WHEN does a malaise become a crisis? Mixu Paatelainen, for one, must be hoping he does not find out any time soon.
No-one at Easter Road is pressing the panic button just yet. The Hibernian manager still hopes to sign another player before the transfer window closes tonight, and in any case, with a win and a draw from their four league games to date, the presen
t squad are just about keeping their heads above water.
But merely remaining afloat is hardly a lofty ambition for a club which was challenging towards the top of the table last season, and won a trophy the one before that. Paatelainen obviously wants more than that, and so does a support which has seen no tangible reward, other than that CIS Cup victory, come the way of a club which has probably produced more young talent than any of its rivals over the past decade.
What is not obvious so far is how ambitious the club itself is. We may have our answer today if a sizeable sum is splashed out on a new recruit, but so far Hibs fans are not overly optimistic. There may have been only a few hundred who felt strongly enough at the conclusion of this defeat to invite club chairman Rod Petrie to absent himself in no uncertain terms, but to that vocal minority can be added the tacit disapproval of a larger number who are simply not turning up.
Individual players may get it in the neck for errors, and Paatelainen might get some abuse if, for example, he is slow to make substitutions which some fans see as overdue, but on the whole the Hibs support appear convinced that their team and manager are doing pretty much all they can. They need reinforcements, and Petrie and his colleagues are the ones who will decide whether they get them.
"We're working hard on the transfer front," Paatelainen said after the match. He declined to talk specifically about a possible return to Easter Road for Celtic outcast Derek Riordan, and also declined to name which players had been the subject of his inquiries. There was one piece of positive news for Hibs fans, however, when the manager stated that Steven Fletcher was not one of those who had attracted interest.
Far from selling Fletcher off, Hibs need to keep him and recruit someone who can get the best out of him. Colin Nish can play a supporting role at times, but Fletcher could also do with backing of a more subtle kind than is offered by the former Kilmarnock target man. A fit and focused Riordan could work in that regard, but if he fails to agree terms with Celtic, Paatelainen might wish to reconsider the role played by Dean Shiels.
At present the manager is convinced that Shiels is an attacking midfielder, and the player has a licence to move around from the right touchline to a more central position. Given his current personnel, however, Paatelainen could see how Shiels fares in a more advanced position, just off Fletcher, and ahead of a more orthodox four-man midfield.
The return from injury of the holding midfielder Steven Thicot should also help bring more poise to the Hibs midfield. Ian Murray and Joe Keenan battled gamely in the middle of the park, but they were unable to gain a distinct advantage over their opponents.
Having said that, Motherwell only ever looked in control once they had scored, and that was because this was the kind of tight game which always looked like having one goal in it at most. Hibs thought they had claimed that goal just before half-time when Fletcher rose at the far post to head in a Shiels cross from the right, but the assistant referee's flag was up for offside.
Fletcher had earlier shot over the bar from around six yards, while Shiels had had a couple of efforts blocked. Motherwell's best chance of the half had come on the half-hour, when a 25-yard shot by Stephen Hughes was parried by Yves Makalambay in the Hibs goal.
The second half was similar to the first, with lots of effort creating few real scoring opportunities. Both teams had plausible penalty claims turned down, but in the end the winner came from open play. From just outside the penalty box David Clarkson passed to John Sutton, and the big striker had time to turn and pick his spot before scoring from six yards out.
After their demoralising CIS Cup defeat by Morton it was a distinctly bad time for Hibs to lose again at home. They need something – or someone – a little different to give their fortunes a lift.
The full article contains 803 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
