'It's my team and I like the players' says Colin Calderwood as pressure grows

Calderwood concedes that confidence is an issue but backed his players yesterday, with Dundee United due to visit Easter Road tomorrow night before the all-important clash with Hearts at Tynecastle on New Year's day.

The normal get-out clause for managers parachuted into already dismal situations is to remind observers that they have not yet had the chance to make their own mark on the team. But Calderwood declined to take the easy way out yesterday, swiftly rejecting the notion put to him by one reporter that he might feel frustration at having to work with players brought in by a previous manager. "Oh no, it's my team," he quickly answered, resisting any urge to lay the blame for Hibs' current predicament at John Hughes' door.

And what a predicament it is. No-one can re-write history to the extent that it might be possible to claim Hughes was on the verge of over-seeing an upswing in fortunes when he was sacked in October. However, there has been scant evidence of the surge normally associated with the arrival of a new manager, save for the extraordinary 3-0 win at Ibrox against Rangers last month. Without this unexpected haul of three points, Hibs would be in an even worse position.

As it stands, they are still in deep enough trouble, with only Hamilton Accies and Aberdeen, six of whose 13 points have been gathered in wins over Hibs, currently below Calderwood's team. Accies have two games in hand over both Hibs and Aberdeen, while St Mirren, positioned just above, showed their mettle with a win at Inverness on Sunday.

Calderwood was a player preparing for the highpoint of his career at the World Cup finals in France when Hibs were last relegated from the top tier, in 1997-98. He won't be alert to the fact Hibs have made a worryingly similar start, and are currently only a point better off than at the same stage of that bleak season. After Aberdeen's 2-1 win at Easter Road on Sunday, it is now ten defeats for the campaign - the same number as had been racked up by Jim Duffy's side following a home loss to Kilmarnock 13 years ago yesterday.

One point of comfort for fans can perhaps be sourced from the board's decision to act more quickly than then, when Duffy was allowed to struggle on until February. It was regarded by most to have been too late, and Alex McLeish, Duffy's successor, had little other option but to prepare for life in the First Division. He did, though, begin a huge overhaul of players.Calderwood has had time to bed himself in but, possibly surprisingly, sees not a lot wrong with those already at the club.

"I might not have signed them but the ones that are here I quite like," he said yesterday. "They have lots of assets. We just haven't produced a combined team performance that is giving us the right results. We have had pockets, bits and pieces, where we have shown our ability. But the real frustration is that we have been let down in other areas of the field and in segments of games."

It is a long way from the kind of start that had been envisioned, he agreed. But, again commendably, Calderwood refused to hide behind hard-luck stories, preferring instead to focus on his team's most obvious failing. They have kept just two clean sheets this season. Sol Bamba, who missed Sunday's defeat due to injury, should be back for tomorrow night, having trained yesterday. But Calderwood has still to decide on his preferred central defensive partnership - or, indeed, been given a reason to settle on one.

"It's certainly not what I would have hoped for or wanted," commented Calderwood, when asked about the difficult introduction to his Easter Road tenure. "Have we been unlucky in any game? Probably not, so you just have to face the facts: if you keep conceding goals it makes it difficult to take points.

"The fact that mistakes have continued is disappointing but you can't tell people to play with confidence," he added. "You just have to give them an environment and an arena and show them they can be successful. That's what we are after."

Calderwood stressed that he is still only looking upwards when it comes to the league table. United, who Hibs host tomorrow, are just four points above the Easter Road team and are a reasonable target to aim for. However, because of their recent inactivity due to the adverse weather, Peter Houston's side have played three games fewer than Hibs, whose top-six ambitions must be superceded by a more serious objective - to stay in the Scottish Premier League.

"Wherever you are in the league you need to beat the teams round about you," pointed out Calderwood. "We haven't done that, and we failed to do that yesterday. Dundee United are slightly above us. Are they round about us? We hope they will be after Wednesday night. That would take us to within touching distance of them."

According to Calderwood, only once have Hibs looked completely out of sorts during his short reign. It was not the time to pick to be so ineffectual however, since Hearts were the beneficiaries in a one-sided 2-0 win in November. This sparked a run of fine form from Jim Jefferies' team, who must be faced again on Saturday. In a further parallel to that ill-fated 1997/98 season, it was the last campaign in which an Edinburgh derby was staged on New Year's day.