The trick to playing with fire is ensuring that you don’t get your fingers burned.
Despite a summer where transfer activity has moved at a glacial pace, Celtic have simply picked up where they left off last term.
A second successive victory of the Premiership season for Brendan Rodgers’ players was achieved with far more ease then the final scoreline might suggest.
For 45 minutes, they ran Hibs ragged. A two-goal advantage at the interval could honestly have been any number.
Only some weary limbs among the visitors – and the home side finally deciding to do the basics – ensured that no further damage was inflicted or sustained by time up.
From the moment Callum McGregor found the top corner on 19 minutes, adding to Nicolas Kuhn’s opener, the points were as good as in the hands of the champions.
Kuhn, left, celebrates his opening goal after being set up by fellow winger Forrest
The German winger also enjoys an impromptu celebration with Matt O’Riley
Kuhn wheels away in delight after netting the early goal at Easter Road
It must be said that they were helped in no small part by a Hibs team who were devoid of ideas and fight.
It would be foolhardy, though, for anyone to conclude that a highly impressive start to this title defence by Celtic negates the need for new recruits to arrive in short order.
With all due respect to Hibs, the Champions League will be an enormous step-up in class for the Parkhead side.
The upshot of an inscrutable window to date was the sight of a winger, Mikey Johnston, replacing Kyogo Furuhashi late on at Easter Road, the Japanese being the only out-and-out centre-forward in Rodgers’ squad.
Skipper McGregor fires an incredible shot into the net to make it 2-0
McGregor’s shot sails into the net and the champions are home and dry
Spectator Steve Clarke will be wishing McGregor hadn’t retired from international football
The Celtic captain takes the acclaim of his colleagues after wonder goal
For a League One club to be in such a predicament would be noteworthy. For a cash-rich club like Celtic to be in such a pickle at this juncture is simply inexcusable.
Eleven weeks and a day since lifting the Scottish Cup, Celtic’s line-up was again strikingly familiar. Kasper Schmeichel was the only starter who hadn’t been at the club last season. His back-up, Viljami Sinisalo, was the only face on the bench who wasn’t on the books last season.
For all their struggles, Hibs had at least recruited eight players, with on-loan Swansea striker Mykola Kuharevich trusted to lead the line on his first start.
David Gray’s men had had one week to reflect on a woeful opening-day defeat at St Mirren and yet, within three minutes, they were fetching the ball from their net again.
Kuhn’s pass to release Furuhashi through the middle was exquisite. The space afforded to the Japanese as he advanced on goal was simply asking for trouble.
Furuhashi’s low strike forced Josef Bursik to spring to his right to parry. James Forrest had already seen the picture unfolding.
He darted to the byline and fired the ball low across goal. Kuhn was literally one step ahead of the home side’s defenders and netted from close range. It had the look of an extremely long afternoon for the home supporters.
On a surface that could not have been more suited to Celtic’s style, Rodgers’ players tormented their opponents with slick give-and-go movements and incisive passes.
It would be an understatement to suggest that Hibs’ attempts to stop them in the tracks were inadequate. Celtic were excellent, but it was way too easy.
On the rare occasions that Gray’s side found themselves in promising positions, they invariably picked the wrong option. Their efforts were best summed up by skipper Joe Newell sending a dangerous free-kick straight out of play on the cusp of the interval.
They were two goals down by that point and it could easily have been a whole lot more.
Furuhashi was gifted an opening through Josh Campbell’s weak back-pass, only to drag his shot side of the far post.
Kuhn continued his remarkable renaissance in a Celtic jersey. The German looked miles off the pace in his early run-outs. He’s now flying past defenders at will, his touch and confidence having returned in pre-season in the USA.
Having opened the scoring, he claimed an assist with a smart in-field pass to McGregor. The skipper advanced before unleashing a fierce left-foot strike which flew into the top left corner of the net.
Sat high in the main stand, Scotland managed Steve Clarke was reminded of what he will now be missing following the announcement of McGregor’s international retirement.
Striker Furuhashi receives treatment after problems with his troublesome shoulder
Winger Mikey Johnston replaced Furuhashi but was also removed after a blow to the face
McGregor is the main man after he made the game safe for Celtic against Hibs
Hibs’ immediate response was negligible. The deficit would have been three were it not for a slice for fortune going the way of Warren O’Hora. The Irishman’s panicked touch while facing his own goal came back off the underside of the bar from Alistair Johnston’s cross.
The exemplary attitude of Rodgers’ players was typified by Matt O’Riley. There is every chance that the Denmark international will move on for big money in this window, yet his mind was very much in the present.
He came close to claiming his side’s third with a curling effort after Hibs allowed their opponents to play through them at will.
Furuhashi’s troublesome shoulder caused Celtic more concern than anything Hibs could produce. The Japanese departed for treatment after a barge from Marvin Ekpiteta, only to quickly return.
As one-sided as the contest remained, the lack of a third goal kept it alive.
McGregor saw a shot deflected onto the upright, with Furuhashi seeing his effort brushed into the side-netting by Bursik. O’Hora also did well by going to ground and denying Kuhn.
If there was one minor criticism of Celtic it was that they tended to overplay at times. Kuhn, if anything, now looks too confident.
The only morsel of comfort for Hibernian fans is the fact their side did not capitulate.
They did at least hang in there, although the goal that might just have given us a grandstand finish rarely looked like coming. Rudi Molotnikov had a couple of chances to work Schmeichel from distance yet failed to hit the target.
Substitute Kieron Bowie managed to strike the bar from an acute angle with five minutes remaining although, by that point, there were huge gaps in the seats where the home fans had been sitting.
You couldn’t help but wonder how this might have ended had Celtic’s squad been to Rodgers’ liking.
Making his first appearance since a loan spell at West Brom, Mikey Johnston almost produced the third goal with a shot on the spin than flashed a yard wide.
Maybe the academy graduate will belatedly make an impact at the club this season. Not in a month of Sundays will that happen when he’s playing in an alien position, though.
In keeping with MIkey Johnston’s luck in a Celtic shirt over many years, he also came off deep into stoppage time following a clash with the keeper. The fact there was no obvious replacement said it all.
Hibernian (4-2-3-1): Bursik 5; Miller 4, Ekpiteta 4, O’Hora 4.5, Obita 5; Levitt 4 (Moriah-Welsh 82), Newell 4; Boyle 4, Campbell 4.5 (Cadden 63), Molotnikov 5 (Vente 75); Kukharevich 4.5 (Bowie 63). Booked: Campbell, Newell. Manager: David Gray 4.5.
Celtic (4-3-3): Schmeichel 7; A Johnston 7 (Ralston 81), Carter-Vickers 7, Scales 6.5, Taylor 7; McGREGOR 8, Hatate 7 (Bernardo 75), O’Riley 7.5; Kuhn 8 (Yang 81), Furuhashi 6.5 (M Johnston 75) (Holm 95), Forrest 7 (Maeda 63). Booked: Scales. Manager: Brendan Rodgers 7.5.
Referee: Nick Walsh 7
Attendance: 17,918.
