James Forrest is such a decent lad that you just know he wouldn’t have given Ange Postecoglou one minute’s trouble when he fell so far from being a certain starter at Celtic that he could have been accurately described as the Australian’s fourth-choice winger behind Jota, Liel Abada and Daizen Maeda.
Forrest has always done his talking on the pitch and this match provided an eloquent reminder of his worth to his manager on his first start of this season. A hat-trick took him to 100 goals for Celtic and the acclaim from his teammates and the home fans as he completed it testified to how popular he is with them.
Celtic have had some scrapes recently, with narrow wins over Motherwell and St Johnstone following a defeat at St Mirren, so this was an unexpectedly easy afternoon for Ange Postecoglou’s side. Three goals to the good after 24 minutes, two of them from Forrest, they knew from then on that the they had three points top open up a five-point gap over Rangers at the top to crank up the pressure on them before their match at Motherwell today.
There was a freshness after those jaded performances as Postecoglou made five changes from the midweek Champions League defeat by RB Leipzig, with Giorgos Giakoumakis leading the attack, Anthony Ralston and Alexander Bernabei the full-backs, and Aaron Mooy in midfield as well as Forrest — the star of the show.
Hibs handed the initiative to their hosts to such an extent in the first half that Lee Johnson, their manager, made four substitutions at half-time. Their midweek loss at Dundee United, after four straight wins, still seemed to be in the visitors’ minds as they conceded a sloppy goal after sloppy goal.
The misery started after 10 minutes when Sead Haksabanovic cut inside from the left and his cross was perfectly coordinated with Forrest’s movement inside from the opposite flank, leaving him a simple finish from close range as he evaded both Paul Hanlon and Lewis Stevenson.
Celtic’s second was similar, but this time Alexandro Bernabei underlapped Haksabanovic on their left flank then put the ball on a plate for Giakoumakis.
Again, Hibs didn’t do enough defensively, either to stop the cross or track the movement of the Greek striker, who was left with a chance that was as straightforward for him to covert as Forrest’s had been.
Postecoglou tweaked his usual tactics in midfield slightly, with both Mooy and Matt O’Riley sitting centrally to provide the platform for attacks and extra protection for the defence.
The Australian normally opts for one midfield anchor, and it was working a treat in both respects. Mostly, though, Celtic’s impetus came from players who have not played much so far this season being desperate to show their manager what they could do.
Forrest was the perfect example of that and scored his second of the afternoon after 24 minutes. It was a snapshot on the half-volley as the ball broke to him at the edge of Hibs’ box and went straight at David Marshall, but the former Celtic goalkeeper made a handling error and the officials signalled the ball had crossed his line before he could retrieve matters.
Hibs were a mess, certainly by the standards required if they have genuine ambitions of finishing third this season, which should be a realistic target given their squad and budget. They had gift-wrapped a game that should have been an awkward afternoon for the champions and it now looked like a case of damage limitation for them at 3-0 down with over an hour to go.
The one consolation is that Celtic’s pace tends to slacken as games progress and that seemed to be the case for the remainder of the first half, with the scoreline so emphatically in their favour.
Still, Ryan Porteous had to head away from under his own bar after Anthony Ralston had time to measure a cross from the right and Forrest slanted in a ball from the other side that Giakoumakis, at full stretch, could not quite connect with.
This game was one of the final trials for the Video Assistant Referee technology that will be introduced in Scotland next weekend and it would have been interesting to eavesdrop on what it made of Porteous seeming to pull back Giakoumakis in the the box right at the end of the first half, although the Celtic striker did not make much of an appeal for a penalty.
It would also have been enlightening to have been a fly on the wall of the Hibs’ dressing-room at half-time too, although maybe various objects were being hurled at it by Johnson.
His displeasure was clear anyway, as he made four changes for the start of the second half and might have made 11 if he could.
Marijan Cabraja, Kyle Magennis, Elie Youan and Rocky Bushiri came on, while Chris Cadden, Mykola Kukharevych, Harry McKirdy and Lewis Stevenson stayed indoors and a back four became a back five.
It worked for a while, as Youan pulled one back with a sharp finish at the near post from Martin Boyle’s cross, but Celtic restored their lead immediately as Mooy set up Forrest to complete his hat-trick after an error in midfield by Nohan Kenneh.
Giakoumakis then added his second and Celtic’s fifth after a cross from Abada and Kyogo Furuhashi hit the post shortly after replacing Reo Hatate, but we have all come to know by now what Celtic’s slogan has become under Postecoglou and to prove it they added a sixth at the death, Daizen Maeda left with another tap-in after Marshall’s save had initially thwarted Abada.
