Hibernian (since 1875) v Celtc (since 1888)

It was a fine game yesterday, after all, with the sun shining brightly on Leith it was a fine day for it.

Post match opinions are likely to differ widely on who was what or what was deserved, for what it’s worth, here’s my humble opinion on the SPL clash of the undefeated.

Most supporters whether in the stadium or watching on telly would not have been disappointed with what was served up by either team. Neutrals (with the exception of any watching Yam, would no doubt have been thoroughly entertained.

The first half was a strange encounter. For the most part, Celtc not only retained good possession of the ball, they canped out in Hibs’ half for large parts of it. Hibs on the other hand found it difficult to retain the ball when they did get it. What was strange though was that for all that Hibs carved out the better and more numerous chances.

The 2-1 lead Hibs took into the break may have had many a Hibee wondering what we had done to deserve it, but on chances created, Hibs were well worth their slender half time lead.
The second half saw a much better display from Hibs in terms of possession and football, and contrived to turn the volume up on the home support who created the best atmosphere at Easter Road in recent games.

Despite losing the on form and dangerous looking Fletcher in the first half, and John Collins making some tactical alterations to personal and formation, Hibs looked more composed throughout the second period.

All three Hibs substitutes made a positive impact on the match, although despite large spells where Hibs kept good possession and passed the ball sweetly and swiftly, we found it very difficult to get into the final third of the pitch.

Celtc’s equaliser was possibly against the general run of play in the second half, but with the clock ticking away, Celtics desire to push on and claim a winner served only to leave room for Hibs attacking midfielders to get in behind them.

Although we were all perhaps surprised by the nature and timing of Dean Sheils winner for Hibs, if you asked me it was no more than our second half performance deserved.

Yves Ma Kalamby:

Much more assured display. Not faultless, but much more assured. 5 or 6 very good saves and several more good interceptions. Showed a bit of maturity and confidence too in the last 15 minutes with some cheeky gamesmanship.

Thierry Gateussi:

A bit of a shaky start, but looked more settled with Morais in front of him. Scored an excellent goal and looked cool and calm as the game went on.

David Murphy:

Another solid assuring display from Murph. It’s difficult to keep finding positive things to say that haven’t been said before. Kept Scott brown quiet – there, not been said before, and what better thing could you say?

Chris Hogg:

One of his best performances for Hibs. Rarely put a foot wrong, looked comfortable all game. A real candidate for MoM.

Rob Jones:

His best game since the cup final. Coped well with Vinegar of Castlemilk. Never threatened Celtic at set pieces but we can’t have it all. Another real contender for MoM
Guillaume Beuzelin:Great game from the Enigma that is Beuzy.Despite not being entirely comfortable with the new formation, Beuzy coped admirably, rarely losing out to the Celtc strikers.

Brian Kerr:

Like Mr Benn, Kerr ket appearing from nowhere yesterday to make a takle or block a run. His movement was stealth-like and had it not been for the sheer number of his timely interventions, you probably would not have noticed him at all. His best game for Hibs yet, with hopefully even better to come. Another genuine MoM candidate.

Lewis Stevenson:

The youngster struggled a bit but worked doggedly away in a 5 man midfield. To be fair to Lewis, he probably needs more room, and a ree-er role than yesterday allowed.
Mickael Antoine-Curier:He did the hardest job in football, the lone striker role for most of the game and did it superbly. If that is all MAC can offer Hibs, it will probably be enough. Goals would be good too though, and yesterday he deserved one, although was unlucky not to get at least two. Sean’s MoM.

Steven Fletcher:

Looked lively and hungry before being pole-axed by Thug McManus. Get well soon lad, we need you.

Kevin McCann:

Like Stevenson, a bit lost, and to be fair, a bit out of position. Like Stevenson, Kid McCann has a big and bright future.

Filipe Morais:

Turned the game, looked like a football player, would not argue with anyone who made him their MoM. Could be a big player for us this season. Do we have him on a long term?
Dean Sheils:Deano, Deano, Deano. He should have “scores the winner habitually” on his CV. Dunno why JC doesn’t like the lad, but I love him. I know its been said several times by several people before but SURELY Deano has done enough to deserve a few starts?

Merouane Zemmama:

Ooooh Zemmama! A joy to watch, pity it was only for 15 minutes. What a 15 minutes though. Tormented Celtc and ripped the fookin pish out of Paul Fartley. Magic wee man. If he’d been on the pitch twice as long, he could have been an MoM contender too!

