Hibs caught in 'sensational' Fir Park trip as Easter Road hero sends loss verdict after three key elements stripped back
The former Hibs and Celtic man was waxing lyrical about Motherwell’s performance against the Leith side.
After Hibs’ 2-0 defeat to Motherwell at Fir Park on Tuesday night, The Steelmen have been labelled ‘the best football team in the league’.
In a match that was dominated from start to finish by the hosts, they took an early lead through a penalty from league top scorer, Tawanda Maswanhise, who converted from the spot after a controversial Grant Hanley handball. Elijah Just doubled Motherwell’s lead in the 22nd minute, before things went from bad to worse for Hanley, as he was red carded for denying Maswanhise a goal-scoring opportunity.
From the half hour mark onwards, Hibs struggled to get a touch of the ball against their Lanarkshire opponents, who made some tactical changes to close the game out. Former Hibs midfielder, Scott Allan believes Jens Berthel Askou got it spot on against David Gray.
Allan left in awe of ‘Sensational’ Steelmen performance
Speaking on BBC Sportsound’s Scottish Football Podcast, the East Kilbride coach and Easter Road favourite said: “They were sensational and I'm talking about their performance. There was times you have to clap at some of the stuff that was going on. For me, I've watched them on the TV but that was the first time I'd seen them live. I think they are the best football team in the league.
“I don't think they have the best players, but I think they're the best football team. In fact, they are the best football team you watch in the league which is a credit to the manager. They set up completely differently last night, targeting Hibs' weaknesses.”
Allan also believes that in addition to targeting the weaknesses of The Hibees, Askou also completely nullified any attacking threat Gray’s side could throw at them, in what was a master stroke from Motherwell’s Danish coach.
‘Unlucky not to go away with three or four goals on the night’
He continued: “They also took away all the good things Hibs do. Whether that was the Cadden brothers putting crosses into the box, blocking the space behind for Boyle to run into the channels or Mulligan's running power from midfield. They took all that away.
“It was purely down to the shape and how the manager set his players up. Then at the same time as all that, some of the football was just sensational. They were unlucky not to go away with three or four goals on the night.
“Hibs will be really disappointed, but they just couldn't get to grips with it. They set up all week expecting Motherwell to have a four at the back and they found out after half an hour that it was something different. So that's also the difficult thing for David Gray, because they hadn't changed all season before that but they changed it last night and it was arguably their performance of the season for me.”