Just about everything needs to be improved from last week. St Johnstone walked all over us and while I can accept the likes of Celtic or Dundee United doing that to us away from home, it's totally unacceptable for someone like the Saintees to destroy us. We need to put in a much better display as a repeat of that performance could well see us on the end of a hammering. Tactics, attitude, players, whatever - after three defeats in a row it should be obvious to the management what the problem is and they need to fix it now.
For some reason our record against Hibs in the last few years has been absolutely rotten. We used to be pretty good against them, but after they decided to appoint fairly useless managers we've suddenly been unable to buy a win against them for whatever reason. Hopefully the fact they now have a competent manager again, and the lack of Leigh Griffiths, means we'll see a change in fortunes tomorrow. We'll need to be at our best though as the current Hibs side is rather different to the one we saw at the start of the season (which still beat us) even if it is pretty much the same players.
Talk of the top six is still rumbling around but to be honest it's are already looking a lost cause. We're eight points off where we need to be as we go into the last round of games before the split. With 33 points available (36 for us thanks to the re-arranged Celtic game), we need to take eight more than Hibs and St Johnstone over the next couple of months. It almost certainly isn't going to happen – and a cynical person could suggest we'd be doing well just to manage eight points! Instead, we need to be concentrating more on avoiding the relegation play-off, a berth we could end up occupying rather soon depending on how results go tomorrow.
At least we'll have John McGinn back tomorrow. We missed his drive and energy last week and his displays have been one of the few bright spots of late as the wider Scottish footballing world finally begins to wake up to what a talent we have by giving him the player of the month award. He's likely to come straight back into the team, but whether new boy Gregg Wylde gets a start remains to be seen. It's hard to work out who'll be dropped to make way for that pair - Danny Grainger will probably make way but Jim Goodwin usually starts while it seems Conor Newton's loan deal means he has to start.
It's a bit frustrating if we have to start our loan players as since Adam Campbell has come in we've lost every match. I'm not for one second blaming it on him, however we seem to have had to change our shape to accommodate him. Perhaps we should play him on the right wing and move Newton into the middle, where he is more comfortable. Hopefully Marian Kello is fit enough to play - although Christopher Dilo is an able deputy - while Stephane Bahoken's triumphant return has suffered a setback after he picked up an injury. Gary Teale, David Barron and Kenny McLean are all out, with our defensive options suffering a blow after Lee Mair joined Partick Thistle.
Terry Butcher seems to have begun turning things around at Hibs. They weren't exactly in a terrible state when they took over - they were and remain above ourselves and the relegation battle after all - but they've finally started putting together some results and are looking like top six contenders. Butcher looked mad to leave Caley Thistle considering how well he'd done there, however he also seems to be the ideal man to take Hibs forward. The previous two managers - Pat Fenlon and Colin Calderwood - seemed rather dour individuals, while Butcher is more bubbly and seems to have rejuvenated things, the cobwebs of previous regimes slowly being cleared away. Of course, finally beating Hearts in a derby probably helped a bit too!
The fact James McPake has been out for much of the season may explain why Hibs have one of the best defensive records in the Premiership. One of the few things he's done this campaign is be ridiculously sent off against Hearts and the backline hasn't really missed him, Michael Nelson being paired with Paul Hanlon and doing a fine job. Youngster Jordon Foster has found himself playing at rightback as a result and has done well, with Ryan McGivern fairly reliably on the left. It looks as if they'll be playing there for the rest of the season as Fraser Mullen has been binned and Tim Clancy is free to find a new club, while Alan Maybury is getting on a bit. The defence have also been helped out by an unusually competent keeper by Hibs standards in the shape of Ben Williams, his mistake in the derby against Hearts very much a blip rather than the norm.
It's probably just as well the defence is so good as the goals have hardly been flowing for the Hibees this season. It's a mystery why they haven't as they have two supposedly very good strikers. I'd have been more than happy if we'd gone for Paul Heffernan after Kilmarnock bizarrely let him go for nothing at the start of the season as he'd done well there, although was a bit injury prone. Hibs also supposedly spent £200,000 on James Collins, although on the evidence so far you have to wonder if that could have been better spent elsewhere. Seven goals for the pair is a pretty poor return so far and is less than the main striker at most other top flight clubs has managed on his own. Butcher is actively looking for another striker, his only other options youngsters like Danny Handling and Jason Cummings now that Ross Caldwell has been loaned out and Rowan Vine has been told to do one.
Slightly more surprising is the news that Kevin Thomson has also been told he can go. The midfielder - one of the Rangers players sent off against us in the infamous 2010 League Cup final - returned to the club last year and when he was fit looked a handy asset, even being called into the Scotland squad. However, he and Tom Taiwo have now been told they can go as Butcher no doubt looks for fresh blood. Another change he made was handing Liam Craig the captaincy, the former St Johnstone man pretty handy in the middle of the park and in front of goal. Lewis Stevenson isn't exactly a goalscorer but did manage one last month, while Scott Robertson has struggled since his move from Blackpool. Owain Tudur Jones probably thought he'd seen the last of Butcher after leaving Inverness Caley Thistle in the summer, with Paul Cairney no doubt surprised to be thrown straight into the team after the change of manager considering he'd spent much of the season out injured. He's a real asset when he's out fit, as is youngster Alex Harris who is nearing full fitness. Despite the lack of wingers earlier in the campaign, loanee understudy Abdellah Zoubir has hardly had a game.
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