As of 9th December 2021, Jack Ross is no longer the Hibernian manager. The ex-Sunderland man sealed his fate in a 1-0 loss away to Livingston so how did it go wrong for a once-promising European finisher and cup finalist?
Hibernian now sit in 7th after a poor first half of the season, this disappointing bottom half position now brings more clarity to the mixed time Ross spent at the club. From outsiders, there has always been uncertainty about whether he was progressing the club. With a 3rd placed finish last season, some would argue he deserved more time however his group of players never had the conviction to do anything of note despite good runs landing them in good positions. The perfect example is last season's Scottish Cup Final. Hibs were outfought and very comfortably beaten by St Johnstone, a team who had finished 5th in the league. Matt Macey saved a penalty to avoid making matters worse for Hibernian in a 1-0 loss where no attacking impetuous or quality was even briefly shown. Ross will have to look back on that as a winnable game that could've bought him more time.
The same can be said for Hibs' Europa Conference League Qualifying fixture against Rijeka at the start of this season. Hibs had completed the hard work by comfortably finishing 3rd but lost out to the Croatian side. Qualification to the competition was unlikely but not impossible however a 5-2 aggregate loss did not show a good account of the Leith side. Prior to the 2016 Scottish Cup win, this reputation of not turning up when it mattered had followed Hibs for a long time and although 2016 quashed this there seemed to be elements of the so-called 'bottling' creeping back in during Ross' tenure.
Although these results had a part to play, there is no doubt that this season's form is what ended Jack Ross' spell. Ross came in to progress the football club and with the Hibees sitting in 7th, the same position he ended his first season in, the team was evidently going backwards. Top five was a necessity and when you take into account that Aberdeen and St Johnstone have both fallen away, this makes the bottom half position even more unforgivable.
Hibernian sit 5th for shots per game yet 10th for shots on target pg showing their lack of cutting edge. With Christian Doidge injured the side had to rely on Kevin Nisbet but the Scotland international is still yet to find proper goal-scoring form. However, the blame can't all go on Nisbet. The ex-Pars man is actually narrowly over-performing in expected goals showing that the overall chance creation has been poor. The more you look into the underlying numbers, the more evident this becomes. There is not a single Hibernian player in the Premiership top 20 for key passes pg (passes leading to a shot).
Nisbet has been scapegoated at points but the fact is he was doing as much as he could under Ross' management. Hibs actually only sit behind Rangers and Celtic for expected goals against showing that the goal-scoring is the main area to improve under the next regime with the defence meeting expectations under immense pressure for the majority. This brings an obvious issue from a personal point of view for Ross with the lack of goals making the football less entertaining and the form less forgivable.
The 3-1 cup victory over a managerless Rangers had the potential to be the turning point for Ross but what could've been a catalyst for success was really just paper over the cracks. The five games following contained one win and although Ross claimed ownership for the recent loss to Livi, it was too late to make amends.
Jack Ross is an undoubtedly talented manager with a further career in the game ahead of him however the high standards he set himself when taking over were elusively seen this campaign. His first season and last game both ended with the team in 7th place with it all coming back to an underwhelming full circle. Ross will look to bounce back having been sacked twice now and the same needs to be done for Hibs, with a relegation scrap looking more likely than a European tour at current time.
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