Exclusive:Hibs ace has 'high hopes' dashed - but Euro qualification dream still driving star midfielder's team spirit
Chaiwa credits Easter Road team-mates for early impact in Scottish Premiership
By any measure, Miguel Chaiwa has been a hit for Hibs. Just don’t try convincing the 21-year-old that his debut season in Scottish football has been a success.
For Chaiwa, the team is everything. Praise for his own performances is deflected by passing credit to the players around him. Every topic of conversation comes back to disappointment over his inability to help Hibs build on last season’s remarkable turnaround.
Asked outright how he feels this first campaign in the SPFL has gone, the Zambian international declared: “I would say not as I expected, not the way I expected it, because we were having so many high hopes that we were going to try to achieve something this season. But unfortunately we have not achieved exactly what we wanted to.
“My first year in Scotland is so far, so good, you might say, on a personal level. That is all because of my team-mates, who have been always helping me, encouraging me, trying every day to push me to become better. So I cannot complain.
“But, despite this, I cannot be happy with our position at the moment. So I just have to dig in deep and work extra hard.”
Three straight defeats to Aberdeen, Hearts and then Celtic, with Hibs unable to keep 11 men on the pitch for more than 20 minutes in each of those losses, have certainly darkened the mood around East Mains and Easter Road. Red cards for Grant Hanley, Raphael Sallinger, Felix Passlack and, most recently, Jamie McGrath speak to a team struggling for accuracy.
Chaiwa, who played 80 minutes in the 2-0 loss at Pittodrie, then completed the full 90 – plus injury time – as nine-man Hibs lost the Edinburgh derby, before putting in another full-game shift at home to Celtic on Sunday. It’s a miracle the kid can stand up, never mind run around, given the miles he’s put in over recent weeks.
‘Shock’ over red card in Celtic loss
Again, though, he brushes aside questions about personal fatigue, instead focusing on the group. And admitting that there was a collective sense of “shock” when players saw McGrath, not noted for his thunderous challenges, flying into Alistair Johnston to pick up an obvious red card so early in Sunday’s defeat.
“I must say it's been very, very difficult for the team, because obviously playing against 11 with nine men and then ten, and looking at the Hearts game and then Celtic, what happened, it's really, really been difficult for us,” said Chaiwa. “And we have to sacrifice for the team, so it's difficult for us.
“I don't know what to say except that it makes things hard for everyon. When you play against a big club like Celtic, with a lot of expectation, you think you can do well.
“But the red card, playing against an extra man against a team who know how to use the ball, it’s really, really difficult. We had to work so hard.
“Another red card, yes. Sometimes football can be like this, you never know, you never predict, because any slight mistake can happen.
“Because we all know Jamie, he's not a person who will go into those tackles. So for us it was a shock as well, but we just have to forget this one and focus on the next one.”
The odds are stacked against Hibs in the race to finish fourth in the Scottish Premiership. Although fifth might be enough to secure back-to-back European qualification for the first time in half a century; for that to happen, they need Celtic to beat Dunfermline in this month’s Scottish Cup Final at Hampden.
Midfield star’s Euro glory moment in Warsaw
With Falkirk just two points behind David Gray’s men in the standings, though, an away victory over the Bairns this weekend would go a long way to securing that second chance at the UEFA Conference League. And allow Chaiwa, who enjoyed his own European glory moment in Warsaw way back in August, to dream of a return to continental competition.
“You know, it would be amazing to get back into European football, however it happens,” said the former Young Boys midfielder. “We’re trying. You never know, because the season is still going.
“With the remaining games, we have to push. We have to give everything.
“Now it’s tricky. Because these last three games, we were not supposed to drop any points if we really wanted to climb the table. Now we need to focus on the next one, trying to grab three points and see what happens.”