David Gray has warned his sloppy Hibernian players that he can’t keep picking them if they continue making the sort of errors that cost them dearly once more as they were beaten by Celtic for the second time in a week.
Gray had spoken in the build up to the match at Celtic Park about the need for his men to cut out the lapses in concentration that have been the hallmark of a poor start to the season overall for the Easter Road outfit, but they were on display once more as the visitors gave Celtic a helping hand they hardly needed.
“I feel like I'm repeating myself here because of what happened last weekend,” Gray said.
“The way the game started, we were on the front foot right away, first time Celtic go forward, an individual error and then we lose the goal. Which is not good enough, especially with all the things we talked about pre-game.
“This is a tough enough test to come here at any time, but you can't give that level of that opposition a goal of a start.
“Then for the first 30 minutes until we find ourselves back in the game, from a set piece that was a good finish, good header, we get back into the game at that moment. But up until that point we had to tweak the system a little bit to become even harder to beat because at that point Celtic were completely dominating.
“We slipped back into what it was for the majority of the game last weekend. That really disappointed me.
“One mistake becomes two mistakes, we lose a goal again and from that point I thought Celtic were completely dominating again. We slipped back into that same mode again and right now it's just not acceptable for us.
“We need to coach the players and make sure we show them. One thing we can't continue to do is keep making them. I've already touched on pre-game as well, there is going to be more competition for places now.
“The squad is going to get stronger as the days and weeks go on. Everyone who is playing at the moment, has the level been good enough? No. We're not at the level right now
“So, I can't keep picking the same players that keep making mistakes all the time. At the same time, we can't continue to do the things we're doing.
“We know that it has been a tough start, but we keep making it tougher for ourselves by making mistakes, by not doing the things we're asking [the players] to do.”
Gray acknowledged that his players aren’t making errors deliberately, and that the mistakes they are making could be coming from a lack of confidence in some cases.
He won’t shy away though, he says, from delivering some home truths to his underperforming squad.
“Some players will need to be told straight,” he said.
“And at the same time, one thing we're always doing is we're trying to do it as constructively as possible.
"Because we want to try and, it is very early, we want to keep everyone together as much as we can and try and get back to where I believe we can be.”
