Joe Newell questions Hibs’ ‘fight and desire’ after St Mirren’s humbling, revealing a ‘thorough debrief’.

The captain was upset with his team after they lost 3-0 at home to the Buddies.

Joe Newell questioned his side’s “fight and desire” in their 3-0 defeat at home to St Mirren, warning Hibs’ new players to get their act together quickly.

The club captain admitted he, too, had a bad day at work as the Buddies took a commanding lead into the second half and never looked like losing at Easter Road. The hosts performed poorly, and Newell is well aware of this. There was a significant turnover in the January window, with a number of new faces joining the club.
However, Newell has informed them that they do not have much time to adjust to their new surroundings and must improve quickly or they will all be in trouble.

“If they didn’t know, there you go,” said the Hibs’ captain. “You are coming up against a team who are very well organised who will fight and scrap and graft for everything.”It should be obvious, but that is the norm, the bare minimum that teams do up here. And if they didn’t already know, there are no more questions.

“I don’t care if others have a bad game; I’ll have a bad game. “I’ll kick the ball out of the pitch multiple times.”It’s the fight and desire; if anyone questioned that about me, it would hurt the most. So I believe (we) need to question ourselves about it. It really needs to be a tipping point and a discussion among ourselves. Initially, my overriding feeling right now is that before anything else.”

The aftermath of the action on Saturday was swift, with boos ringing out throughout the stadium.
The fans were outraged, as was manager Nick Montgomery, and rightfully so. According to Newell, the squad had a “thorough debrief” during which some critical home truths were delivered.

“Players have met in the past,” explained Newell. “The manager and coaches, regardless of the game, result, or performance, always conduct a thorough debrief. The coaches work very hard on game analysis, which will be done first thing in the morning.

“It’s been a bad day, a terrible first half, and we’re just making things so difficult for ourselves right now. But we still have a chance. Adding a few wins can significantly alter the outcome.We brought in a lot of quality in the window, resulting in a significant turnaround and massive change. That is not an excuse for bedding the players in; we didn’t believe it had anything to do with it in the first half. We have enough talent and quality to turn things around as we approach a critical point in the season.

“The manager?” Of course, I’m angry, frustrated, and disappointed. We were far from it, no excuses. I’m not sure why, but it’s miles below the required standard in terms of the ugly side of the game – and that’s before we even get into ball quality. On the other hand, I assumed we were all separated by a great distance.

“The first goal was just a second ball, and I thought they were on top of us throughout the game. That is what you expect, and it should come as no surprise. They went up 1-0, were awarded a penalty, and then had a set piece. Everything that could go wrong, did. They were brilliant, and I believe we now face a real challenge.

in other news, Eliezer Mayenda joins Hibs on a last-minute loan deal from Sunderland.