Collins hands full backing to Malkowski

JOHN COLLINS today insisted Zibi Malkowski has his full backing and urged Hibs supporters to get right behind the keeper tonight.

The Pole has come under fire in recent weeks after his errors cost the Easter Road side vital goals against both Hearts and Kilmarnock.

However Collins says it is important that the goalkeeper is given the support he needs to bounce back from recent disappointments.

He said: "As a manager you have got to give your players confidence.

"No matter who you are or what position you play in, there are going to be times in your career when things don't go the way that you would like.

"As a manager when a player needs help and needs confidence then you have got to try and help him.

"You don't kick a player when he is down, certainly not when he is in your own team.

"We have all got to stick together."

Collins has been in charge for just over a week but already faces one of the biggest challenges of his managerial career - predicting the Hearts line-up.

The Tynecastle side have made huge changes to their starting 11 this season, constantly rotating their squad under both Valdas Ivanauskas and now Eduard Malofeev.

However, Collins says he's not going to expend too much energy on trying to work out which players will run out of the tunnel at Easter Road tonight.

He said: "I always look at the opposition, but the main focus of the build-up and of my team talk is always concentrating on my team because I can control them.

"I know what we are going to be dong, what shape and what system we are going to be playing.

"I can guess and have a rough idea of what the opposition are going to be doing but the opposition's shape and system will never dictate how my team plays a match."

And Collins warned his players that, if they perform well tonight, only to let their standards slip in the following matches, they will feel the consequences.

Insisting that tonight's cup clash is just another game, he said: "For the fans, a win tonight would give them the bragging rights in the city for the next two months or so but I will be stressing to my players that they treat it like any other game.

"If I can see a difference in their level of performance, their movement, then it will tell me that they are not doing what they should be doing in the other games.

"It is tough, but that's part of being a top player. Top players produce week-in, week-out, no matter what the occasion so I will ask my boys to show consistency and a high standard in every game."

Taken from the Scotsman