Pasties, Kevin Phillips, and how Hibs are using data to get the best out of Kevin Nisbet ahead of St Johnstone showdown

Lee Johnson looks relaxed as he fields questions in the lead-up to Hibs’ biggest game under his tenure, and why wouldn’t he?

Training has been good this week on the back of last weekend’s derby victory, injured players – minus the longer-term absentees – are slowly but surely returning to fitness and availability, and the club’s destiny with regards the top six is very much in its own hands. He laughs off the idea that he might be feeling tense ahead of it.

"I'm always looking forward to it. I was looking forward to last weekend as well, and we have to be positive. We're not going into the game with any fear. We need three points, not only to secure top six but to do more than that and get closer to Aberdeen in third. Obviously there's a lot that can go down at the weekend, but we've got to do our job,” he says.

“What we can't do is worry about the external factors: we can't control the state of the pitch or what Dundee United do, what Kilmarnock do, Livingston and anybody else. We have to focus on the moment. I have to make sure I get my substitutions right, that I set the boys up, that they've got clarity on the opposition, that they understand the best way to infiltrate their backline. All those things are really important to focus on and from that, that's where your confidence comes from.”

Lee Johnson wants more of the same from Kevin Nisbet

Will he be keeping track of the other matches – particularly Livingston, given what’s at stake?

"Listen, if we're up in the game comfortably, then no; but if there is something to consider, then of course I'll have to. But the focus will be on the winning the game. We've just got to do our job.”

For the second time in a week, Hibs are facing a team with an element of the unknown, in that the manager has been relieved of his duties and replaced by an interim boss. How does that affect the scouting reports?

“You get into the mindset of the managers in the league: which players they prefer, their go-to formation when the pressure is on. Normally you can pick the opposition’s team but with this one we don’t know the shape or personnel so it’s, ‘right lads, it’s our performance that matters’,” Johnson explains.

Johnson is looking forward to the St Johnstone clash, despite what is riding on the outcome

“They’re a big, physical, organised side, whether they play four or five at the back. We know an awful lot about the individuals and they have some real strengths. They go back to front very quickly – they're one of the quickest counter-attacking teams in the division – and they've got the likes of Stevie May, who's dangerous and a willing runner capable of disrupting and causing problems; they've got a solid group of players down the centre of the pitch and some bits of flair around the place like David Wotherspoon and Jamie Murphy."

Johnson will look for another big performance from Kevin Nisbet after his derby winner last week. The Easter Road boss delves into his own career back-catalogue to pick out an opposition striker who he feels Nisbet can emulate.

“Kevin has got a great goal-scoring record, but the bit I’m loving about his game most at the moment is when he is bringing people into play. He’s taking the ball off the line, pinning defenders,” Johnson says with enthusiasm. “There was a bit of technical work we had to do with him, and mental work, based on the injury he had, but you can see now he is rolling his hips into people, he is pinning them, he is a big strong lad anyway.

"I remember playing against Kevin Phillips who I thought was world-class; he had a low centre of gravity, dropped the shoulder, everybody was thinking he was going one way but he took a big touch then spun and stuck someone down the line, and there was a great example of Nisbet doing that during the Hearts game – I think Toby Sibbick was behind him and he absolutely went for a pasty on the back of that move. You can only do that if you have a great touch, great centre of gravity and spacial awareness and for me that shows a real high level of football IQ.”

Former Hibees David Wotherspoon and Jamie Murphy have been identified as two of the Saints' dangermen

Surely scoring ten goals in 14 matches demonstrates someone who should be knocking on the door of football Mensa, rather than just a high football IQ but Johnson insists the coaching staff have been working solidly to eke more out of the 26-year-old.

“It’s the player who puts the work in but we do our best as a coaching staff to higtihlight as many things as possible. A couple of games ago we felt he could have been working a little harder, so we presented him with a set of data of Premier League strikers and how hard they work and how he needs to get to that as quickly as possible.

“You are permanently trying to cajole them and push them and put your arm around them. Kevin is someone who needs that sense of belonging. I think he knows that we believe in him, and therefore he has to be professional enough to allow us to push him to bring his best as much as we possibly can.”

If Nisbet can replicate, or even better, his derby performance at McDiarmid Park, Johnson won’t have to keep an eye on the other scorelines. But given how inconsistent Hibs have been this season there is that deep-lying fear among sections of the support that everything is set up for a spectacular fall.

As Johnson said last week, Hibs have let down the fans on too many occasions. The derby went part way to making up for it but securing that top-six berth with relative comfort would, you suspect, go down nearly as well.