After 16 months of playing games without fans inside the stadium, it will be a special evening as we face Arsenal in our latest pre-season friendly.
When speaking to the press earlier today (July 12), our Head Coach explained how much he’s looking forward to seeing the Hibees again.
“It’s been long overdue and they’re very welcome.
“It would’ve been great to reward more of the supporters with the opportunity to come back into the stadium though.
“I know it’s a relatively small number in the grand scheme of things, but it’ll change the dynamic of the game. It’ll be great for our players, some of whom haven’t played in front of the Hibs supporters and done very well for the club, so I know they’re very much looking forward to that.”
This was the stand-out fixture in our pre-season schedule and will see Ross’ side make the next step in their preparations for the new campaign.
“I know that the high-profile nature of it is attractive from a supporter point of view and from a media perspective, but for me, it’s about another step forward in our preparation.
“It’s nice to have high calibre opposition to play against because it’ll be hard work for the players out of possession and a challenge when they have the ball.
“Equally, it’s an exciting opportunity for the players to show how good they are, testing themselves against top level opposition.
“As a team, hopefully again we will demonstrate that we are a good side.”
With some players out injured and other recovering from Covid, our Gaffer was keen to explain that this friendly was part of the bigger picture with our Europe Conference League game coming next week.
“We need to start refining our focus towards the first European game, so that will be reflected in terms of minutes played.
“We’ve still got to utilise the squad properly and be sensible in terms of how players are feeling in the game. We don’t want to pick up anymore injuries.
“We will use the two games to utilise the different systems as well. Certainly our focus on the European game ramps up for these fixtures.”
