Mixu Paatelainen wants to see a positive reaction from his players who he criticised this week of not being able to pass a ball 10 yards in a staright line. Man-management via the media rarely works but we will have to wait and see.

Hibs manager Mixu Paatelainen is under pressure from the Easter Road fans to get the team playing with the flair and confidence that they enjoy watching. Paatelainen is adamant that his side are not suffering a crisis of confidence and fully expects to see a reaction to their troubles against Falkirk today. Both sides that meet at Easter Road today could do with a boost that three points would provide. John Hughes' Falkirk sit precariously just just a single point above an Inverness side which sits on the bottom of the table but have been revitalised by the arrival of Terry Butcher as new manager. The Bairns have suffered a run of just one win in 12 SPL games, while Hibs have not done better. Paatelainen's side ar5e now in the bottom six in the SPL after only delivering one league win in eight. This is not good enough for the long suffering Hibs fans and they have not been slow to left the side know. As a self confessed Hibee, Paatelainen was also critical of last weekend's performance which ended in a 2-0 loss at Inverness.

Hibs' players have talked of a lack of confidence in the ranks this week, but Paatelainen disagrees and expects his team to respond to the criticism they are enduring. He said: "We have players who are ambitious, do care for their team-mates and we want to see that against Falkirk. It doesn't matter how the players react in training, what matters is Saturday. Hopefully we get a reaction, the players applying themselves as usual. Looking back at the Motherwell game, the third-last game we played, we were 1-0 ahead. Then, with around 10 minutes to go, they got a needless penalty. We should have won that game. You look at Kilmarnock, same again 1-0 up and in total control and we made a terrible mistake again and got punished for 1-1 too. Last week at Inverness, I do realise that maybe one or two players believed in our hoodoo there and felt nervous. Maybe the work rate and desire wasn't there, nothing to do with the confidence. I do feel our players are confident."

Falkirk's Hughes, like Paatelainen, is also under pressure but the Hibs boss hopes it is his side which shows the greatest desire to win on home soil, thereby partly appeasing their disgruntled supporters. He said: "I would say we have a very, very good chance for the three points, as long as the desire to win the match - do well in your areas of the pitch - is there. I'd be very surprised if it wasn't. Football matches are very often decided on one-to-one situations, individual mistakes, brilliance or whatever. I'm sure the supporters will be 100% backing the team, because I'm sure the spirit that they will see will be the right one. Hopefully there are plenty positives."

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