Old bad habits back to haunt Hughes’ men
John Hughes is praying the weather gods give Ross County a break so he can work on the costly deficiencies that came back to bite them against Dundee United.
The icy blast across the north has limited the new manager’s time on the full-size training ground lately and he felt there was plenty to work on after frailties were exposed in the second half.
Weakness on the counter-attack and a tendency to lose goals at set-pieces have haunted their season and resurfaced yesterday.
Hughes said: “I’m trying to analyse it. I felt United probably had the better firsthalf chances.
“Apart from that, we hung in there – and it was probably even-stevens in the first half apart from that.
“In the second half, we started really brightly and I thought ‘here we go’.
“It was everything we were asking, and then we shoot ourselves in the foot with the soft goal on the counter-attack.
“But even on the counter attack we need to be a little bit more streetwise, put our bodies in front and take a booking for the team.
“We get numbers back but when the ball comes in, he’s in – and it’s in the back of the net.
“After that, we lost our way a little bit, played back to front too much.
“The second one, once again, it’s a habit of ours. We’ve recognised it and looked at it.
“We brought everyone back but we still concede.
“What I’m hoping now is the weather picks up and we can get on that full-size pitch and get good work done going into the Hibs game.”
Courage is a trait Hughes believes he has plenty of in his squad, but he wants them to translate that into bravery on the ball.
He added: “We need to be better at a lot of stuff, including our passing – we need to look after it better.
“Now we’re trying to evolve and move it forward, I felt it would be us trying to dominate the ball.
“But to do that you have to be brave and get on the ball.”
“That’s the hardest thing to do in football and today, after that first goal, I just felt we played too straight – and right into their hands.”