Hibs boss Nick Montgomery reveals why even the club's player of the year had to up his game

Key Hibs player tasked with improving on weaknesses

For many, there was little coincidence in the fact that Hibs produced one of their flattest performances in a while on a day when Joe Newell was missing from the team.

The midfielder had become a vital cog in the team long before Nick Montgomery took charge but, under the former Central Coast Mariners gaffer, last season’s Hibs Player of the Year has worked to add to his game.

That was something demanded by the Easter Road boss, who named him captain in his first game in charge, and has since made him a regular starter in one of the most important roles in the team, with only Will Fish and David Marshall able to match his appearance tally.

Hibs' Joe Newell will return to the squad for the weekend trip to Dingwall. Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group

“I told Joe he could give more and he has been giving me everything so I’m really happy with the way it’s been going.

“He has become more involved in the game. He is very good on the ball and can dictate play but off the ball he needed to do more and work harder. As a two-man midfield, there is a lot of work for him and Jimmy Jeggo or Dylan Levitt to do in there, in the middle of the park.

“It is a good role and they are the real engine of the team, connecting back to front and helping to give security when we lose the ball. It is a big job but Joe is having a good season and he’s developing and improving, the same as everybody.”

But while his men lost to St Johnstone as the 30-year-old served a suspension, Montgomery refused to attribute that result and performance to the absence of one player.

“Joe is a big player for the team and sometimes you become a better player when you don’t play! He was missed on the weekend because he has been consistent in there. But we didn’t lose the game because Joe Newell wasn’t there, we lost it because we didn’t perform.

“Although we had 62 per cent possession of the ball, what we did with it wasn’t good enough. It was too slow and we didn’t create enough opportunities to score and we got sucker punched. It will be nice to have Joe back in the squad but everyone is fighting for positions this weekend.”

That includes Lewis Miller, who was replaced at half-time at McDiarmid Park.

“Lewis had been up and down. He had his sending off, he had a little knock and last week he was sick. He was coughing and spluttering but he was also on the yellow card.”

And, the Aussie has been warned to cut out the indiscipline if he wants to hold down his position.

“It’s the bookings where you don’t really need to get booked and they all add up but Lewis hasn’t played that many games in his career and he is still learning so he just has to curb the unnecessary cards so they don’t escalate into sendings off and suspensions.

“It is good to be aggressive. We are an aggressive team and we play the majority of the time with high intensity but it’s about controlling that aggression and emotion. We help with that side of things to make sure they can cope with the emotion no matter what situation presents itself.”