Celtic vs Hibernian: 3 things we learned as Japanese Bhoys shine

Things looking up for Celtic again

Celtic’s biggest problem this season has been their lack of squad depth. It directly resulted in them picking up a number of injuries during the busy December fixture period.

Ange Postecoglou’s side were missing several important players during that period of time but surprisingly, they did not let their results drop. And considering the circumstances, the Hoops must have been content with going into the winter break six points behind the Rangers.

But while the results remained solid in December, one has to admit that the performances did dip and it was more of a matter of Postecoglou’s side not giving up and grinding out results, instead of them being at their free flowing best.

The January transfer window has allowed them the opportunity to add to their ranks though while the winter break was an opportunity for the injured players to get a break and return to full fitness. As a result, this Celtic squad is in much better shape now than they were a few weeks back.

And the performance in the first half against Hibernian was proof of that. If Celtic can avoid too many injuries moving forward, they definitely have the quality to put up a title challenge.

Reo Hatate is magnificent

While most of the early headlines had been about Daizen Maeda, it is safe to say that Reo Hatate came in and looked like an absolute baller against Hibernian.

Hatate was absolutely magnificent and this was one of the best debuts for a Celtic player in a long, long time. If he can continue performing like this, then David Turnbull might have a difficult time finding his way back into the starting XI when he returns from injury.

When the club announced the triple signing of Maeda, Hatate and Yosuke Ideguchi, there were many who had claimed that the former Kawasaki Frontale star had an even higher ceiling than the former Yokohama F. Marinos forward, and now, it is not hard to see why such claims had been made. He is superb.