Embattled Hibs boss playing risky game as he vows not to 'give up' on players

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If Gray doesn’t ditch dead wood, will board show similar patience?

Hibs are smack dab in the middle of a bona fide crisis. A full-blown calamity at risk of becoming a catastrophe.

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However adamant David Gray may be in his refusal to “give up” on some of the players responsible for this predicament, the rookie head must know that it’s time to either start pitching some dead weight overboard – or risk being jettisoned into the abyss himself. That’s how impactful today’s self-destructive loss to Motherwell was, tipping a team on the brink of real progress towards a potential breaking point.

Brutal honesty is required if Hibs are to have any chance, however remote, of finishing this season in a position befitting their stature in the Scottish game. A team who cannot capitalise on a dominant performance, squandering chances and failing in their most basic defensive duties, will struggle to make the top six. Never mind getting involved in the race for European football.

Gray, talking openly about the failings that saw his team concede two set-piece goals and finish the game with 10 men after Nectar Triantis picked up a daft second yellow card, was asked afterwards what he could possibly do, as a coach, to prevent his players from making so many costly errors. At some point, they have to be responsible for their own actions, right?

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“Well, I think, first of all, you look at the set-up,” he said, adding: “And is it set up right? Have we given the players enough information? And then in that situation, it's up to the players to then carry through the job.

“As I've already touched on, if you've been asked to do a job, you need to do the job as best you can. You need to make sure you stay goal-side, and you do everything you possibly can to defend the goal. That's the fundamentals of football, the basics of football.

Gray makes the long walk off the pitch after today's agonising loss.Gray makes the long walk off the pitch after today's agonising loss.
Gray makes the long walk off the pitch after today's agonising loss. | SNS Group

“And if we can't do the basics of football, it's going to be a long afternoon at times. And I think that's clear where we need to improve from that point of view.

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“But it's not as if that's been a big issue in previous weeks. It's in these moments we need to be on red alert to make sure that we're not giving up opportunities from them.”

Players not doing the basics seems like grounds for being dropped, right? Having stuck with the starting XI who performed so well in a 1-0 loss to Rangers at Ibrox, Gray was entitled to expect better from his men. And would be perfectly justified in ringing the changes before the next game after a long, long international break.

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“If you can't do the basics, then you'll never be successful,” he said. “So there's players waiting, ready to come all the time. I think I was asked the question earlier about do you give up on players.

“You never give up on anyone. My job is to try and make every single player better and I'll continue to do that as best I can every single day.

“But my job is also to try and get a winning formula on the football pitch. And I know I need to do that and find a way to do that as quickly as I can.

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“No, you certainly don't give up on anybody. Not at all. It's a collective. We win or we lose all together. When you look at, again, the goals we've lost today, it was switching off at set-pieces. It was, obviously, where we need to improve.”

Admitting that the gap between this loss and the next opportunity to put things right, away to Dundee United on October 19, will feel like an eternity after suffering such a sickener, Gray said: “Yes, it does. It makes it probably feel a lot longer. But it does give us time to make sure we put these right.

“Because as I've just touched on there, I can talk about individuals and performances and areas where we need to improve. We need to start winning games of football quickly. That's the thing. We know that.“

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“Where this club needs to be and where we believe we should be, we've not got enough points on the board, that's for sure.”

The midfield need to take a great deal of responsibility for what went wrong today. Even disregarding the ill discipline of Triantis getting himself sent off. On that, incidentally, why would ANY player try to dive and win a free-kick or penalty in this age of VAR, when you know you’ll get caught?

Josh Campbell had a personal nightmare with the first goal, giving away the free-kick after a heavy first touch, then losing the goal scorer as the set piece was rolled into the box. Hyeokkyu Kown getting on the wrong side of Andy Halliday for the winner, meanwhile, is about as bad as it gets.

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Every goal conceded is a dirt sandwich, though. And everyone on the pitch has to take a bite. Including central defenders who might have cleared the danger of Kofi Balmer’s well-telegraphed long throw-in; the fact that Gray had warned his players about, and prepped them for, that weapon left him feeling particularly frustrated.

As annoying to the head coach, though, was the inability of his team to put away chances. Chris Cadden and Myko Kuharevich, he’s talking about you.

“It's hard to re-enact that game situation,” said Gray, on the subject of finishing. “But you try and practice as much as you can. I would be much more concerned if you weren't creating any chances at all. But they're big moments in big games at big times in the game. I keep saying the same thing, but these are big chances at big times.

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“It's a confidence thing as well. I think even Myko’s when you see him in the first half, it's a good save for the goalkeeper. But a bit more conviction in that moment when he's heading in. The goalkeeper shouldn't have the opportunity to save that

.“He knows that. Disappointed with it. But we just need to keep working as hard as we can to improve on it.”

That’s part of the problem, of course. Everybody at East Mains is already working hard. If lack of effort were the issue, well, that would be a horrifying thought for everyone at Hibs.

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If all the endless graft and repeated drilling still can’t prevent guys from engaging in shenanigans and tomfoolery when serious situations arise, there’s only one option left to a manager. Make difficult decisions. Give up on players if that’s what it takes. Before someone further up the food chain decides a more drastic change is required.

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