Lazy, slow and selfish? Jack’s rant was like my wife having go at me. But he was RIGHT
No defence for Hibs’ horror show
LAZY, slow and selfish. All that was missing was fat and Jack Ross would have had a full house on the Tam McManus bingo.
Listening to him slaughter his players after losing to Dundee United sounded like an ear-bashing from my wife.
To be fair, she usually chooses her words more carefully.
It’s the first time I’ve seen him that angry, and rightly so.
Let me be blunt. Saturday’s display was the worst I have ever seen under the current manager. From the first whistle to the last, they were terrible.
There was no energy, no hunger or desire and they allowed Dundee United to stroll the game and win.
It was no surprise to hear Hibs being booed off both at half-time and full-time, it was a fair critique of what the fans had witnessed.
The supporters aren’t going to put up with that level of performance, there were more than 15,000 fans inside Easter Road and what they were served up was dreadful. That display needs to be a one-off as there is no way the punters will accept that.
You could have fired a warning flare into the air to be seen across Leith at fulltime. There are signs of alarm.
The first half against United was especially poor and that’s become something of an unwanted habit recently.
They got away with it against St Johnstone and Livingston by recovering to take points but now it’s catching them out.
Hibs have got to start coming out of the traps quicker than they have been.
It’s something Jack needs to look at, he’ll know that himself, there is a need to start at a better tempo as they’ve been allowing teams to come to Easter Road and dictate play.
United were allowed to get their foot on the ball and knock it about, it was all too easy and it allowed them to grow.
It’s exactly the opposite of what Hibs should be doing in front of a huge home support, they should be going for the opposition’s throat from the off. Hibs are just not doing that.
Dundee United are doing well, they have a manager in Tam Courts who understands the need to do the basics well.
The plan was clearly to nullify the likes of Martin Boyle, Scott Allan, Kevin Nisbet and Jamie Murphy and it worked. None of these guys played well.
You need to give credit to
Courts and his players, they came to Leith and did a job.
They were effective rather than brilliant and Hibs were, quite frankly, shocking.
Jack bared his fangs after the game and delivered some strong words but you can see where he’s coming from.
Some players appeared to be playing for themselves but it has to be all about the team.
On Saturday it was clear there were players doing their own thing and it’s not a good sign. You will never get results that way. Everyone needs to be pulling in the same direction.
I’m sure Jack would have been stripping paint off the walls after the game.
Losing three goals at home to a side who hadn’t won at Easter Road since 2014 was a bit of a doing.
Now they have two tough games against Aberdeen and Celtic. The Dons may be toiling but going to Pittodrie is never easy and they entertain Celtic at home to end the first quarter of the season.
A very promising and good start to the season is in danger of becoming a poor one.
Some of the Hibs players need to give their heads a wobble in terms of getting back to what they are good at.
It all starts with grafting and doing the basics well. They now need to go up to Pittodrie and put in a far better performance if they are to get a result.
Being accused of being lazy and selfish and showing the worst version of myself didn’t happen often when I played but it did on occasion.
When you are losing games, you can start playing for yourself and try to look as though you are trying for the fans by pulling the wool over their eyes. Hibs players should be warned, they won’t get away with that.