Hibernian captain Paul Hanlon has admitted that team bonding has been extremely difficult with their new team-mates ahead of their clash against Celtic on Monday night.
Shaun Maloney has brought 4 players to the Easter Road club in the January window already. However, only centre-back Rocky Bushiri looks like being available to feature against the Hoops. Ewan Henderson is ineligible due to being on loan from Parkhead, whilst Chris Mueller and Elias Melkerson are both yet to get up to speed.
Hibs have won 2 games out of 2 under Maloney after impressive victories over Aberdeen and Dundee United respectively. However, the acid test for them comes tomorrow when they take the trip to Celtic Park.
And Hanlon has admitted that the players have found it extremely difficult to bond with each other due to ongoing restrictions and new signings.
As quoted by the Scotsman, the Hibs captain said: “The team-bonding side of it is difficult. We are still split among a few different changing-rooms in the training ground, so that day-to-day contact is not what it used to be and any social activities just don’t happen now.
“It’s vital to spend time among all the lads on the training pitch or in the gym and, as captain, I try to learn about the new lads and make sure they are settled in. We’ve got staff whose role it is to help lads with houses, cars or whatever. In terms of settling into the team, I’ve a big role to play as captain.”
Hibernian will come to Celtic Park a rejuvanated side
Hanlon may be correct in that team bonding has been extremely difficult for his side. That’s almost certainly the case across the board as clubs continue to battle the seemingly endless pandemic.
However, don’t expect it to have any serious effect on how Hibs fare tomorrow night. They’re hardly going to be rocked because they’ve yet to get to know their new signings. Celtic will likely be the same with Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate, and Yosuke Ideguchi, even if they make an appearance.
Chances are Maloney’s team will be a highly-similar one to the sides that took down the Dons and United. They do have some shortages in those 3 new signings being unavailable as well as suspensions for Ryan Porteous and Paul McGinn. But even so, it’s a squad that’s largely been together for a substantial period.
Celtic have already face Hibs twice this season and come out on top on both occasions. The 3-1 rout at Easter Road back in October could’ve been a lot more, whilst we were deserved 2-1 winners in the Premier Sports Cup final at the end of 2021.
But even without their top players, Celtic fans will still be expecting Hibs to rock up at Parkhead tomorrow night and be as competitive as they’ve been at any point this season.
A lack of team bonding for them isn’t ideal, but let’s not pretend it’ll have an effect on their performance. We’ve fallen into traps like this before. This year, we have no leeway to do the same.
In other news, Ange Postecoglou addresses Glasgow derby postponement chat and when Celtic will look at it
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