Sean

A year of John Collins

When I started writing this article, I assumed that it was around about a year since JC had become boss. Upon checking I discovered that it was on October 31st he was appointed, so there’s still 6 weeks until his anniversary. How was his year for you? Here’s my thoughts.
Let me start by being upfront. I’m a Collins fan, a BIG fan. What has really nailed it for me was winning the CIS Cup in March. That is what it is all about isn’t it? Winning things. I mean, there’s the Hibs way to football: the flair, the class and a certain way of winning but that is what is all about: WINNING. It’s something that I feared Tony Mowbray was never going to be able to do after successive Hampden Semi Final defeats; and I think his start at West Brom has done nothing to dissuade me from that opinion.

I remember after the semi final victory against St Johnstone that a disgruntled friend had compared the performance to the one versus Ayr United under Sauzee in 2002. His point was that Collins was as clueless as Sauzee and appeared unable to stop St Johnstone from taking a grip on the game. I disagreed with him, I thought he was very unfair on Franck, but also we won the game. That was the point, it didn’t really matter how we got to Hampden it was about getting there by hook or by crook. We did that. In a couple of year’s time nobody will even remember the performance that night at Tynecastle.

It’s not just winning that has won me over, his attitude to youth strikes a chord with me. I think most Hibs fans agree that the Bobby Williamson attempts to take credit for the development of the youth at Easter Road are as embarrassing as his attempts to be a manager but I was also concerned at Mowbray becoming very conservative with the youngsters. A particular gripe of mines was the continued use of Stephen Glass as left back cover for any time that David Murphy was injured. I felt that Lewis Stevenson had showed enough to be given a chance especially in some of the more meaningless league games. If you look back over the reign of Mowbray he didn’t give debuts to that many players, but he did make infinitely better use of the resources at his disposal than his immediate predecessor.

However, Collins has gone to a different level: not surprising perhaps from a player who was established as a first team regular at 17. First it was McCann who was brought in for his debut in a vital Scottish Cup game versus Aberdeen. If we thought that was brave that was just for starters. He followed that up by starting the following game with 5 teenagers. The development of Lewis Stevenson & Stephen Fletcher has been outstanding.

Which bring us neatly to this season. We’ve had our best start in years, but how are we going to do? I think we’ll do very well this season, and I don’t think that third is out of the question. Of course, we have Rangers and Celtic in our next 4 matches: my initial feeling is that neither is much better than last season. If we lose both games I think it will be clear evidence that both have improved, whilst we have gone backwards due to the squad being reordered. Time will tell.
Then, there is the issue of the revolt. What a strange bizarre thing to happen, and I can’t think of it ever happening in Scotland let alone Hibs before. It would suggest that there was something very not right about the relationship between the players and the manager. Or, it could be that the Daily Record didn’t really report accurately what happened. Whatever, there could only be one winner, I do feel that the short sightedness of the players cost us a crack at the Scottish Cup and they should have showed Collins much more respect. They didn’t seem to have any problem with respect when he won the CIS Cup.

And yet, there’s always a but; it is Hibs. We don’t seem to be as fluid yet this season as we have in the past. The new signings are just waiting to gel, and you watch us when they do. We haven’t even seen the new French striker yet, but he sounds a bit tasty and hopefully will bring the balance back to the squad that we lost when Chris Killen left. Maybe it’s because we’ve lost so many good young players in the recent past, and a time of rebuilding is necessary. There is an upside to players leaving, however, it creates spaces in the team for new young players to come in. Sometimes, the replacements are even better than the favourite players they replace.
Collins is not above criticism, and he has made some mistakes. I’m sure he’d admit them, and equally point out that he is still a novice. The biggest criticism I have is the continuing employment of Gordon Marshall as goalkeeping coach. I really just don’t get it. Brown, Malkowski, McNeil have all been guilty of appalling mistakes: their ability isn’t in question, not from this writer anyway, and worryingly Makalambay has showed signs of going the same way. I have a cunning plan for this. Sack Marshall, and bring in Jim McArthur as goalkeeping coach. He couldn’t be as bad as Marshall, and secondly it would stop his nonsense as an agent. Have a think about it John.

Manager Records

Hibernian

Tony Mowbray 108 matches 52 wins 16 draws 40 defeats
John Collins 41 matches 19 wins 11 draws 11 defeats
Bobby Williamson 93 matches 34 wins 21 draws 38 defeats

Purple & Green