Celtic maintained their four-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership table with a 2-1 win against Hibernian at Easter Road on Sunday afternoon.
The Hoops got off to the worst possible start when Owen Elding struck to make it 1-0 in the second minute of the game, but they quickly turned it around before half-time.
An own goal from Jason Kerr and a brilliant finish from Camilo Duran ensured that the league leaders claimed all three points, as they dealt with pressure from the home side in the second half.
That opening goal from Hibs brought about some criticism of the Hoops defence, though, as Dane Murray was one of the players caught out by the home team’s quick thinking.
Why Dane Murray’s Hibernian performance deserves praise
The Scottish central defender held his position next to Liam Scales in preparation to set up for the free-kick, instead of shuffling across to cover the space left by Colby Donovan.
Unfortunately, Benjamin Nygren also switched off and allowed Elding to run off the back of him, which allowed the striker to exploit the space left by Murray and make it 1-0.
Whilst he could have dealt with that situation better, the academy graduate deserves praise for how he responded to that moment, as he went on to produce an aerially dominant display at the back.
|
Vs Hibernian |
Dane Murray |
|---|---|
|
Minutes |
90 |
|
Defensive contributions |
9 |
|
Interceptions |
2 |
|
Blocks |
2 |
|
Ground duels won |
0/3 |
|
Aerial duels won |
4/6 |
|
Pass accuracy |
86% |
Murray won four of his six aerial duels, despite the wind making it difficult for defenders from crosses and long balls, which meant that the Hoops were not caught out from direct play by Hibs too often.
The Scottish ace was also solid enough with the ball at his feet for Celtic, completing 70 of his 81 attempted passes, and did not make any errors that directly led to shots for the opposition with the ball.
Celtic must drop 3/10 flop who was worse than Murray
Whilst Murray could have done better in some instances in the game, there was another Celtic player who performed even worse than him on Sunday.
Kasper Hogh, who joined from Bodo/Glimt for £11m in the summer, was selected to start in the centre-forward position for the Scottish giants, with Camilo Duran shifted out to the right and Callum Osmand on the left flank.
It was an interesting call by Martin O’Neill to start the Denmark international after he had come off the bench in the previous two matches, after being substituted at half-time against Benfica in the game before those clashes.
Unfortunately, the big-money summer signing failed to justify the manager’s faith in him, as he delivered an incredibly underwhelming display up front at Easter Road, and he should now be dropped.
In 64 minutes on the pitch against Hibs, Hogh only had 18 touches of the ball and lost possession five times, every 3.6 touches on average, including just two touches of the ball in the second half of the game.
The 25-year-old marksman cannot blame a lack of service for his performance, though, because he missed two ‘big chances’ to find the back of the net for Celtic.
|
Celtic player ratings vs Hibernian |
|
|---|---|
|
Player |
Rating |
|
Sam Johnstone |
5 |
|
Colby Donovan |
7 |
|
Dane Murray |
6 |
|
Liam Scales |
6 |
|
Kieran Tierney |
7 |
|
Callum McGregor |
7 |
|
Mika Baur |
7 |
|
Camilo Duran |
7.5 |
|
Benjamin Nygren |
5 |
|
Callum Osmand |
5 |
|
Kasper Hogh |
3 |
His biggest chance came when Duran flicked a ball into his path in the six-yard box and the striker took a poor touch before seeing his shot smothered by the goalkeeper from close range.
Hogh was also caught on his heels when Osmand played an excellent outside of the boot cross to the back post to the centre-forward, who did not react in time to make contact with the ball.
The Danish attacker only completed seven passes and failed to create any chances for his teammates on top of his finishing woes, which shows that he was totally ineffective as an attacking force.
He has now failed to score in 16 successive matches for club and country since his hat-trick against Kilmarnock in only his second outing for the Scottish giants.
Murray, at least, had some positive contributions to the game with his defensive work and his passes, which is why Hogh, who struggled in all facets of the game, was even worse than the defender.
It is now down to O’Neill to drop the Dane from the starting line-up so that Duran can play centrally and Haissem Hassan can start on the right side of the attack.
