Mentality key to win run-in race for Cadden
ST JOHNSTONE V HIBERNIAN
Month yesterday after netting seven times in as many games in February, has to improve areas of his game. However, he fully expects the French forward to do so.
“He’s a top player in terms of his intelligence and the ability he has,” he said. “He has a really good footballing brain. The one thing he needs is a killer instinct and we’ve spoken with him about this.
“Top strikers are all killers – they get goals by putting themselves in there all the time to do that. He’s still a young player so he’s still developing that side of his game. But in terms of the tools and attributes he possesses, he already has what the top players have.
“Over time and with experience, he can develop.
But that will come for Odsonne with maturity. He has to continue using what he has and maximising it. When he turns it on it’s obvious for everyone what he can do, but doing it consistently takes you up to another level.”
Kennedy continued: “That is what he has got to strive for. You have got to maximise what you have got as a player. He has to make sure that come performance time he turns it on and maximises what he has got. If he does that he will be exceptional.
“That is what will take him to the top because I think he has got everything he needs to do that, I genuinely do. I am not just saying that because I am working with him. He knows he has got talent, he knows he has got ability.
“He is very quiet and can be a bit laid back at times. But I see how he works and I have seen Virgil working and I have seen Moussa working and all the top guys. He has got as much quality and talent as them, easily.”
CHRIS CADDEN knows what it is like to win a run-in race against Aberdeen. But, since his sole memory is of the celebratory bus journey home, he confesses he has few lessons that will prove useful to Hibernian in the coming weeks.
Cadden, still only 17, had just broken into the Motherwell side when they pipped Aberdeen by two points to finish second in the Premiership with a final day victory at Pittodrie in
2014. Fast forward seven years and the Dons are again the challengers as Hibs attempt to stay in third place and qualify for Europe.
“That was a great year for me,” he said. “I was on the bench the day we secured second up at Aberdeen. That was an unbelievable experience and that team was great as well.
“I haven’t really thought about whether I can bring anything here from that experience but I’ll do anything I can to help the team get as high as possible. If I’m being honest, I just remember the bus home from Aberdeen being unbelievable!
“We were really good and hard to beat. That was our plan and we went up and won 1-0 with the last kick of the ball or something [a 90thminute winner from Craig Reid].”
Victory over Betfred Cup champions St Johnstone this afternoon would go a long way to helping Hibs stay tucked in behind Rangers and Celtic at the top of the table. Having slipped up twice in cup semifinals this season, however, Cadden is fully aware getting themselves over the finishing line is likely to be as much about what they have between the ears as in the feet.
“I’ve always said that the mental aspect is so important in football, especially as you’re challenging higher up,” he said. “The higher you get, the more mentally challenging it is. You can have all the football in the world but if you’ve not got it up there, mentally, it’s going to be difficult.
“So, mentality is so important and that’s something the gaffer tries to instil in us. There’s a really good group here who have that, I feel. That’s something I noticed when I came in here, players wanting to win,
wanting to get as high up [the table] as possible.”
Hibs would have been forgiven for watching Saints lift the cup last Sunday with a sense of what might have been. Streets ahead early on in January’s semi-final at Hampden, they suffered an astonishing collapse to lose 3-0. Revenge will not be uppermost in their minds in Perth, however, insists Cadden.
“It was difficult watching the Betfred Cup final,” said the twice-capped 24-year-old, who admits he is eyeing a Scotland recall after impressing since joining Hibs in January. “It was an opportunity lost for us and it still hurts. It was hard to get over, but we don’t need any extra motivation.
“We are where we are in the league and this is a big opportunity for us. We know that and the gaffer knows that. He is telling us all of the time. Whether it is St Johnstone, Motherwell, Hamilton, we know what is at stake and will be trying to do what we can.”
Hibs will be coming up against a striker in form though, with Guy Melamed having scored five goals with three assists in his last six starts.
Saints boss Callum Davidson is all too aware that with Melamed’s deal set to expire at the end of the season, he needs to move quickly to tie him down on a longer contract.
Davidson revealed that discussions are under way to get contract extensions for a number of players and a home win this afternoon, he believes, could have big ramifications on that front.
“It has been a massive thing for us and we are desperate to get players tied up long term,” he said. “We want them to stay. What we need to do is get as many points on the board because the more we get, the better position I will be in to offer contracts to players.
“League position is a factor in getting contracts sorted so that will become clear sooner rather than later.”