Hibs 0-3 Celtic: Tactical analysis of the Scottish Cup final

Written by Andrew Southwick.
TWELVE years ago to the day, Celtic swept Hibs aside at Hampden 3-0 to lift the Scottish Cup. They did it in the same week as Bayern Munich raised the Champions League trophy aloft.

A dozen years on, the names on the back of the shirts may have changed, but Hibs are no closer to defeating Celtic in a Scottish Cup final.

A Gary Hooper double and a late third from Joe Ledley ensured Celtic won the double for the first time since 2007.

Hibs line-up was as expected. Eoin Doyle had rubber stamped his place in the starting line-up after his performance and goals on the final day of the season. All eyes of course though were on Leigh Griffiths, who had shrugged off an injury scare during the week to start for Pat Fenlon's side.

There was no such luck for James McPake, who was unable to recover from injury in time to take his place in defence.

It was Neil Lennon who sprang the surprises on the teamsheet. Georgios Samaras, despite his sparkling show against Dundee United at Tannadice, had to make do with a place on the bench. Anthony Stokes instead got the nod up front. With Kris Commons, James Forrest and Gary Hooper also starting – it was clear Celtic wanted to replicate the start Hearts had in last year's final and have their noses in front early.

The Hoops were missing young player of the year Victor Wanyama, and Beram Kayal, through suspension.

Hibernian: Williams, McGivern, Hanlon, Griffiths, Doyle, Maybury, Taiwo, Harris, Forster, Thomson.

Subs: Murdoch, Stevenson, Handling, Robertson, Caldwell.

Celtic: Forster, Izaguirre, Wilson, Brown, Stokes, Commons, Ledley, Mulgrew, Lustig, Forrest, Hooper.

Subs: Zaluska, Ambrose, Samaras, Rogic, McCourt.

No pyro no party

Hampden has its critics, but once again it rose to the occasion, putting on its Sunday best. The teams came out to two hugely impressive displays by the supporters, before smoke bombs filled the air with green and white smoke.

To the background of noise and colour, it was a frantic opening. Griffiths was occupying the left wing, looking to cut inside with Mikael Lustig and Kelvin Wilson both tasked with keeping the Hibs talisman quiet. Hibs to their credit started 4-4-2 with Doyle in a more central role on the right. Tom Taiwo was being asked to make late runs into the box, and it so nearly led to the first goal in six minutes as he burst through in space and fed Doyle whose header brought the best out of Fraser Forster.

It was to be significant as Celtic took the lead just two minutes later, and it was a sickener for the Hibees. A ball from the right hand side was fired across, above the head of intended target Gary Hooper. Three Hibs players had the chance to clear it but inexplicably let it run by them – Alan Maybury having the best chance to get it clear but he barely nudged it with a fresh air swipe. That gave Stokes, on the left hand side, all the time in the world to fire a cross back across to Hooper at the back post.

Neil Lennon had the start he wanted. Now they could knock the ball about in Hibs half and pick their moments to attack. Scott Brown sat in front of the back four and conducted the play. Hooper drove through the middle, coming deep when needed, while Commons and Stokes switched sides either side of him. Ledley and Forrest helped increase the swarm of black shirts on the Hibees back line.

Generally though it was a front two of Hooper and Stokes, with Commons reaching the front line late. What was also noticeable was that Celtic were happy to try a long ball from the back now and then, with Stokes or Hooper chasing it past the static Hibs defence. One or two times they almost caught them out in the first half an hour, with goalkeeper Ben Williams having to be quick off his line each time.

Stuttering Hibs

After a promising opening it wasn't going Hibs way. Celtic had settled comfortably after getting the goal, and always looked the more likely to grab a second, even if they were not exerting a great deal of pressure on the Easter Road men. Griffiths moved into more of a central role to try and get more joy, but Ledley and Brown were doing a good job of creating an iron curtain at the back, and it wasn't long before it was 2-0.

