'Deflated' Hibs head for Belgrade via Dundee - and gaffer lays out recovery plan to compete on two fronts
Players aren’t ‘robots’ - and they need to be rallied after agonising Europa League exit
Belgrade via Dens Park may not be the most obvious route to next week’s Europa Conference League clash between Partizan and Hibs. Even for those happy to pick up a few connecting flights to satisfy the modern economic reality where MORE travelling actually costs the passenger less, the line has to be drawn somewhere.
But David Gray’s men have no choice. This is where the European/domestic grind begins in earnest. For however long it lasts.
Still leg weary and heart sore after last night’s agonising extra time Europa League loss to Midtjylland at Easter Road, Gray’s players won’t be troubled with information about Partizan just yet. Dundee away in their opening Scottish Premiership contest on Sunday must be their sole focus.
But the gaffer and his backroom staff have, rest assured, already been sizing up the team standing between Hibs and progress to the play-offs, as they look to make European group/league phase football for the first time in club history.
Analysts already up to speed on Partizan
“I think you’re always looking at potential teams you could face,” said Gray, when asked about Belgrade, the former club captain adding: “You have an eye across everything.
“The players aren't aware of any of that. That's the whole point of your analysis department.
“What we do as coaches, we're always preparing for what the possible outcomes could be. But right now, the attention will be all about Dundee and the players will be fully aware of what we're going to face there.”
European football adds to domestic grind
Going Thursday-Sunday-Thursday-Sunday for the next couple of weeks, with the potential for more to come as the reward for success, will already put a strain on the squad, Gray explaining: “We'll do everything we can to make it as easy as possible for the players. The one thing you want to always do is you want to make sure they're going into it as fresh as you can.
“The Belgrade game will take care of itself by the time we get to that. The plans will go in place to make sure we can get there the easiest way, the quickest way, that you stay over, all these things that come with that. You travel day early, but that will all take care of itself.
“Everything is geared up now towards Dundee. We'll make sure we get everybody with the game plan ready to go up there to make sure we try and win the game. Then we'll look forward to Thursday night in Europe again, which naturally the players will all be ready for.
“I think it's vital that you've got a strong squad. I think we demonstrated that a lot last season.
“The togetherness within it, especially when you're looking at the two ties we've just played there. We started the same side in both games. So you've naturally got players that are disappointed they're not playing.
“A lot of players who were all massive contributors last season, the ones that were here last season, will all be disappointed if they weren't playing in this game. So how do you deal with that?
“They deal with it by coming on and trying to affect the game in a positive way. We were so good at that last season.
“I think that collectiveness and the togetherness came from subs impacting games. I say it every week, the team that starts will never finish.
“So everybody needs to be ready to play. Everybody is good enough to play, which is why they're in the squad. That's why we've developed such a squad that is capable of fighting on two fronts, hopefully.”
Addressing the need to lift his players to face a Dundee side now under the management of former Hearts great Steven Pressley, Gray admitted that the Midtjylland loss took its toll, saying: “That's the challenge for myself and the staff.
“Because they're not robots. They gave absolutely everything there. They're flat, they're deflated, because they came so close.
“And the manner of the goal right at the very end makes it even harder to take. So it's very different if we're completely outplayed from a higher-level opposition, and then it's one of those ones where you can just move on quickly. I think, as I say, they came so close, they gave us absolutely everything, so it's difficult to just switch off and then just be like: ‘Oh, it's alright, we'll just move on to the next one.’
“So our job is to make sure we get around them, we rest, make sure the recovery is there, and the attention very quickly changes towards Dundee. So the fresh challenge of what that faces.
“Dundee will be a real tough test because they've got a new manager, they'll have new players that want to impress and have a different way of playing. We need to be ready for that challenge.”
Hibs injury news ahead of Scottish Premiership kick-off
The only fresh injury doubt for Sunday’s game is Nicky Cadden, who was introduced to the game late in regulation time. And then replaced by Kanayo Megwa at half-time in extra time.
Revealing details of the precautionary measure taken in the heat of European battle, Gray said: “Nicky just felt his hamstring. The way the game had went, we could make one more sub, but we couldn't stop the game, so it had to be done at half-time.
“So Nicky was feeling his hamstring a little bit, so we didn't want to take that extra risk, knowing that if it tightened up, then he wouldn't really be subbed off and we'd go down to 10 men. So we took the opportunity to change him at the end, and we'll just assess that.
“Because he obviously came on, he felt it a little bit, and hopefully it's not too bad. But there was definitely awareness in there, so we need to manage that.”