Hibs skipper: “No doom, no gloom, no ‘lumping it up the park'”

For Newell, the Monty strategy is essential to success.

No meltdown, no exaggeration, no hair ripping, no kicking of water bottles across East Mains. Solve the issue. Alright, then, issues. Address the most obvious flaws.

Keep in mind the things that went well as well. Not only the small interludes of solace and inspiration throughout Glasgow’s crushing defeat to Celtic on Wednesday night. But it was the football that turned Hibs’ three-game winning streak into a midweek rout.

When he says, “We’ve been brilliant lately,” Newell, the on-field captain who has played a key role in a run of only two league losses in 12 games under Monty—both of which came away from home against the Old Firm—isn’t exhibiting excessive optimism. Thus, all is not lost; there isn’t a major catastrophe or anything. Our situation is favorable.

“Every game at this football club is highly important. We went into the game at Parkhead prepared to play hard and try to win. We never would have gone there to roll over.

“Obviously, there are several methods to play football. Teams will travel to Parkhead and take a seat behind the sphere. Motherwell performed that the other week and earned a draw, so good job.

But that is not what we are going to do. Since the gaffer has come in, he has been very clear on how he wants us to play and we are all together as a club going forward. Now, the supporters are beginning to embrace it. I believe they are grateful for it.

“There will be lessons from last night, but it is about staying with our philosophy and our beliefs. Hopefully further down the line we will go to Parkhead, play the same way – and get results.”

That’s a laudable long-term aim, one sure to find favour among a travelling support who afforded their team a warm ovation at the end of a difficult 90 minutes at Celtic Park. There is no longer any debate, among those paying close enough attention, over the merits of Montgomery’s approach; this is how Hibs are going to play.

If supporters are still understandably worried about the risks being taken in beginning the build-up so close to their own goal, well, that’s fine. Because the players themselves know that this version of Hibs remains very much a work in progress.

Insisting that they’ll only get better at implementing a system reliant on sure touches and well-timed movement, Newell pointed out: “The manager has only been here two or three months, not that long really. We haven’t had a pre-season with him, there have been a lot of games.

“It will take time; it will not happen overnight. But I think the change you have seen already has been quite drastic. I have felt it personally playing in it.

“Not many teams will go to Parkhead and try and play like we did. We obviously lost, but we won’t go away from what we are doing – and the manager won’t want us to do that. It’s good. When it comes off, it is really good to watch.

“For me personally I prefer it to your old school lump it up the pitch style. It is a work in progress, but we will carry on and won’t change.”

Whatever positives might be gleaned from reviewing any number of “what if” moments at Celtic Park, the loss of a goal from a corner kick after just four minutes is impossible to overlook, Newell admitting: “Every manager and every player will say that is their biggest bugbear in football, losing a goal from a set piece. You think you can be solid there whether you are zonal or man for man. We will look back on that and try to rectify it. When you go and play a team like Celtic, they have got such good players and they can cut you open so easily. To concede a goal from a set piece feels a bit cheap really.

“I think we just gave ourselves a mountain to climb didn’t we? When you go to Parkhead you have got to be tight and difficult to beat first and foremost. We obviously gave them a head start early doors. That is the most frustrating thing. It was the same thing at the start of the second half.

“I think we have to be better in both boxes. Football is won and lost in both boxes. You try to get control of the game in midfield. But we weren’t clinical enough in both boxes. In the first half we missed two one-on-ones. Not that they were great chances, but on another day, they might go in. Listen, I wouldn’t say we deserved anything from the game, but I think we can definitely be better than we were in both boxes, definitely.”