Hibs: Shaun Maloney's first 100 days as manager - ups and downs, signs of progress, the future

It has been 100 days since Shaun Maloney was appointed manager of Hibs, succeeding Jack Ross and tasked with overhauling the Easter Road side’s season.

The 39-year-old has been able to start implementing his own ideas and strategy, including bringing in some of his own players, but he has also been hamstrung by injuries, suspensions, and problems in the final third.

Despite that, he has taken Hibs up the table from where they were when he came in, and navigated three tricky Scottish Cup ties to set up a mouthwatering Edinburgh derby meeting at Hampden.

Fourth in the Scottish Premiership is still possible but Hibs will need to be at their best in the remaining matches in the league.

Shaun Maloney has spent 100 days in charge of Hibs. Picture: SNS Group

League performance

There have been some good performances – Dundee United away on Boxing Day, Hearts at Easter Road in early February – and some not so good, such as the home defeat by Livingston and the draw with St Johnstone at the start of March.

The departure of Martin Boyle in January was a blow and his absence is perhaps reflected in certain results. The number of goalless draws is a concern and had Hibs managed to take three points instead of one point from the games against Dundee, St Johnstone or Motherwell back in January, they would surely be sitting in a better position in the table.

It is feasible that results might have been better without a lengthy injury list and suspensions for key players but there is equally an argument that with the players still available, Hibs should have performed better in some matches. Perhaps that might be put down to the squad adapting to a new style of play.

Cup hopes

Hibs are one game away from the Scottish Cup final, with city rivals Hearts standing between them and a second final appearance of the season. Hibs had to dig deep to see off Cove Rangers in the fourth round while the fifth-round victory over Arbroath was hard-fought but a bit more comfortable.

The quarter-final success at Motherwell was perhaps aided by the Fir Park side losing Bevis Mugabi in the opening stages but it should have been a more convincing scoreline given the chances and man advantage.

Why should the semi-final be different? Hibs have some key players already back – Paul Hanlon, Joe Newell – and could have more options such as Harry Clarke available, while their two previous visits to Hampden this term have been among their better performances. They also tend to perform better in ‘big’ games, and matches don’t come much bigger than facing Hearts and, if they progress, Celtic or Rangers in the final.

Hibs have underachieved in the cup tournaments in recent years. Maloney has a real chance to make his own bit of history with the club but also to dispel some of those rumours about the side choking in key matches.

League vs cup?

In 2016 Hibs won the Scottish Cup for the first time in 114 years. Such an historic result meant fans barely cared that the side were facing a third consecutive season in the Scottish Championship and had lost the League Cup a couple of months previously.

Maloney may not have that luxury. Top six has to be the bare minimum but after last season’s third-place finish supporters may view anything less than fourth – regardless of cup performance – as underachieving at best and failure at worst.

Generally speaking, the majority of fans would appear to be a bit more accepting of elimination from a cup when coupled with a good performance. There almost certainly won’t be the same level of understanding this season.

Positives and negatives

Perhaps the biggest turnaround has been defensively. Under Ross in 2021/22, Hibs were conceding an average of 1.25 goals per game. Under Maloney that has fallen to 0.92. Fewer silly goals are being lost.

Most of the signings have also made a difference. Rocky Bushiri has helped shore up the defence, Sylvester Jasper has gone some way to helping fill the Boyle void, and there are high hopes for Harry Clarke and Elias Melkersen. The average of the team has come down too.

In terms of less positive aspects, we can’t escape how toothless Hibs have been in the final third since the turn of the year. The loss of Boyle, injury to Kevin Nisbet, and various other factors have left Hibs light in attack and although Chris Cadden, Jake Doyle-Hayes, and Mitchell have all chipped in, a lack of goals – just five league strikes in 2022 – has rendered Hibs lopsided.

Strong defensively, suspect offensively so far – although Maloney knows this and has pledged to recruit wisely come the summer.

The future

Ultimately it feels unfair to fully judge Maloney until he has had a chance to bring in more of his own players and implement more of his ideas. We shouldn’t forget that he is a young manager in his first senior role but clearly had something about him that prompted the Hibs hierarchy to make an approach.

The players have been receptive to his training methods and how he wants to play the game. Appropriately enough as the weather turns more Spring-like, there have been green shoots of progress at Easter Road.

Maloney will be given time to make this team his own. He has talked regularly of the project at Hibs; what he wants to do and where he wants to take the team. The summer will be big for Hibs. Not just in terms of recruitment but for injured players getting a full pre-season and having more time to work on new ideas and tactics.

Until then Maloney has eight, possibly nine games to win over more fans who remain unconvinced by what they have seen so far.

To his credit he has not sought to make excuses, but he needs to coax that little bit more from his players to ensure a positive end to the season.

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