Stokes again was given space on the left hand side with Alan Maybury failing to close him down. He floated over a cross, and Hooper slipped inside two defenders to head beyond Williams.

Half an hour gone, and it was 2-0 Celtic. If this was Hibs laying the ghost of last year's cup final defeat to bed they were doing a poor job of it, because the game had a very familiar feel to it.

Griffiths went down and started to receive treatment. He had yet to make an impact on the game, and as the Celtic fans bounced to the huddle, Hibs – from player to fan – looked utterly dejected. They simply had to get the next goal, and the man receiving treatment simply had to get up and start playing.

In 37 minutes, it was Griffiths who almost orchestrated the goal Hibs needed. Racing onto a ball that looked destined for a goal kick, he somehow managed to get there and spin the ball across the face of goal, but there were no takers in green to knock it into the net. Then Maybury won a corner, Griffiths swung it in, but McGivern couldn't get his head to it.

Half-time

Lennon had made the right call – he had chose Stokes over Samaras and it had paid off big time. With the Greek's tendency to try and cut in front the wing, it's doubtful he would have made either cross that led to the goals.

For Fenlon, he had to do something to change the flow of the game. Maybury was having a poor game at right back, and was arguably the main man at fault for both goals, but the damage was done and the changes needed to be at the other end. He kept the same starting eleven for the second half, though now it looked like Griffiths was through the middle on his own, with Doyle and Alex Harris being asked to get forward from wide areas.

Run Forrest run

James Forrest had been largely ineffective in the first 45 minutes. Lennon changed his role in the second period, sitting him behind the front three and asking him to make runs from deep into the area, where Hibs couldn't pick him up. It was working, but Hibs managed to keep him at bay and he couldn't get a shot in to test the goalkeeper.

Within the space of a minute, Leigh Griffiths made two identical challenges. One he won a free-kick for his own team, the other he was booked for. Welcome to the world of referee Willie Collum.

The game was in a lull. Hibs, even they had the ball, were not doing much with it. Celtic didn't need to do much. It looked like Celtic were going to coast to victory.

In 70 minutes Hibs brought off Eoin Doyle, bringing on Danny Handling. Doyle couldn't be faulted for lack of effort but an early header apart he hadn't done much of note, and it looked the right call from Fenlon.

Five minutes later and both sides made changes. Lennon decided to give Samaras the last 15 minutes; replacing Commons. Ross Caldwell came on for Kevin Thomson.

An extra man

The problem for Hibs was that Celtic always looked to like they had an extra man. Every time Hibs had the ball, they couldn't get in behind them, and instead they ran into cul-de-sacs and eventually started passing back the way. For Celtic, they always looked like they could get forward at any given opportunity, with Brown pinging passes around, and with just over ten minutes on the clock, the inevitable third came.

Stokes shrugged off a challenge and found Lustig in space on the right. His low ball across goal had a crowd of black shirts waiting to finish. It fell to Hooper whpo has just miss-timed his run and the ball bounced behind for Ledley to take the opportunity to fire it into the top corner.

Captain Scott Brown had been man of the match in the middle, barely losing a challenge while controlling the pace of the game. He made way just after the third goal for Efe Ambrose, who went into defence allowing Izaguirre to go further forward.

Leigh Griffiths hobbled off in 83 minutes, replaced by Lewis Stevenson.. He was meant to be Hibs main threat, but he hadn't tested Forster at all in the entire game. It was a sad end to his best season. Like last season, he had been the hero in the semi-final, but had failed to perform anywhere near his best in the final.

Paddy McCourt came on for the last three minutes to make what is likely to be his last appearance in a Celtic shirt. The fans sang his name, and Ledley handed him the captain's armband. It remains to be seen where his next destination will be.

He leaves though as a double winner. The only double for Hibs is they become the first team since Dundee United in 1987 and 1988 to lose two finals in a row.

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