Hibs players given 'freedom' as frustrated gaffer Gray looks for complete performance against United

Be bold, be brave. Have faith, even when it feels like you’re banging your head against a brick wall. Because, sometimes, the wall breaks.

As David Gray looks to rally his troops for another home game laden with both possibilities and liabilities, the last thing he wants is to see players retreating into their shells. Hibs won’t get where they need to be – much, much further up the Scottish Premiership table - by playing it too safe.

So, sure, on the back of a clean sheet in Dingwall on Wednesday night, the back four and goalkeeper will be looking for similar levels of defensive discipline at Easter Road on Sunday afternoon. The spectre of that all too recent collapse at Tannadice, meanwhile, means there will be no chance of anyone in green-and-white underestimating the threat of Dundee United.

But Hibs still need to go out and win games. Not just wait for the other guys to lose.

“I don't want the players to play within themselves,” said Gray, by way of explanation, the former skipper adding: “There's a freedom to go and play, especially in the final third.

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“And to play with that belief that you're going to go and affect the game, especially what we've got in the dressing room and what we've got available to us. We need to be really maximising that. We've got a chance at home here where we can hopefully start the game on the front foot and really put a statement down this weekend.”

Admitting that he’s been reminding players of the many good things they did in the 3-2 defeat to United a fortnight ago, Gray said: “I think you have to always show the positives and the negatives from every game. It's about reflecting, and I say it all the time, it's about staying measured within it. It's very hard, especially straight after the game when the emotions are so high.

“You need to know when you're doing well, the situations, how you got to that point, for example, and take the confidence from it to make sure the players keep putting themselves in that position. Sometimes you might have to make 10, 15 runs into the box and not get the ball for that one time for it to fall to you. So I don't want the players to stop doing it.

“But we are doing a lot right in games at the moment, for a long period of games as well. We've talked a lot about individual errors or concentration or whatever it might be, especially towards the end of games in situations where we've been in control. 

“But that goes both ways. If we take our chances at the other end, there's less scrutiny that comes on you as a defensive unit towards the end of the game. 

“We know that, but we also know and believe how quickly it can change. So we need to full focus on that this weekend and as I've already said, at home game against Dundee United, it’s an opportunity for us to try and change it.

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"I think we're getting into the final third and creating a lot of chances. I'd have much more concern if we weren't doing that. We definitely need to be more clinical; that's something we've talked about and we're working hard at.

"The big thing for me is to keep getting the message across to the players that we need to keep putting ourselves in these positions to miss them and we need to keep doing that. "We need to keep working at it, keep putting ourselves in the positions to miss and hopefully, by working at it and continuing to do it, it will turn, and I'm sure it will turn quickly.

“The message for myself and the staff is about confidence and giving the players the belief and the freedom in the final third to go and express themselves - and that hasn't changed. I think we're getting there, to the point of creating the chances, and it's just that final bit.”