WHEN someone makes use of the old cliche and insists it'll be all right on the night, it's a sure sign that rehearsals have not been going well. For Mixu Paatelainen there has been little alternative but to coin the theatrical phrase. Everyone knows Hibernian's pre-season friendlies have not gone well, and the manager, eager to maintain a positive outlook, has to hope that things will fall into place when his team take the field at Rugby Park this afternoon.
The match against Kilmarnock will begin Paatelainen's first full season in charge of Hibs, but he does not yet have a full first team which is identifiably his. He had looked for a bigger turnover, with more players leaving and perhaps a couple more
coming in, but instead has had to remain patient in what has been a fairly depressed transfer market.
Still, while he may not yet be at the point of fielding a side which he has built up himself, the Finn is at least confident that the present squad is on the same wavelength as him. Even during the defeat at Clyde, he says he did not doubt his ability to get through to the players, and did not fear that some of them had turned against them.
"We always analyse things, so there's no way they could not have understood something," he insists. "I feel there's no fairer manager than I am. I always listen to the players, I have chats with the players regularly regarding training, because it's important they're comfortable with what they're doing.
"I'm not asking players to like me. I'm just trying to be a manager that when I was a player I would respect.
"You have to be fair. You have to be honest, straight, strict, demanding . . . "
The example he uses to illustrate how to deal with players is that perennially tricky topic for managers, what to say to someone who has been dropped. "There's always an answer why somebody is not playing. There's always a reason.
"When I was a player I'd ask why I'd been left out of the team, and I'd sometimes get the answer 'Ah, you've been very unfortunate, you're a big part of my plans' and all that.
"There's always a real reason, and I think it's very important to let a player know. Respect comes from that. It can hurt a player when you tell him, but it's very important.
"And it's important that you're honest, that you keep your line. You don't tell one person one thing and another person something different."
Idolised by the Hibs support during his two spells as a player with the club, Paatelainen does not command unanimous support as a manager, with some fans being unhappy with his preferred style of play. Unapologetic, he insists there is method to what he is trying to do.
"I know why some supporters think we play a long-ball game, because I've said we must be a little more direct. We must pass it forward.
"But any time a player just lumped the ball forward, I'd shout and say stop that. Because you have to pass the ball man to man.
"But what's the point passing it round and round in your own half? Your opponents fall asleep. I want our players to pass it forward, and pass it in a controlled manner."
It remains to be seen how many more changes in personnel there are at Easter Road before the transfer window shuts. Even if there is no further activity, however, Paatelainen is sure Hibs are in with a shout of finishing third.
"I think we can (do it]. We have a good enough squad to do that. Yes, everything has to go really well for us, but that can happen.
"I was hoping that more players would have left, definitely. It hasn't happened, but I feel we've been successful on the transfer front.
"The team was not good enough last season. We're better now, but we still need to improve. Some areas are still weak.
"Our target for the season is to improve. Last season we finished sixth, and if we improve on that we're not too far away from a European place. It would be fantastic to qualify for Europe again.
"Whether it is third or fourth or fifth, who knows? We were third at one point (last season] and it was in our hands. That's what makes it very disappointing we didn't do better than that last season."
The full article contains 763 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
