The 'biggest thing' that caught out Hibs

Was David Gray tactically outwitted by Motherwell counterpart Jens Berthel Askou in Hibs' defeat at Fir Park?

Hibs' run of back-to-back wins was ended by a 2-0 loss, compounded by Grant Hanley's first-half red card.

Former Easter Road midfielder Scott Allan thinks Hibs were caught out by the hosts' set-up.

"Hibs will be really disappointed, but they just couldn't get to grips with it," he said on the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast.

"They did the set-up all week, expecting Motherwell to have four at the back, and they found out after half an hour it was something different, a back three.

"That's the difficult thing for Gray, because they hadn't changed all season. Askou changed last night and it was arguably Motherwell's performance of the season.

"Once Askou gave you a completely different thing to think about, it's very hard to then change that within the game, against that sort of shape, that was the biggest thing.

"Askou, after the game, basically highlighted the plan was to leave Hanley on the ball. They'd left him on the ball, and once he played the square passes, that was the trigger to press aggressively.

"He wanted to highlight the one v one with Tawanda Maswanhise and Hanley. They pressed the two outside centre-backs, and Hibs just really struggled to deal with it."

Scottish coach and analyst John Walker says the Hibs back three are all susceptible to a howler.

"That's the funny thing about Hibs, when I look at their back three of Rocky Bushiri, Hanley and Jack Iredale, I look at people who are capable of having nines out of tens and going to Ibrox and keeping clean sheets and beating Rangers or Celtic," said Walker.

"But I also look at that defence and every one of them can get a red card and have an absolute howler of a night. Unfortunately for Hanley, who's just came off the back of probably the best week of his footballing life, that's all it was.

"Hibs just need to get through this little spell. Gray's got the experience of turning things around as well, so Hibs will be absolutely fine."