Johnson likens Hibs’ defending to Sunday league

LEE JOHNSON last night admitted Hibernian looked like a Sunday league team at times in their 6- 1 defeat to Celtic at Parkhead and vowed to address the fear factor he saw in his players.

The Easter Road club fell 3-0 behind in the opening half an hour of the cinch Premiership match and Johnson made four substitutions at the start of the second- half.

Elie Youan pulled one back for the visitors in the 56th minute only for the capital outfit to conceded another three times after that.

Johnson was alarmed by his charges’ attitude and with the softness of the goals which they conceded to the top flight leaders.

“It was really disappointing,” he said. “In the first three of four minutes we had chances to enter the final third and be brave. We didn’t get at people at the edge of the box and that timid play ended up having a domino effect through the team.

“The first t wo goals we don’t get up to the ball. What is the fear factor of going to press? These are defenders who have a lot of experience in the league and as a team we can apply pressure. There’s a fear factor there, but that’s what we have to change.

“It’s the hardest thing to change, but it must be on a psychological level. That’s difficult for me to take and eats me up inside. The standard of goals we’re conceding – we’d do well to put clips together from a Sunday park league.

“It must be a psychological factor because I see these boys sitting third or fourth or wherever we are.

“It felt like we were a boxer that didn’t want to throw a punch because we were worried about the counter punch which hurt me most.

“It’s on me, but you put a team out and you want them to produce their best when it matters most. When they don’t you take them off or move them on otherwise you go. That’s the nature of the beast. In the first half we were a million miles off. If I could have made seven changes I would have.”