Having failed to play with sufficient front-foot momentum against St Mirren in Paisley, Hibs will now be asked to defend for their lives as Champions League hopefuls Celtic come calling. And therein lies the beauty of the Scottish Premiership.
New Hibs coach David Gray has spoken frequently about the wildly different challenges confronted by teams in Scotland’s top flight. Few leagues in the world offer quite so much variety, when it comes to quality of opposition faced.
Gray is a pragmatist, first and foremost. A coach willing to trim his cloth accordingly – and bend his principles to suit the specifics of a 90-minute contest.
With the reigning champions visiting Easter Road for today’s lunchtime special live on Sky Sports, we’re safe to assume that he will make some changes from last weekend’s awful opening fixture. As much as he’ll want Hibs to carry some threat into action, if only to keep Celtic from spending the entire afternoon camped in home territory, he won’t be doing anything daft.
It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the versatile Chris Cadden on the wing, then, as extra defensive cover for Lewis Miller – left badly exposed at times in Paisley. We should also witness a tweak to the formation, which will look like an extremely compact 4-5-1 out of possession, with the priority on denying Celtic space to play.
And surely there will be a change at the top end of the pitch. While neither Junior Hoilett nor Nicky Cadden are fit to play, Kieron Bowie could make the bench – and Mykola Kuharevich must start at centre forward, if fit. Here’s how we think Gray will shuffle his deck:
1. GK Josef Bursik
Will be looking for better after conceding three on the opening weekend. | SNS Group
2. RB Lewis Miller
Aussie fullback will have his hands full keeping Celtic at bay. | SNS Group
3. CB Marvin Ekpiteta
Needs to bury the memory of gifting St Mirren their second goal last Sunday. | SNS Group
4. CB Warren O'Hora
Ability on the ball may be as important as defensive nous if Hibs are to retain any meaningful possession. | SNS Group