FORGET EUROPE
Sauzee concentrating on SPL
position
by John Campbell
HE
MAY HAVE ONLY BEEN IN FOOTBALL MANAGEMENT for a very short space of
time but his most admirable quality is surely his honesty. With
so much kept under wraps of secrecy in the game it was extremely
refreshing to listen to Franck Sauzee, in the wake of the Club's
latest reversal on the park, speaking about the coming weeks and what
he wants from his players.
Clearly disappointed with the outcome of the game but still willing to
concentrate on some of the positives, Franck felt that Hibs had played
pretty well in the second half and had made some decent chances to get
back into the game. He said,
"The second half was good for us but it was always going to be
difficult after losing that bad first goal when we defended very badly
at a corner. I had thought we might get level but when we lost
that ball in midfield for the second goal we allowed Rangers to
counter attack and then it was even more difficult to imagine we might
take something from the game."
Few
would argue that by the time the incidents leading up to the third
goal actually occurred the points were probably lost anyway, but most
felt that the red card handed out to Ulrik Laursen was harsh in the
extreme. Of course Sauzee knows he cannot be seen to be speaking
out of turn but he did have this to say after the game
"It is difficult for me to speak of the
penalty incident and I have not yet seen the TV replay but I do think
we may appeal the sending off. Ulrik was just trying to get up
and there was no intention to touch the ball and so I feel the
decision was harsh. Of course the Referee must make an instant
decision and he may have been right but I will look at the replay and
if I think he was wrong, I will appeal. It may have been a
penalty but a straight red card seems very harsh and I don't think he
took his decision right away but after Ricksen had made his appeal for
the penalty"
Sauzee held a different view on the second sending off, however.
"Tom is young and I will have a
chat with him about it because you must respect the Referee in
football, even if you disagree with his decisions. Pressure and
tension is involved and that makes it difficult sometimes but we were
left with only nine men and that made things very hard for us.
In Saturday's game against Hearts I will now be without Laursen,
McManus, Luna and Fenwick but that's football and every Club has
difficult moments to get through at some stage"
One who isn't suspended for the
Derby! (sns)
All
talk of Europe seems a long way away for Hibs now and Sauzee displayed
a huge dollop of that refreshing honesty when he said
"At the start of the season everyone at
this Club was talking about qualifying again for Europe but now, let
me tell you, I will be making it clear to the players that all focus
must be on staying in the Premier League. That is the absolute
priority now and we must react
to our recent poor run of results."
Many will be shocked by such a
statement, especially with it being made just days before a Derby
match but in truth Sauzee is simply stating what many feel needs to be
stated. The so called stronger squad of players, assembled by
Sauzee's predecessor has so far failed to deliver the goods and I for
one believe that Sauzee's statement is designed to shock them into
understanding that you have to earn your luck in football - it will
not change from bad to good without being made to.
Back
to the Laursen sending off, Club Captain John O'Neil clearly felt that
he had been blocked when trying to get back to help out.
"I was deliberately body checked
by Ricksen who then went on to have that shot which Ulrik is supposed
to have deliberately handled. An appeal would be in order as
there was no intent. We now have a hard game against Hearts with
a few guys missing including Tom whom Referee McCurry told me had been
sent off for using foul and abusive language. It was sheer
frustration at the decision to red card Ulrik and Tom will be gutted
at missing the Derby."
So,
another defeat as Hibs stay firmly in the wrong half of the table.
Things are getting a little worrying down Easter Road way with games
coming thick and fast at the moment but Sauzee has promised that they
will work hard on the training pitch at putting things right and you
have to hope a solution to the seeming inability to turn possession
into goals will arrive sooner rather than later. According to
Sky Sports, Hibs had 58% of the possession and yet lost 3 - 0,
statistics I would rather not have had to report!
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