Neil Lennon tells '˜wasteful' Hibs to stop over-complicating chances

Hibs boss Neil Lennon has urged his players to stop trying to walk the ball into the net after watching them draw a blank against Aberdeen.
Neil LennonNeil Lennon
Neil Lennon

Lennon bemoaned the fact his side had 16 shots on goal but only three on target throughout the 90 minutes, while demanding more of his forward players who haven’t scored in the Easter Road club’s last three games.

The Capital club exerted such pressure on the Dons as they fought to hold onto the lead Gary Mackay-Steven’s first-half strike had given them that manager Derek McInnes was forced to bolster his defence by replacing midfield playmaker Ryan Christie with central defender Mark Reynolds for the closing minutes of the game.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

However, Hibs were unable to pick their way through a packed defence, leaving Lennon to argue there was nothing wrong with his team selection – the same XI as had drawn away to Celtic in their previous outing – but with their decision making and execution of the final pass.

Describing his side as “wasteful” in the final third, Lennon said: “If you can’t go through the centre, move the ball, move it wide and move it again. Or do what John McGinn did, take a shot. We did not get enough shots off. We took too long to do that.

Martin Boyle had two great chances to get shots off in the first half but he wanted to take an extra touch which wasn’t like him. At the end Danny Swanson was in a great position but knocked it out of play.

“They are over-thinking it a little bit but our football was good, we defended really well – I’m not sure Aberdeen forced a corner in the whole game. Our style of play was good, the attitude and energy were very good.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We’ve put in two very good performances [against Aberdeen and Celtic] and got one point, That’s the harsh reality of being in the Premiership. We have to make more of the opportunities we have and against lesser opposition, win the game.”

Hibs’ development squad face Partick Thistle at Airdrie’s Excelsior Stadium this evening, kick-off 6pm.