Pundit spots Marink Reedijk's Hibs domination plan but two costly moments show what's needed now
Hibs suffered another defeat at the weekend with the champions up next.
Alan Hutton believes a return to the basics are needed at Hibs to get Marink Reedijk’s era off the ground.
Two Jacob Murrell goals were enough for Falkirk to down the Dutchman’s side 2-1 in his first home game at Easter Road. It’s left Hibs bottom of the league with Celtic coming to Leith in their latest Premiership match, with fans voicing their concern at the end of the Bairns clash last Saturday.
Reedijk’s teams are set up to dominate the ball and elements of that were on show at the weekend. Two sloppy goals, one being opened up on the counter-attack and another coming off poor defending in his own half by Thibault Klidje, shows Hutton that certain things need stripped back to buy the gaffer breathing room to install his plan for dominating the ball.
What needs to change at Hibs?
Appearing on the Premier Sports Social Club, the former Scotland right-back said: “I just think it's not quite clicking, it's not coming together. Yes, he had the time in the international break, he's still going to need more time. I mean, that's obvious.
“You can tell that he wants to dominate games and he'll have possession. I mean, they had high possession stats for this game, but I just think when you're giving away sloppy goals as well, it's never going to help you. It's always going to put you on the back foot.
“It's a brilliant strike by Jacob Murrell but it's too easy. I mean, let's not take that away from it. I mean, it's a sloppy pass that leads to a ball in behind you and then it's a goal, and the second one's worse. Klidje down in the corner and he's backheeling it, not doing his defensive job right, and it leads to a goal. I just think the basics have to be done well.
Will Hibs finish in the top six?
“In an area like that, you cannot take that sort of risk. You're not in front in the game and then you make it more difficult for yourself. You've got a mountain to climb. And to be fair to them, Hibs, the way they want to play, they do want to dominate the ball. They do want to create lots of opportunities. I think they will get better the more time that the manager has.
”Unfortunately you need to win games now and they're on a slide downward at this moment in time. You see they're now bottom of the league and everything that comes along with that pressure starts mounting game to game. Listen, I do think they've got the squad to get themselves out of it.
“I've always said, I've always backed them, and thought the squad's been good enough to try and challenge for that top six. But they have to be better in what they're doing. Just at this moment in time, it just doesn't seem that it's totally clicking.
“I'm listening to the manager after it and you could tell that he was upset with certain aspects of the game. They just need to be better. They need to start winning games. It's not all about being the prettiest. It's about winning games.”
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