You need your key men in a cup final... if Celtic are missing theirs, Hibs
WHEN the team lines are announced this afternoon for the League Cup final, it will be a crucial indicator as to who will lift the trophy. If Celtic’s front players win their injury battles and are added to the team, it will give them a huge boost. The fitness of Kyogo Furuhashi and James Forrest will be pivotal to this game.
If they don’t have their attacking players available, Hibs will have an absolutely brilliant opportunity to win the trophy as they can cause Celtic problems.
Both teams have not had their troubles to seek in recent weeks. Celtic’s obvious concern will be the
progress of the injuries to their players at the front end of the pitch. They just about got away with it at Ross County on Wednesday night in Dingwall with Anthony Ralston’s late goal and they won 1-0 against Motherwell last Sunday.
There has been a big improvement in their frontline, especially with someone like Forrest coming back into things.
If Forrest and Furuhashi miss out, it will be a shame for the spectacle because you want the best players on the pitch in the cup final.
In terms of Celtic’s threat, if those players can’t make it on top of the other injuries that have hit the squad — including Mikey Johnston — it’s a hell of a burden to bear going into a cup final. They’ve already lost Jota for today’s match with a hamstring injury.
The good thing from Celtic’s point of view is that they have stretched their unbeaten run in domestic competitions to 14 matches. They’ve now managed to win seven games in a row. Confidence will be high among their players.
But to beat a team of Hibs’ quality in a cup final at Hampden, having those key men available will be important. If they are not available, then I do think that gives Hibs an even better chance of lifting the trophy.
Ange Postecoglou will not be feeling any more pressure than there was on day one. When you take the job at Celtic, you accept that responsibility and pressure that comes your way.
It wasn’t a brilliant performance against St Johnstone in the semi-final but they will have benefited from playing at Hampden.
For all Celtic’s dominance in cup football over the last few years, a lot of the players who started that day had not played at Hampden before.
The experience of the likes of Tom Rogic, Callum McGregor and Nir Bitton will be vital for this game. There is huge expectation, Celtic fans will turn up expecting to lift another trophy. I think Postecoglou is relishing the opportunity rather than feeling the pressure.
Hibs’ victory against Rangers in the semi-final was a reference point for Jack Ross and his players with the performance they delivered that day.
I thought they were terrific. From the outset, they were brave. Tactically, Jack was spot on. He didn’t allow Rangers to enjoy their general build-up play and Hibs used their attacking threat down the side of the centre-backs. It worked a treat and they were clinical.
Their level of performance that day has presented them with this chance to play Celtic in the final. It’s ironic that, on that day, Rangers had a caretaker manager, so to speak, as
Easter Road men were terrific in their semi-final win over Rangers at Hampden
they waited for Giovanni van Bronckhorst to formally take charge, and now Hibs will have something similar with David Gray as interim boss.
I feel for Jack. It was a big performance against Rangers. He and his staff got so much right on the day and his players carried out the game plan to every instruction. You have to if you want to beat the Old Firm.
A lot of things have to go your way but what you do need is to have big performances throughout the team — and his players delivered.
It shows what they are capable of and they can beat Celtic today. They will believe they can win because their last memory of Hampden is a good one.
From a manager’s point of view, it is disappointing that Jack won’t be able to take them out on the pitch. I know things change in football and you can never be too surprised but it was really harsh to see him leave
Hibs. No doubt he’ll be disappointed and maybe even angry at the decision.
Some of the players have come out this week. There’s a feeling maybe of culpability but also concern for their previous manager.
David now has a great opportunity as a young coach to lead the team out at Hampden. He has the benefit of Eddie May, who is a senior coach with good experience and has been in this position before.
They’ll take comfort from the fact they have a side that is capable of delivering the type of performance to win the cup.
They got a good win on Tuesday night against Dundee. They will be glad to get that match out of the way and it sets them up for the final. A game in midweek can always be problematic in the days before a cup final.
Now they’ve got a chance to win the trophy. What an opportunity they have and they’ll want to take it.
David will feel, as a member of Jack’s staff, that there is still disappointment. In football, you’ve got to move on and he is obviously highly regarded by the Hibs fans.
He’ll try to prepare the team as best he can and if his name is attached to this cup success — after he was the man to win them the Scottish Cup back in 2016 — then it’ll be quite remarkable and special.
But he’ll remember that Jack and his players got them to this stage and the performance of the players will decide if they win another trophy.
Both teams, along with other clubs, will be hoping to get through the next few weeks to the winter break as Covid cases start to mount.
The whole scenario is always worrying until you get that final clearance at the end of the week that players are fit to play. With heightened numbers of positive cases, it’s inevitable that football is going to be affected as we’re seeing already.
Both managers will be concerned and they will be glad when they wake up this morning and hopefully have a clean bill of health on that front.
Football — and cup finals — deserve to have fans in attendance. We had a situation last season with no supporters in the grounds.
While there is not the same impact on deaths in hospitals and care homes, there are more positive cases. There are warnings about cancelling nights out and gatherings at Christmas.
When you’re watching games and seeing crowds together, you can’t help but think that this doesn’t feel right again.
Last time, I always felt we were two or three steps behind England. Then it arrived on our doorstep as well. Down south, you now see more cases and more games being cancelled. There seems to be a natural consequence of how this is going to pan out.
If we can get to the winter break without too many postponements, then maybe we can take a breath. But we’ll be doing well to get through the next couple of weeks of fixtures with fans in attendance and no games cancelled.