HE CAN TEAR US ASUNDER
Coach John fears stand-in striker Jermain will wreck Hibs’ hopes after hearing rave reviews on Wearside
JOHN POTTER is well aware of how big a threat Jermain Defoe will be tomorrow night and not just because he bagged a hat-trick against Hibs in August.
The Hibees were hammered 6-1 at Ibrox when they last faced Steven Gerrard’s side, with Defoe netting a treble before being replaced by Alfredo Morelos who helped himself to two.
Hibs will only have to face one of them at Easter Road with Morelos suspended after his sending off at Motherwell last weekend.
In Defoe, Rangers have a different type of striker ready to come in but one who is just as capable of hurting Hibs, as his display earlier in the season proved.
The former England striker had left Sunderland by the time Potter had joined current Hibs boss Jack Ross there as first-team coach. But those who had seen Defoe up close at the Stadium of Light still raved about the impact he made in the north east of England, both on and off
the pitch. And having watched their August drubbing back, it’s clear to Potter that Defoe has lost none of those deadly instincts since moving north. He said: “We were actually just speaking to the staff about that on Wednesday morning, Jermain was electric that day.
“He is a player we’ve admired and we heard a lot about him when we were down at Sunderland. The staff down there raved about him.
“We had a young player at Sunderland, Josh Maja, and he used to talk about some of the training he did with Jermain in terms of finishing practice, his drills and his workrate.
“He is a top-quality player, has been his whole career, and he scores goals. He always has. He’s probably a different threat to Morelos but someone who we will need to watch very closely and try to nullify.
“Being at a club like Rangers in Scotland, they will create chances for him and if you are looking for someone to get on the end of those he is as good as anyone. So we need to try to stop the ball from getting to him, stop the ball from coming into our box, because if he does get chances the likelihood is he will score.
“Everybody we spoke to at Sunderland said he was a really nice guy, very kind, and they all loved him.
“Morelos can create things by himself and from what I’ve seen is a top-quality player. He helps Rangers get up the pitch and he is quick, strong and direct.
“Jermain is a different proposition but Rangers are the sort of team that has a lot of the ball, tries to create chances, and he’s more than capable of getting on the end of those.”
Despite the way things ended, Potter admitted it was a hard decision to leave Sunderland. Ross was sacked after around 15 months in charge of the Black Cats.
The former St Mirren captain made the move north to link up with the manager again last month.
He believes he’s come in to a much more stable environment but insists he learned a lot during his time down south – even if it was “crazy” on occasion.
Potter said: “It was difficult in terms of I really, really enjoyed my job down there. It’s a brilliant club with really good people.
“It can be a wee bit crazy at times but it’s a really good club.
“The opportunity to come somewhere like this and work with Jack again was really important to me.
“It’s an opportunity I wanted to take straight away, as soon as it could be all sorted out. It got done reasonably quickly. To work with Jack again was the main factor.
“When he first went down it was a bit all over the place in terms of players not wanting to be there, some wanting to be there and we had a big turnaround of staff and players.
“From my point of view I developed by dealing with high-profile players, players on a lot higher wages and it can be difficult playing two games a week, every week.
“The travel, the time you get to train, it is a big difference from being up in Scotland. There were certain things I thought I did quite well, certain things I’d do slightly differently but that’s the same in every walk of life.
“We felt we did a good job to get it to where we left it. Here it’s a lot more settled in terms of staff. We could walk in and get started on doing what we do.
“We’ve been quite impressed by everyone we’ve met here. We like the group we’re working with. We might make minor changes.
“I’ve seen a bit of everything over the past four or five years. I learned a lot working with younger players being in administration at Dunfermline.
“To get the chance with Jack down at Sunderland was one extreme to the other. This might be a little bit more
normal ... we’ll see!”
He’s a top quality player, has been his whole career, and he scores goals
JOHNPOTTER