Let’s face it, Hibees have had a tough time over the past few weeks with the wheels falling off a promising start to the Premiership campaign following the recent trip to Ibrox which saw Hibs in full control of the match prior to a Ryan Porteous red card. The eventual 2-1 defeat has been superseded by apathetic displays against Dundee United (0-3), Aberdeen (0-1) and Celtic (1-3)
Jack Ross intimated the flak should be directed at himself rather than the players in the wake of Wednesday’s defeat to the Hoops which saw Hibs capitulate in the opening half hour to find themselves 3 behind without forcing the Hoops to work very hard for their lead.
Make no mistake, failure in the Highlands against a Ross County side on a high and hunting for a bigger scalp than that of Dundee whom they embarrassed 5-0 at Dens Park in midweek, will see the gaffer under huge pressure.
Many Hibs fans have already had enough of the former Sunderland boss and the amount of empty seats within Easter Road for the clash with Celtic was testament to the fact supporters are tired of watching a side heavily reliant on Martin Boyle. When the Australian international is on form, so are Hibs. Latterly he’s been flat, likewise the performances of the team.
There is apparently no plan B. Jamie Murphy who should star in the Scottish Premiership has offered little this campaign. His understudy is the lesser spotted Daniel McKay who was talked about as a future Scotland player by fans of Saturday’s Highland rivals Inverness Caley.
Jake Doyle Hayes started the season looking like Kevin Thomson in his prime yet, following injury, looks like KT in his third and final spell.
The engine room simply isn’t working despite the different permutations tried by Ross. Kevin Nisbet looks a shadow of the player who forced himself into Steve Clarke’s Euro 2020 squad and it can’t be coincidental his lack of goals and general standard of play have dropped with a midfield which has very little nous or creativity.
County will be confident after crushing Dundee and surely hell bent on gaining revenge against Hibs who inflicted a heavy 4-0 defeat on the Dingwall outfit at the start of the season, a performance inspired by the afore mentioned Boyle who terrorised their back line all afternoon.
Should the hosts inflict a fifth successive defeat on Hibs then Ross may well hear the discord from the support in very vocal terms.
