Hibernian manager Jack Ross believes he has a firm handle on Celtic ahead of Wednesday night’s meeting at Easter Road as he addressed the Ange Postecoglou approach.
The Hoops will take the journey across the M8 to take on Ross’ Hibees in another must-win game. Victory will help keep the pressure on Rangers at the top of the Premiership and could take the Bhoys as far as second in the table should results go their way.
Postecoglou has managed to produce some scintillating football with the Hoops this season. Despite calls for him to change his style for different situations, the Celtic boss has continued to preach the need for continuity. So far it’s paying off.
And as Ross admired the resources Celtic have available, he openly discussed the current Parkhead approach as he claims his team are “well versed” on our strengths and weaknesses. As quoted by Football Scotland, Ross said: “I think when you have the resources of a club of that stature , it’s a great starting point for them. I think it’s been a transition period for them, it’s probably still ongoing. I think there’s been a consistency in how they’ve approached games. Most recently they’ve started to turn in strong performances and strong results. So in some ways we’re getting them at a more difficult time than teams early in the season.
“But equally we’re going into the game well versed in what they do as a team, and what they’re good at, and areas of their game hopefully we can exploit as well. I think what they have is a real attacking prowess. I think they’re encouraged to play that way by their manager. They’ve shown that with the manner of their performances all trough the season, not just recently. And we’re aware of that.
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“I expected, even a few weeks ago when I looked at this fixture, for it to be an open one. Nothing has changed my mind in that respect. The way in which Celtic have played and the way we played for most of the season should point to it being like that. I think the fixture in general helps us at this point because of the atmosphere that’s generated in the stadium on these types of nights under the lights at Easter Road. We’ll look forward to the challenge.”
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Hibernian will look to put the Celtic defence under pressure early
If there’s one thing that’s always frustrated the Hibs fans in this fixture, it’s been their side’s failure to put us under pressure early. Allowing us to dictate from the back is something that generally leads to success for Celtic. Expect Ross to know this full well on Wednesday.
Hibs have the pace in the final third to do damage to the Hoops. With Martin Boyle, Chris Cadden, and Jamie Murphy available, they have plenty of speed in there. Plenty of tenacious attackers that will be biting at the heels of the likes of Carl Starfelt and Cameron Carter-Vickers.
It’s how we respond to that high press that will determine how successful we’ll be on the night. We have to remember that we’ll be up against a pretty toxic atmosphere too. A packed Easter Road under the floodlights is always a recipe for a cracker. We can expect similar to Tynecastle in that respect.
A large part of our failure at Easter Road in recent years has also been down to our final ball. We’ve been too wasteful in the final third, particularly in our 0-0 draw back in May and the 2-2 stalemate in November 2020.
It’ll be interesting to see whether we can show the improvements we’ve made in that regard. If we do, we should have no problem bagging 3 points in Leith.
Hibs at Easter Road is the next big question of this Celtic side. You can’t help but be excited at how we may respond.
In other news, Hibernian release important statement ahead of Celtic visit