Celtic’s wobble in form continued as they lost 4-2 away to Hibernian in the Scottish Premiership on Wednesday night to make it three matches without a win in the division.
The Hoops were awarded a penalty just before half-time as captain Callum McGregor was scythed down in the box after a cut-back from Daizen Maeda, which allowed Reo Hatate to calmly slot home from 12 yards.
Hibs then found an equaliser in stunning fashion as winger Elie Youan produced a sensational volley into the back of the net from the edge of the box but Hyeon-gyu Oh quickly put Celtic back ahead in the match just a few minutes later as he stabbed the ball past David Marshall.
However, Lee Johnson’s team responded again as Anthony Ralston bundled his man to the ground and that allowed Kevin Nisbet to make it 2-2 from the penalty spot.
Goalkeeper Scott Bain then had a nightmare as he failed to keep out Youan’s strike from distance, despite the ball coming straight down his throat. Alexandro Bernabei and Bain both then did not cover themselves in glory for the fourth goal as the former deflected a weak effort past his own goalkeeper.
How did Yuki Kobayashi perform against Hibernian?
Whilst Celtic's goalkeeper had a disappointing second half with his errors for the third and fourth goals, central defender Yuki Kobayashi was perhaps the true villain for Ange Postecoglou on the night as he put in a dismal display at the back.
Bain may have made a couple of errors but he also made five saves, including one excellent stop from Nisbet in the first half, and completed three claims to go along with a 100% success rate in his aerial duels, as per Sofascore.
This shows that there were some redeeming qualities to his performances and this was not the case with Kobayashi as the centre-back was poor, both in and out of possession.
The Celtic Way's Tony Haggerty gave the defender a 4/10 in his ratings piece and described the dud as being a little 'too lightweight' at the back.
This is backed up by the liability losing three of his five aerial battles and his only duel on the ground, which shows that the defender was weak in his physical contests and allowed the opposition to bully him throughout the match.
Kobayashi did complete 89% of his attempted passes from 70 touches but did not create any chances for his teammates and failed with his only attempted dribble, as per Sofascore. This indicates that the 22-year-old was not being progressive in his use of the ball and this played a part in Celtic not being able to push on to win the game when it was tied at 2-2.
Therefore, the Japan ace was the real villain of the disastrous defeat to Hibs as he produced a disappointing all-round performance that hurt the Hoops in and out of possession on the night, whilst Bain had good and bad moments during the match.
The 6 foot 1 lightweight was a liability with his lack of dominance in physical battles and this meant that Johnson's side were able to outmuscle him in Celtic's own third, which meant that the defender was unable to cut out as many attacks as a dominant enforcer would have been able to.