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Softly Softly Approach Brings Dividends For Mixu

Last updated : 19 February 2008 By Ed_ScottishFitba
Hibs manager Mixu Paatelainen did not take a leaf out of Alex Ferguson's book when his side tropped off at half-time on Saturday. Instead of ranting and raving about what was wrong, as the score line was 0-1, he delivered a carefully considered half-time team talk and believes it was that measured approach which helped turn the deficit into Hibs' 3-1 victory. Aberdeen were by far the dominant side in the first half and could have had a bigger lead, but had to content themselves with Zander Diamond's strike. Paatelainen was delighted to see his players respond in the right manner with their second-half comeback. He said: "We started the second half in a very bright manner, got the equaliser and thankfully went on to win the game. It's important if you don't play well in the first half that you correct those mistakes and make sure you don't make the same ones in the second half. It's important you use that 15-minute spell (at half-time) well. It doesn't always work like that but thankfully we played better in the second half. I think every Hibs supporter was angry after the way we played in the first half but it is important to realise what you're doing wrong. There's no point just being angry, there has to be a message. There's no point in kicking tea cups, there has to be a message."

Aberdeen manager Jimmy Calderwood was disappointed in Saturday's game got away from his players, and claimed it was more important than the upcoming UEFA Cup second-leg clash against Bayern Munich. The Dons failed to get the win which would have sent them to the Allianz Arena on Thursday in good spirits as they look to build on their good performance of the 2-2 first-leg draw at Pittodrie. Defensive lapses cost Calderwood's side three league points as Merouane Zemmama, Dean Shiels and Steven Fletcher all scored for Hibs in the second half. Calderwood said: "This was the most important game of the week, nothing to do with Bayern, because our league results in the past year got us there (Europe). This was a great chance to get back up to fifth, especially with the way we played in the first half. There's definitely no pressure on us for Thursday. There wasn't any pressure on us the other day either." Hibs overtook Aberdeen and went fifth with their win, and Calderwood admitted the result had summed up his team's season. He went on: "We had it under control and their supporters were getting a bit upset with them. That was the best we've played away from home in weeks. We still had chances to get a draw, so it was very frustrating. But there's always a bit of light at the end of the tunnel because if we play that well we'll win more than we lose, if we can get our defensive side sorted out. Poor defending has cost us the game again."

Calderwood is nevertheless looking for a win in Germany, having seen his side twice pegged back by Bayern in the first leg. He said: "It was great to get a result and it's great that the chance is still there. If we got a victory it would resound around Europe - a few people in Australia will maybe know your name as well! But this was a massive game for us and we've lost it. We can't let good teams like Hibs, Motherwell, Dundee United and the other teams around about us like Falkirk get too far away from us. We need to get results."

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