Source: FOOTYMAD
McGhee Wary Of Unknown Quantity
A new manager puts all the background notes on their style of play out the window. Just how will the arrival of Colin Calderwood change Hibs? Mark McGhee has no fresh injury worries ahead of the game against Hibs although the visit of the Edinburgh side is likely to come too soon for Nikola Vujadinovic, who is recovering from a hamstring injury. Peter Pawlett is still out with a broken toe, while long-term casualty Fraser Fyvie also remains on the sidelines. McGhee admits Hibs, under new manager Colin Calderwood, will bring something of the unknown to Pittodrie. McGhee believes the new manager will bring something out of the Easter Road players as they try to impress the man who has the say on any new deals to be offered. Hibs secured three points last weekend by beating Kilmarnock that ended a barren home run dating back to March. McGhee said: "They won last week and the change of manager will be a focus for them. If they were suffering from a lack of sense of direction, he'll bring that back. He will bring a focus, a few new ideas. We are looking at reports on them and how they defend corners and all those sort of things, but probably that all goes out of the window because Colin will bring his own ideas to how they do that. There will be a bit of an unknown quality about how he will set his team up and how he will defend and those sort of things so you know we have to get to grip with that early in the game. I still feel that most important to us is how we are, not how they are.'' Aberdeen themselves are in the midst of a barren run of form, having drawn one and lost five of their last six games. But McGhee insists squad morale is good. He said: "Any suggestion that there would be otherwise is from people that do not know us. We are all convinced that our run 100% has been down to the size of the squad and the availability of the players we have had, the injuries, going to Inverness with seven players missing. There is absolutely no need for anything other than a positive attitude around the place.'' Calderwood does not plan to impose too many new ideas on his players ahead of his first game in charge. Hibs visit Dundee United next week before taking on Hearts and Rangers, and the former Nottingham Forest manager will not overload his players with tactical changes. He said: "You can't fill them with too much information. We want them to have the freedom to go and express themselves. We have got one or two ideas and a game plan to work on and see if we can take those ideas on to the pitch, and see if we can profit from them. There are lots of great ideas out there but you have got to profit from them.'' Not surprisingly in the first week of his reign, Calderwood has been pleased to see the attitude of his players but he insists there is genuine encouragement from their spirit despite their position in the bottom half of the SPL. He said: "They have a super attitude, a good application to their training. They look as if they are a willing lot and want to take on board what the coaching staff are saying. I haven't seen anything that has made me raise my eyebrows. I think you're going to get a fairly good and open reaction when a new manager comes in and that's what has happened but it's been quite impressive actually. The people I feel are in form and have the right attitude will play but I can see there is a good spirit in the 21 or 22 that have trained. I can see they are a club rather than a team and that's a good thing because it's the club and not just the 11 who start on Saturday who are going to take us forward.'' Editor Ger Harley (ger@scottishfitba.net)Admin Team (admin@scottishfitba.net)This is Scottish-Fitba.Net
