this point, Lee Johnson changed the formation to three at the back, pushing Stevenson further forward and bringing Boyle back to a wide midfield position. I have to say that worked to an extent because it cut down the amount of possession the hosts were enjoying but there was no uplift in terms of us threatening their goal. In fact, the only goalmouth action before the break was when Giakoumakis headed over the bar and Haksabanovic saw his shot blocked on the six yard line.

At half time, Cabraja, Youan, Bushiri and Magennis replaced Stevenson, Cadden, McKirdy and Kuharevich as Lee Johnson tried to find a way to get back into the game. One encouraging piece of news was that Maeda had replaced Haksabanovic who had tormented Hibs for the entirety of the first half. The fresh legs and no doubt a rollocking from the Manager saw Hibs become more competitive and the first effort on goal in the second half came from Joe Newell but he made a real hash of it and screwed the ball well wide of the post. Soon after, Giakoumakis saw an effort blocked and then O’Riley was booked for a rash challenge on Magennis.

Ten minutes into the half, Hibs scored through Youan after a good passing move allowed Boyle to find Youan in the box and the striker hit a fine first time effort past Hart at his near post. For a brief moment I had hope but those feeling were soon extinguished when a fresh air slice from Kenneh presented the ball to Maeda who quickly picked out the unmarked Forrest. The Celtic man’s shot was along the ground and Marshall may well have had it covered but the ball struck the diving challenge of Hanlon and looped over the prone goalkeeper.

Just past the hour mark and in the space of sixty seconds, Porteous, Boyle and Magennis all had efforts but only the last of those troubled Joe Hart who saved quite comfortably. A couple of minutes later, a corner from Joe Newell found the head of Bushiri but the big defender sent his effort over the bar and then Boyle curled a lovely effort just wide of Hart’s left hand post with the keeper rooted to the spot. It’s hard to tell whether Celtic had now eased off a bit, allowing Hibs a bit more of the ball but Postecoglu decided to bring in some fresh legs as Abada and Furuhashi were introduced and Celtic kicked on again.

Abada soon had a shot which was deflected before he found himself in acres of space wide on the right. The Hibs defenders all rushed to protect the six yard box, allowing Abada to cut the ball back to the waiting Giakoumakis who rifled home a fifth for Celtic. Fifteen minutes from the end with Hibs looking more and more ragged, Furuhashi fired in a cracking effort that came back off the post before Hibs tried again to freshen things up by replacing Kenneh with the returning Demetri Mitchell but the writing had long been on the wall and the hosts added another goal before the end when Maeda, who looked close to being offside, was completely unmarked at the back post as he prodded the ball past a stranded Marshall.

I’m not going to lie by saying that I was mightily relieved to hear the full time whistle as this was an abysmal ninety minutes from Hibs with their efforts reflected in the final scoreline. Over the decades I’ve watched Hibs play Celtic it’s been a long time since we were played off the park by them and the scary thing is that this was not a full strength Celtic.

The players

Marshall – He’ll have nightmares about that third goal but it’s hard to criticise him, given his form before today. The other five goals were gifted by his team mates and he’d no chance of saving any of them.

Cadden – Absolutely ripped apart by Haksabanovic but in the Hibs man’s defence, he got little by way of covering support from Boyle and Kenneh.

Porteous – Missing in action on too many occasions.

Hanlon – See Porteous.

Stevenson – Badly at fault for the opening goal.

Kenneh – Struggled against O’Riley and Hatate as well as being culpable for the fourth goal.

Boyle – Didn’t offer Cadden enough support and was missing for portions of the game.

Campbell – Gave his all in the various positions he was asked to occupy during the game.

Newell – Another who was missing in action.

McKirdy – I reckon I could count on one hand the number of touches he had in 45 minutes.

Kuharevich – Battled well enough but Carter-Vickers had his measure.

Youan – I enjoyed his goal which was well taken.

Cabraja – Caught upfield far too often.

Rocky – Some good headers but toiled on the ground.

Magennis – A few nice touches but the only real positive was him getting 45 minutes in his legs.

Mitchell – Certainly offered more than McKirdy had.

Lee Johnson – I’ve read that he was embarrassed and in that regard he’s not alone. It seems the players failed to execute the plan they’d worked on, and I wager they’ll have some tough training sessions this week.

Referee – Steven McLean – Nothing contentious for him to make a pigs ear of.