If this Hibs team was a car, what car would it be? Lee Johnson on how to slow down Celtic

If this Hibs team was a car, what car would it be? Manager Lee Johnson was asked that very question after likening the step up required for Wednesday’s match against champions Celtic to a Fiat Punto entering a Formula 1 race.

Hibs manager Lee Johnson insists lessons have been learned from the previous meeting with Celtic in October and that gradual improvement is required. Picture: Ross Parker / SNS

“We’re a kit car at the moment,” he replies with a smile. “Still being pieced together. But we have a good engine. That’s the fanbase, the history of the club, that's the training ground, the stadium. Now we need to fine-tune some bits around it to make sure we are moving dynamically forward.”

It’s been a stop-start season for Hibs under Johnson, who has plenty of miles on the clock as a manager and a destination in mind for the club. The journey had been going well off track for a couple of months in terms of results. But Johnson never doubted the overall direction of travel and felt somewhat vindicated by a 4-0 demolition of Livingston on Christmas Eve. It ended a run of four straight defeats.

There’s a big difference between Livingston and Celtic, of course. The manager is realistic enough to know that there could be another bump in the road at Easter Road on Wednesday. His kit car is racing a Formula One speed machine and he knows Hibs must move through the gears.

“That's the beauty of this league,” says Johnson, referring to the difference between playing ten-man Livingston and the finely-tuned, high-flying Scottish champions. “They are a top side, Celtic. I enjoy watching them, in terms of the dynamism and the movement, but when you are coaching the challenge is to find a way to take points off them. How do you do that? How do you set up? How do you give the boys confidence? We are at home so the fans have to be part of the performance and all these things have to be at elite level if you are to get a result against a side like that.

“It is almost like driving a Punto and you are pretty comfortable and almost on autopilot [against Livingston] but then you are shoved into a Formula One car, in a Formula One race and, whoosh, it is a different level. So that purposeful practice should allow you to improve as a player and as a team when you encounter more and more games like that.”

Johnson reckons Hibs are far better prepared after learning some lessons from the 6-1 defeat at Celtic Park in October. He makes no apologies for trying to find ways to attack in that game and facing the consequences at the other end. He believes the more recent performance at Ibrox, when Hibs led 1-0 and 2-1 before eventually losing 3-2 is evidence of progress. He watched Aberdeen park the bus at home to Celtic recently, Callum McGregor popping up with a late goal for the champions, but that isn’t a tactic he will be deploying for Hibs at Easter Road.

He explains: “When we played Celtic [in October] there were alot of individual mistakes in that game, but they also cut through us far too many times. Then we went to Rangers, having been working hard on being world class in that mid-block and then still having the potential to counter. You have seen other teams, in recent games, not really trying to get out of their half, hoping to somehow handle a draw.

“Perhaps strangely, everyone that I bump into that are Hibs fans respect the fact that we tried to have a go at Parkhead, despite losing 6-1. No-one wanted the result, but they respected the attitude. So, we have to turn the dial but still try to hang onto our values and principles as much as we can within that game. The proof will be in the pudding.

“The next time we play we will be at home but we are always learning. I am always learning. I can talk about managing nearly 500 games but that doesn't mean that I think I’ve cracked it. I’m 41 and there are managers who have 1,000 games behind them and are 52, so these experiences are good for me personally.”

Johnson talks about making incremental improvements over time against the champions. He reckons Celtic are on a similar journey in the Champions League under Ange Postecoglou and will be better equipped to compete and earn points at that level next season. It all takes time.

“I have been quite close to the City group over a number of years and have seen Manchester City take time to build on their European endeavours because it is a different level again,” he continues.

“Celtic are going through their version of that as well. They are a Formula One car. But they are in an F1 race when it comes to Europe. I think celtic will be better served going into the next European campaign. Again, they just need to turn that dial a bit. You have to adjust slightly, depending on the standard of opposition and there were games throughout their European campaign where they were outstanding for periods of time but then fell away a bit.

“In our journey, which isn't at that level, it is about doing that to those types of teams. Can we last longer to keep ourselves in games and then eventually find a way to hold out in those last 10 minutes. Once we have managed to hold out in those last 10 minutes, can we then start dominating the ball?”

That final aspiration that seems some way off. For now, the Hibs fans would surely settle for a bold and positive performance against Celtic to round off 2022. To make Johnson’s kit car more reliable in 2023, some parts may need replacing in January.