Hughes considers summer shake-up

A season that promised so much at Easter Road is in danger of unravelling following a run of only one win in the last eight matches.A limp performance in Saturday's Edinburgh derby - which left Hibs fifth in the Scottish Premier League - has led Hughes to question his side's stomach for the fight ahead of Tuesday night's Scottish Cup quarter-final replay at Ross County.After being strong favourites to reach Europe via the SPL as well as the semi-final of the cup, Hughes' men could yet end the season empty-handed."I'll really be disappointed if we fell at the final hurdle," the Hibs boss said."If it did happen then we'd need to sit down and try to do something about it and bring in a stronger character of player into the club."If my players are walking about in the comfort zone, sitting back and resting on their laurels, that's when something comes up and bites you on the backside."That's just me telling you how it is."Lifelong Hibs fan Hughes insists supporters have every right to expect the club to be challenging for Europe in both league and cup."You're deluded if you think anything less than that is success," he said, questioning his players' ability to handle the pressure."Are you scared of success? Are you scared of failure? How do you handle it?"Hughes, who took charge last summer, added: "I've been walking about with my slippers on, and just getting around about people and using a bit of humour to try to get the best out of them."I've not really cracked the whip."Hughes certainly made his feelings clear on the Tynecastle touchline on Saturday, berating goalkeeper Graham Stack and striker Derek Riordan, neither of whom took it lying down."I don't mind that. I give plenty out and sometimes you have to take it," said Hughes.Yet the Easter Road boss is wary about playing bad cop too often and challenged his players to perform that role themselves."I had a wee go last week after the Ross County match and left one or two things in the dressing room," he said."If I'm in there cracking the whip all the time and changing diapers, how do I create that strong mentality?"They need to get into each other and demand of each other and set standards for each other."Defender Lewis Stevenson suggested that process had already begun."We've had a few meetings ourselves, saying the standard's not good enough and we need to turn it around," Stevenson revealed."A few boys are having words in the changing room and I think it's what we need."Everyone knows deep down what we have to do and maybe a few home truths are getting told."Hughes believes a worrying combination of poor passing and defending is what has cost his side of late."A lot of it has been self-inflicted and we have to eradicate that," he said."The work we're doing on the training pitch, it's right back to basics, it's simplicity."Don't complicate it, get right back to basics." Hibernian 4/5, Draw 5/2, Ross Co. 7/2  

Source: Team_Talk