Abandon 4-4-2, lack of self-belief, give fringe players a shot - 3 talking points from Hibs' loss to Aberdeen

After losing a cup semi-final to their bitter rivals, Hibs might have wanted to go anywhere but a stadium where they last won in 2012.

A gutted Josh Doig pictured at the end of the match at Pittodrie

On the flip side, a big game to focus the players might have been the ideal tonic for moving on. In the end neither scenario mattered as Hibs twice shot themselves in the foot in the opening 15 minutes on Friday and effectively ended the game as a contest before 8pm.

Aberdeen didn't really have to leave second gear; Scott Wright was virtually ushered through the visiting defence to stroke home the first and only Ryan Porteous knows what he was doing in the lead up to Sam Cosgrove scoring the second.

Defensive errors aside, this was yet another big game in which Hibs failed to show their top-three credentials.

Time to ditch 4-4-2?

There is little point in shoehorning players into a formation that doesn’t suit them but the flat 4-4-2 appears to have run its course with this Hibs team.

There were signs last week against Hearts that teams are beginning to suss out how to play against Hibs, so surely the onus is on Jack Ross to identify a system that both suits his players and makes his side harder to play against.

He used a diamond formation and 3-5-2 last season while he has used the latter on occasion this term – could we see a return to one of those formations or, possibly, a totally different set-up?

Ross prefers his players to be able to change formations mid-match if necessary, so why not shake things up from the start?

Need to rediscover self-belief

Under Jack Ross Hibs have won four points out of a possible 27 against Aberdeen, Celtic, and Rangers. They’ve also lost twice to Hearts and based on form, should have won at least one of those.

With Neil Lennon at the helm and to a slightly lesser extent Alan Stubbs Hibs tended to look more of a match when facing the “big four”. Lennon also managed it in the European games against Asteras Tripolis and the away leg against Brondby.

If the Easter Road coaching staff pick one thing to work on in the wake of the meek defeat at Pittodrie they could do worse than helping the current crop find similar levels of self-belief for these types of games.

Give the fringe players a chance

Stevie Mallan and Drey Wright, who came off the bench against Aberdeen, have scored this season and it was Jamie Gullan, on as a late sub at Pittodrie, who forced Joe Lewis into a first proper save. Melker Hallberg hasn’t disgraced himself when he has been handed opportunities either.

All four players have spent more time on the bench than on the park this term and would surely relish the chance to stake a claim for a regular first-team berth at the expense of some of those guilty o below-par displays in recent weeks.

The Betfred Cup meeting with Dundee wouldn’t be a bad time for Jack Ross to have a look at an alternative starting XI rather than resting most of his regular starters.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.If you haven't already, please consider supporting our sports coverage with a digital sports subscription.