I laughed last night – I genuinely laughed – when I read the Hibs midfielder Jake Doyle Hayes’ take on the game on Monday. He thought that he and his team-mates “dominated.”
It makes me wonder what game he was actually in, because it wasn’t the one I watched.
I found his comments highly amusing.
Hibs fans should have been gravely concerned by them, because if anyone in their squad believes that they were unlucky or robbed of a result or deserved more than they got then it doesn’t portend well for their season.
We outplayed them, especially in the first half.
That they had one shot on target – the one in the very first couple of minutes – does not suggest dominance of any kind, particularly when you consider our own shots at goal and on target and the way the whole game was virtually played in their half.
Yes, they had a lot of the ball in the second half – marginally more than we did – but this does not make them dominant.
It means we took our foot off the gas.
It means that we were so confident in our own dominance that we didn’t even view it as particularly risky to let them have possession for a while. They certainly didn’t do anything with it.
I mean, they might get excited about that but I wouldn’t in their shoes.
Celtic were the better team on the night by a country mile.
The score line flattered Hibs; they were lucky to get out of the match without being on the end of a much more serious beating.
I would be amazed if any in their ranks actually believed they were the dominant team; this may, therefore, be little more than a bit of bravado to build confidence.
But the media is lapping it up, of course, with some of the hacks revising their verdicts on the game; the same folk, of course, who want to suggest that the penalty was harsh on Hibs, which it certainly was not.
This is what we have come to expect though.
Come on James. You are doing EXACTLY what you, yourself, criticise the mainstream media for when misquoting or misinterpreting Ange’s words.
The comments Doyle-Hayes made are in a Scotsman article:
“But in one sense the new manager’s [Shaun Maloney] imprint was recognisable in Hibs becoming the first Scottish club to retain more possession than Postecoglou’s team in any domestic game this season.
“It was a tough one to take,” said Doyle-Hayes because of that fact. “I thought we dominated the ball for long spells, which is what the manager is wanting from us. We are still learning what he wants, but we had a bit of time with him in the winter break and I think we played in stages against Celtic. He wants us to take the ball under pressure, to trust ourselves and trust other players. Everyone did that against Celtic and that’s a tough place to do it. If you can do it there, you can do it anywhere. We do it on the training pitch every day and you can see we have the players in the squad. We’ll just keep pushing on in training”.
Fair play to the guy I think. He is just trying to maintain a PMA after a defeat. What you have done, James, is take ONE WORD, and turned it against him. That’s a pretty poor show, in my opinion, and quite hypocritical.
I read the Celtic Blog because I can’t stand the mainstream press in Scotland and their approach to reporting on my team. One of the reasons for that is that they do exactly what you have done here.
And I’d be interested to know what hacks are revising their view on the game from Monday because of this. It doesn’t sound very likely to me at all. Andrew Smith of the Scotsman, who wrote the article where Doyle-Hayes is quoted as making the comments you are getting stuck into, certainly did not.
I don’t think James has twisted anything. I read Doyle-Hayes’ comment on another site and I don’t recall seeing “the ball” in that sentence about dominating. I wouldn’t be surprised if that version of his comment are widespread in our biased hun smsm….
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/hibs/jake-doyle-hayes-on-where-hibs-dominated-celtic-as-midfielder-backs-kevin-nisbet-3532665
There’s the link to the article I was referring to which uses actual quotes from the player in question.
Also Sepps, please don’t use that “I wouldn’t be surprised” patter. Surely we deal in facts here. That’s what JF usually deals with which is why I like his blog. This article I am not so keen on for reasons I have stated here and standy by.
It’s obviously all in his head
I didnt feel we were as good as some fans duggested..but Hibs, imo, were awful. Celtic were far superior without being brilliant
We were nowhere near as good as some people have suggested. Maeda off the mark and Hatate great show. I get it. But Hibs gave us both goals. And we played for 30mins. Ange was not impressed and you could tell in the interview afterwards. We must play better next Weds if we want all 3 points.
Hogwash and poppycock. The first goal we earned through the high press. Second goal was obviously a pen which resulted from a beautiful ball into the box from Taylor.
At 2-0 it’s up to Hibs to chase the game which is why they had more of the ball in the second half. I am not buying this pish about Celtic taking their foot off the gas. We were simply sitting deeper as we had the cushion.
Sit deep, hit on the break. That’s what you do when you are 2-0 up against a team like Hibs who are no mugs. Also, did you ever stop to think that we actually ended a game with no new injuries which is unusual for Celtic of late?
I’ll take 2-0 and no drama over 5-0 but such and such limped off with a hamstring injury … every single time.
A totally dominant and highly impressive first half. Second half was slightly disappointing because we didn’t keep that up, but it was the first game back after the break against a decent team, with new players and other players just back from injuries. At half time I couldn’t see us not scoring again, but 2:0, 3 points and a great indication about how good this team looks like it’s going to be.
Or as Roonsa said, hogwash and poppycock.
The media narrative was established last night on Sportscene. The young lady pundit espoused her opinion as factual.
Taylor is a liability. Useless in the air and no pace to get round the outside. He can see angles granted either to pass or receive the ball but it has to be placed for him to run onto. Watch Hearts target him next week like Hibs did. And where was he at the Nisbet chance? I am not scapegoating him. Abada cannot cross a ball. As for Celtic taking their foot off the gas look at the pass completion rate for the second half. That was an effect not a cause. Not a terrible performance but a 30 min. one
I didn’t say Celtic took the foot off the gas. I suggest you watch the 2nd half of the game again. At no point did I feel uncomfortable.
It was an easy win. I don’t understand why people are flapping their gums. Not only did we win, we claimed back the 2 points we lost to the huns v St Mirren. BE HAPPY FFS!
I expect a tougher game against Hearts. I think we will win.
Spot on Roonsa with all your points.I don’t know what some people are looking for.Apart from the first couple of minutes when Nesbit hit the post it was a stroll. The most comfortable Ive been watching a game at CP in a long time. How many saves did Joe Hart have to make in the game?. Not too many I can remember. Learning now to control the game and see it out with the minimum of fuss.Good point about picking up hamstring injuries.
Happy daze among the Celtic support. I enjoyed the article James and couldn’t care less the views others wish to impose on it. We all want the best from our team, it was a controlled yet satisfactory performance, 3 points to their 1 makes it a successful night offering promise for the future. HH