Angry Hibs manager Jack Ross slams players after 2-0 defeat by Aberdeen
Hibs’ under-performing players were left in no doubt about manager Jack Ross’ opinion of a display that saw them gift Aberdeen two early goals and all three points as the Pittodrie side leapfrogged them into third place in the Premiership.
“I am annoyed and irritated and I have told them that,” said the disgruntled Hibs boss after he watched his side notch up back-to-back defeats for the first time this season with a 2-0 loss. “They have had a lot of praise and protection from me and they need to be big enough to take some criticism.
“We didn’t play well enough to win the game. So, while I am usually very protective of my players, I am scathing of them tonight.”
Two blunders allowed Aberdeen to net fifth and 12th-minute goals, courtesy of Scott Wright and Sam Cosgrove, but while those mistakes irked Ross, he was just as angry at the lack of penetration his side displayed.
“At the start of the game individual errors cost us and after that we huffed and puffed but we didn’t have a real conviction about our play that we should have and if we want to go and compete with Aberdeen, Rangers and Celtic then we need to be better than we were tonight,” said Ross. “We also need to be stronger than we were tonight.
“If we had produced that performance against any opposition I would have been disappointed by it.
“Aberdeen are a team to measure ourselves against and we have spoken about what Derek [McInnes, Aberdeen manager] has done with his team. I don’t think we were a hundred million miles away in terms of levels, but our conviction needs to be stronger.
“I don’t want people to say you came up here and played well in spells but you lost the game. That is no use to me. I want us to be a team who competes and tries to get ahead of Aberdeen.
“We have made great strides this season but this was a wee bit of a step back. We had possession but we didn’t have conviction and belief we would score and we didn’t force Joe Lewis into a save until the 94th minute.”