Easter Road side are bottom of the table - where is next win coming from?
Once again, boos from those Hibs fans who stayed to the bitter end at Easter Road rattled through the empty seats. They had just watched their team slip to the foot of the Premiership.
Sitting tenth going into Saturday’s 2-1 defeat by Falkirk, that result - coupled with Kilmarnock defeating Motherwell 3-2 - condemned Hibs to bottom spot after nine rounds of fixtures in the league.
Of course it is early days, but Hibs have gone from a team that two months ago so nearly qualified for the Conference League against Gent to looking like relegation strugglers. Make no mistake, the immediate focus for all at Easter Road is to quickly get out of the mire.
Easier said than done for a team that is in freefall. The defeat by Falkirk was their seventh consecutive home league loss and new head coach Marink Reedijk is asking a morale-sapped group of players to play a very different style of football than under his predecessor David Gray.
Hibs were already regressing under Gray, so dismissing the club legend - no matter how painful - had plenty of backing. Many Hibbies wanted change, although the hope was that it wouldn’t look quite like this.
Overcoming Falkirk was deemed vital, as it would have moved Hibs away from the drop zone and breathe some life into a team desperately needing resuscitated ahead of big games - chiefly Hearts in the Premier Sports Cup on November 1.
That semi-final at Hampden is looming large and on present evidence, Hibs will do well to avoid a bit of a hiding against their in-form capital counterparts at a stadium where they have been humiliated before by their nearest rivals. Reedijk needs that match like a hole in the head.
While Hibs did look slightly better than last week’s defeat by Dundee United at Tannadice, the two goals they conceded to Falkirk striker Jacob Murrell were borne out of individual mistakes. Azeem Abdulai’s woeful control led to the first, and then the second came from an ill-judged backheel on the touchline from Thibault Klidje.
Hibs commit men forward and want to play heavy metal football. As a result, they leave themselves terribly open at the back - and their defence right now simply isn’t strong enough to cope. Reedijk, a 35-year-old Dutchman with an admiration for Jurgen Klopp, doesn’t seem like one who will change his ways.
‘Thieves of their own wallets’
Reedijk reckons Hibs were the “thieves of their own wallets” once again - and he is right. Hibs saw plenty of the ball, missed some good chances and lacked a killer touch. Owen Elding did net just before half time on the back of a nice move involving Klidje and Felix Passlack, but because they are so fragile right now, one goal won’t be enough to get Hibs victories.
Read through Hibs’ squad and on paper, it is laced with players more than good enough to flourish in the Premiership. Passlack, Elding, Martin Boyle, Jamie McGrath, Miguel Chaiwa and Josh Mulligan are probably the envy of all managers outside of the top three. The latter two, in particular, are not in form and Hibs don’t have the right blend in midfield.
While Hibs have had some successful transfer windows recently, last summer’s wasn’t one of them. Some supporters’ ire is fully trained on sporting director Malky Mackay, who they feel has left the squad malnourished and imbalanced. It is not equipped to immediately play Reedijk’s style of football. His methodology will take time for the players to learn - if indeed they ever fully grasp it.
Hibs can do nothing more until January in terms of recruitment. They will need to stumble on, trying to pick up enough points in the next two months to stay on the tails of those above them. Optically, being bottom of the league brings its own challenges, but five points separate fifth-placed St Johnstone and the foot of the table. We are nowhere near crisis point yet.
Nevertheless, Hibs’ next match is at home to Celtic. The champions will be warm favourites to prevail. Then it’s a trip to St Mirren and then that clash with Hearts. Winning that one would supercharge everyone around Easter Road, but on all available evidence, that seems unlikely. Opponents are relishing facing Hibs right now. Just listen back to Falkirk head coach John McGlynn, who said pre-match he had identified ways to hurt them and then post-match basked in the glory of vindication.
Reedijk cannot yet be properly judged after two matches. He has inherited a bit of a mess, with fan discontentment rising. On Thursday, Hibs banned ultras group Block Seven for bad behaviour. They weren’t overly missed against Falkirk but being at loggerheads with a prominent section of the fanbase is never a good look for either party.
Only victories can help Hibs out of this situation. The problem is that right now, they are hard to come by.
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