Hibs: How four big calls from Jack Ross fuelled emphatic away win

Jack Ross rightly won plaudits for his approach to the opening game of the season against Kilmarnock last weekend. The Hibs head coach set out his team in a 3-5-2 formation and the strategy paid off as Hibs raced into a two-goal lead in little over half an hour.

He tweaked the formation to a 4-3-3 towards the end of the first half, and his side finished in a more conventional 4-4-2 in a bid to see out the game and hold onto the points. Job done.

Livingston on their own patch is a different prospect altogether.

With Christian Doidge fit enough to start yesterday, the smart money might have been on Ross opting for a 4-2-3-1 formation, as he did on the last trip to the Tony Macaroni Arena in December 2019.

Sending Hibs out in a flat 4-4-2 against Livingston’s fluid 3-4-2-1 / 5-4-1 set-up raised eyebrows, as did the decisions to bench Scott Allan and, to a lesser extent, keep faith in Josh Doig.

But Ross made four big decisions that had a major bearing on the outcome of the game.

Overload

Who says there’s no room for 4-4-2 in modern football? It couldn’t have been more simple. Two banks of four, with the full-backs pushing up to support the wingers when Hibs attacked, and Gogic dropping deep as an auxiliary centre-back.

This allowed Joe Newell to float in the number ten space while Daryl Horgan and Martin Boyle, backed up by Doig and Paul McGinn respectively, put pressure on the hosts.

With Kevin Nisbet and Christian Doidge both handy in the six-yard box, Livi’s defence had to divvy up marking the two strikers and attempting to close down the wingers and full-backs.

Factor in the lurking Newell, and Livingston’s counter-attacking approach, and it results in a win/win situation for Hibs: they make it near-impossible for the opposition to mount a breakaway, while increasing their own chances of a goal.

It was a simple overload move, but it worked perfectly three times in a row. Job done.

Allan absence

Given his quality and eye for passes that us mere mortals can’t see, plus his assist for Boyle’s second goal last week, Scott Allan's absence may have worried some Hibs fans.

The playmaker can be the difference between a defeat and a draw or a draw and a win. But for all his talents, he’s largely ineffectual in a 4-4-2. It doesn’t play to his strengths.

Allan is best suited to that number ten role, tucking in behind the strikers and playing those devastating reverse balls that completely bamboozle defenders and more often than not lead to goals.

In Ross’s strategy yesterday, he needed box-to-box players. Alex Gogic and Joe Newell linked up very well in the opening-day win, and they carried that on in West Lothian.

It’s a good partnership but they also fill vital roles in different scenarios – Gogic as the protector in front of the back four, Newell as the supporting attacker or deep-lying playmaker.

Naming Allan on the bench gave Ross an ace card among his replacements. If required, the formation could be shuffled – as it was last week – and the 28-year-old brought on to try and make things happen.

That he wasn’t needed suggests this Hibs squad is less reliant on individuals and more about a team approach, which can only be a good thing.

He could well return to the starting line-up against Dundee United on Tuesday night, however – it will be interesting to see how Ross sets out his team at Tannadice.

Doig detail

It would have been so simple, so safe, and so predictable if Lewis Stevenson had been restored to the side to face Livingston.

He’s vastly more experienced than Josh Doig, he’s played on the surface at Almondvale before, and he knows how a lot of Gary Holt’s players operate.

But Jack Ross’s decision to keep faith in the teenager spoke volumes.

It suggested that Doig will be more than just a bit-part player this season, and that he knows exactly what is expected of him, regardless of the formation and his role in it.

There also won’t be a huge amount of information available to coaches about the former Hearts youngster, which could work in his favour.

Last season it was clear to see in some games that opposition teams doubled up on Stevenson and attacked down Hibs’ left side, identifying it as a weak spot to be exploited. Many times, it worked.

While Doig still has a long way to go in his development – and it’s still early days yet – Hibs and the player look like reaping the benefits of Jack Ross’s decision to bring him into the first team.

Horgan grinder

In 13 minutes against Livingston, Daryl Horgan laid on two goals, doubling his total number of assists in 1,826 minutes in all competitions last season.

The diminutive Irishman looked unstoppable in the first half, motoring up and down the wing and dovetailing well with Doig behind him.

On 24 minutes, his low ball across the six-yard box was slammed home by Nisbet. On 37 minutes, his whipped cross was headed home by Nisbet.

For a spell in the first period it looked like every time Horgan planted the ball on Nisbet’s head or foot, the summer signing would score.

The former Preston North End winger is very much a confidence player, and while he faded a little in the second half against Livingston, he will be delighted to have played a key role in such an emphatic away win for Hibs at a tough venue.

It’s also possible the presence of Martin Boyle on the opposite flank may have caused Livingston to underestimate Horgan, or pay him less attention than they gave the Australian internationalist.

The Galway man has struggled for consistency during his time at Hibs, and Ross could have tried to shoehorn another player in that role for the trip to Livingston.

Instead, he gave Horgan a platform to build on his substitute appearance against Kilmarnock, trusted him to deliver, and was repaid handsomely.

It may have been a bold move given Horgan’s 2019/20 season but sometimes it’s necessary to take risks in football.

That Ross is prepared to make such big calls like dropping last season’s most creative player, or handing an 18-year-old his debut, could serve Hibs very well this season.