Lee Johnson bullish over Hibs future as boss tells boo boys things will 'settle down' while pressure mounts
Johnson says he doesn't have the squad to fight on two fronts with hibees rooted to the bottom of Premiership table.
Lee Johnson issued a bullish response to questions over his Hibs future, insisting he believes he can and will be allowed to turn things round.
The Hibees sit bottom of the Premiership table with three defeats from three games after Saturday’s 3-2 home reverse against Livingston. The home fans made their feelings clear and they want Johnson gone after overseeing a winless start to the League campaign. A humiliating defeat to Andorran minnows Inter Club and a 5-0 drubbing by Aston Villa in midweek haven;t helped his cause either.
But the Englishman is convinced he can get it right when he has his full squad available. Johnson claims he doesn't have the depth to be able to cope with European games in between early season league clashes, but that things will improve. Asked whether he felt he’d get the backing of the Hibs board, Johnson told BBC Scotland: “Absolutely. I know how hard we work and I know we're still a new squad and there’s been a lot of changes. We probably didn't expect this many changes.
“I'ss not as if there hasn't been successes already this season. There has and it will settle down.
‘As the SPFL becomes week-to-week, you're able to churn out your best Xi with full energy, which we haven’t been able to do. That is the absolute fundamental key to us, because we’ve shown that we can’t quote cope at this moment in time, with the squad requirement of doing a game every three days.
“It’s not been a good enough start to the domestic season and I take full responsibility for that. Absolute.
“We wanted to start the season being successful on both fronts. The European stuff and domestically. For whatever reason it hasn't quite happened.
“I think the main reason is conceding easy goals. The opposition will say they're great goals, I’d say they're poor goals and again, I take responsibility for that.
“Games are won and lost on fine margins and it was fine margins today. We get back into the game at 1-1 after really showing some good character to get back into it.
“Within 20 seconds of the restart we’re 2-1 down. These are the kind that are happening to us just now.”
“There have been some really good performances this season so far. But all over Europe, it's challenge it’s a test when you try and compete on both fronts this early in the season. I think we've shown that we just haven't quite got the squad yet to be able to deal with both.”