Paul Hanlon is adamant Hibs’ European exploits are no excuse for their lacklustre Premiership start.
A 2-1 defeat away at Motherwell on Sunday ensured the Easter Road side have picked up zero points from their opening two league matches. Afterwards, manager Lee Johnson said his team lacked ‘zip’ at Fir Park after a pulsating 3-1 win over Luzern in their Conference League third-round qualifying first leg the previous Thursday.
A week earlier, they went down 3-2 at home to St Mirren after another big night of continental action. Club captain Hanlon, though, insists Hibs should be able to juggle multiple commitments without so much difficulty.
“I think that’s an easy excuse,” he said. We’ve got so many facilities, we’re in every day.
“As soon as one game finishes we’re in recovering and preparing for the next fixture. The manager and the staff are drumming it in how important it is to get points on the board.
“It’s an easy way to look at it, you assume that’s the case but I don’t think it is.
“I suppose it is [hard physically] but you go through spells of that during the season anyway when there’s midweek or cup games coming up. We’re all used to having midweek games.
“The travel aspect comes into it playing in Europe but I don’t want that to be an excuse because we’ve got all the facilities at the training ground, nutritionists and everyone to help us.
“Even training is cut down a lot just now because of the demands of the games. We just need to be better on the pitch, defensively and, especially today, offensively.
“That’s what happens when you’re not, in this league.
“Not a lot went right for us, especially in an attacking sense. There wasn’t much of a threat in the game, we didn’t test their goalie enough.
“We were solid enough in the first-half and a couple of errors cost us in the second. We made it a difficult afternoon and didn’t show anywhere near enough quality and composure on the ball, or trickery and creativity to test their keeper.
“It was a difficult day.”
Hibs lead Luzern 3-1 heading into Thursday’s second leg in Switzerland knowing that the reward for the winner is a glamorous two-legged tie with Aston Villa for the right to reach the group stage, and he knows another colossal showing is required to get the job done.
A goal on the night would be incredibly important for the Hibees, with the centre-back certain they have the capability not only to defend their precious lead, but extend it.
“We’ve got more than enough quality in the squad to do that,” he said. “Again, a big physical effort will be required but we’re ready and excited for it.
“We had to show a bit of character after the St Mirren game to bounce back on Thursday, and we managed to do that. You want to keep that going but it’s another one where we’ll have to dig deep, we know what we’ll face on Thursday.
“It’s going to be a difficult match again and we need to pick ourselves to be ready for it. It is exciting for the fans as well.
“We’ve put ourselves in a good position and we want to capitalise on that. It’s going to be a really difficult game, they’re a good side and we need to be physically and mentally ready.”
