Hibernian boss David Gray is not a happy man after watching his team lose to Celtic for a second successive week.
Brendan Rodgers’ side got the better of them by a 2-0 margin at Easter Road last Sunday before winning 3-1 at Celtic Park earlier today.
Like the first meeting, the Bhoys got off to an electric start in the Scottish League Cup clash, scoring in the opening minutes through Daizen Maeda.
Gray reckons his players are making the same mistakes again and again despite strong feedback from his coaching team, lamenting how Celtic managed to dominate the match.
David Gray ‘angry’ after League Cup exit to Celtic
Telling his own club’s media channel he was ‘angry’ after the full-time whistle, Gray went on to give a more extensive warning to his players via The Herald.
The Hibs manager said: “I feel like I’m repeating myself here because of what happened last weekend. The way the game started, we were on the front foot right away, first time Celtic go forward, an individual error and then we lose the goal. Which is not good enough, especially with all the things we talked about pre-game.
“This is a tough enough test to come here at any time, but you can’t give that level of that opposition a goal of a start.
“Then for the first 30 minutes until we find ourselves back in the game, from a set piece that was a good finish, good header, we get back into the game at that moment. But up until that point we had to tweak the system a little bit to become even harder to beat because at that point Celtic were completely dominating.
“We slipped back into what it was for the majority of the game last weekend. That really disappointed me. One mistake becomes two mistakes, we lose a goal again and from that point I thought Celtic were completely dominating again. We slipped back into that same mode again and right now it’s just not acceptable for us.”
Hibs won’t be the last club Celtic leave frustrated this season
In fairness to the Easter Road players, doing double duty against Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic is a tough ask – especially at this stage of the season.
The Bhoys are motoring and unified while Gray and his players are still at the start of a journey.
Yes, they look as if they lack belief and quality right now but most teams in Scotland will appear that way when facing the reigning champions.
As tough as it is for others, it’s Celtic’s job to leave them feeling this way after matches. The team are delivering and long may it continue.
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