I’ve heard a lot of soundbites about being nasty, winning ugly and fear creeping in at Hibs lately. Maybe they were just getting in the Halloween spirit.
But after watching 90 minutes that made my eyes bleed against Ross County the other night, I can confirm it WAS ugly… it WAS nasty… and it was pretty scary at times too. In fact the only thing missing was the win – the most important thing.
Martin Boyle was right when he said last week they needed to rediscover the art of winning ugly. The problem is having managed to shut up shop at the back – other than one gift to Hearts in the 87th minute on Sunday – they seem to have lost any cutting edge they had up front. Listen, the clean sheet in Dingwall is a start and to be honest I wasn’t confident they’d get one up there because I’ve been very critical of the defence and goalkeeper. They’re off the bottom of the table and leapfrogged Hearts, that’s a small plus.
But the game, the first half in particular, was absolutely dire. It’s just not good to watch right now. There’s players in that team underachieving. I look at the ability in the squad particularly in the forward areas and there’s no way they should be sitting 11th with seven points out of 30. That is abysmal. It’s an abysmal start to the season.
Bottom line is that they need to start picking up points. It’s okay saying Hearts are below us but they have to forget about that and get up the table. The players need to do a lot more. They have to take more responsibility.
The manager sets them up and puts them across the line but it’s up to the players to produce. In the forward areas the last three or four games have not been good enough. There’s been huge chances to go and win games that have been missed. Dwight Gayle missed a couple in the derby.
Nectar Triantis was clean through on Craig Gordon to make it 2-0 and sclaffed a poor effort straight at the keeper. A few minutes later it’s 1-1 and Hibs are hanging on. They need to sharpen up. There’s a nervousness about the team. It looks like there’s not a lot of belief coursing through their veins.
I saw David Gray’s comments about the derby being full of fear for both sides and he was absolutely right. It’s strange how confidence ebbs away when results take a turn. But it works both ways. Confidence is everything in sport. Lose it and, as a striker, it can start to look like you’re shooting into a matchbox.
If you’re going out with a swagger, winning games, scoring goals, then it just seems to happen naturally. Look at Aberdeen again on Wednesday night. Taking the game to Rangers and even after being pegged back they had it in them to go again and get the win.
But Hibs looked like they were more worried about losing in Dingwall. Single points are not good enough at this stage. They need wins. They have to get through this period. They’re going to stick with Gray as manager which is right in my opinion.
You can’t keep hiring and firing managers. It’s costly and ultimately nobody is getting a proper chance to build their own team. A couple of wins would change the whole outlook. Hibs are still only five points off the top six so it’s not as if they’re being cut adrift.
The next two games are Dundee United and St Mirren at home. They have to be looking to pick top six points to kick start the season. The top three has gone. But fourth place is still up for grabs I reckon.
I said at the start of the season they need to make sure they are in the top six come the split and then they can attack the Euro places. Two of the last three seasons they’ve finished in the bottom half which is a disaster.
They have a decent November. There’s no Old Firm, there’s no derby. There’s a chance to lay a marker on Aberdeen when the Dons visit Leith too. It’s a huge month for everyone at Easter Road. By all means stay ugly and nasty at the back. But they need to bring the creativity and flair back to the final third.