Jack Ross has so far got the response he wanted following his frank public criticism of his Hibernian players.
Now he wants them to restore their high standards of performance when they take on Aberdeen at Pittodrie.
Ross branded his players “lazy, slow and selfish” after Hibs suffered a 3-0 home defeat against Dundee United last Saturday.
“I got what I expected and what I have had from them for almost two years now,” the Easter Road head coach said. “They are a good group and I trust them a lot.
“We had a bad day last weekend but we will have disappointing results, it was just the manner of the performance and I was quite frank about that after the game.
“But the players knew that from how I spoke to them before I came out and spoke publicly.
“You deal with the aftermath of it in the immediate days afterwards and then it’s about what you can affect next, which is obviously the game on Saturday.”
Ross thought carefully about criticising his players in the media.
“I have had moments where internally we have done it and I think it just depends how you choose to articulate it publicly as well,” said Ross, who will have Paul McGinn back from injury at Pittodrie.
“You do that, first of all, with the players knowing you are going to do it, which I think is important.
“Sometimes there are times to do it and the right way. I’m not saying I will always get that right but at that moment I think it felt right.
“Standards here have been pretty high and consistently pretty high for a long time now, so it was just a wee reminder that we need to maintain them.”
