Hughes: Inverness are underdogs
John Hughes is keen to ensure his Inverness side are not burdened by expectation after last season's heroics.
The Highlanders' best campaign since formation 21 years ago saw them win the William Hill Scottish Cup for the first time with a Hampden win over Falkirk.
Their highest league finish - third - brought with it qualification for Europe for the first time where they narrowly lost out to Romanian outfit Astra Giurgiu in the Europa League qualifiers last week.
Hughes points out that he club has lost regular starters Graeme Shinnie to Aberdeen, striker Marley Watkins to Barnsley and midfielder Nick Ross to Dundee, with striker Billy McKay having left in January for Wigan.
And ahead of the visit of Motherwell in the Ladbrokes Premiership opener on Saturday, he called for fans to retain the underdog mentality.
He said: "We have lost four real good players in Nick, Shinnie, Marley and Billy Mckay but the boys have got on with it.
"As staff, we need to work hard, we cannot let our standards drop.
"We cannot let the success of last year soften us up. We need to get the boiler suits back on and get our hands dirty.
"And I say that to the supporters, you need to keep supporting us as underdogs. Don't let expectations spoil your enjoyment of the game.
"We will try to win every game but I don't think we will do that.
"Support the team with the mentality that we haven't got too much but that every team that comes up here will know they have been in a game and if it is our day, hopefully we can win it.
"Last year is history, let's go again.
"I am 100 per cent convinced that all the teams have improved, they have all recruited very well and we have to improve as a team as well.
"I am optimistic but I have been in the game long enough to know you that sometimes you never know what you are going to get."
Motherwell skipper Keith Lasley is looking for a positive start to ensure they do not get embroiled in another relegation battle.
Lasley aims to build on their 6-1 play-off triumph over Rangers and ensure they do not find themselves in the same predicament.
"However good an experience it was at the end, it's certainly not something we want to go through again," the 35-year-old said.
"We want to improve on every aspect of our play and our results. When we have succeeded here, we haven't set too many targets. It's just about the start for us. We are looking to start well and, as the season goes on, that's when you start to set targets."
Lasley added: "We believe we have some really good footballers in this team and it's up to us to show that to the fans again.
"Within a poor season, there were flashes there and some good football at times. It's up to us to enhance that and show that.
"We want to get off to a good start and take it from there, and hopefully provide the Motherwell fans what we have been providing over the last five or six years on a consistent basis. We feel capable and it's up to us to go and do it."
Source: PAR
