Paul Hanlon admits struggling Hibernian need to raise their game significantly if they are to snap out of their wretched run of form.
The Easter Road side have lost four games on the trot to Rangers, Dundee United, Aberdeen and Celtic.
Although three of those sides are currently in the top four of the cinch Premiership, captain Hanlon made no attempt to sugar-coat the situation.
He said: “We are on this disappointing run and on top of the results it is not as if we are playing well. We aren’t playing well and we are getting beat, and it is up to us to put that right.
“We are conceding soft goals and not putting performances together at the minute and we are being punished.
“It is a tight league this year and every game is competitive so we have to look at ourselves and our performances. It is up to us to give the gaffer a bit back because we are not doing enough for him at the minute.”
Hibs were 3-0 down within half an hour as they crashed to a 3-1 defeat at home to Celtic on Wednesday.
Hanlon said: “When you play a team like Celtic, if you perform like we did then you are going to get punished.
“They have probably come away thinking that they played well but we know that we contributed a lot to their goals in that first half.”
Hibs improved after the break and Hanlon is hoping they can take the positives from their second-half display into Saturday’s trip to Ross County, who are buoyed by their 5-0 win at Dundee in midweek.
The skipper said: “If we had played in the second half the way we did in the first half, then it might have been a case of ‘where do we go from here?’ But I think there were positives to take from the second half.
“It is now up to us as players to get out there on Saturday and put everything right because we are not performing well enough at the minute, for the fans, the club, the manager. It is on us as players to go out and put on a performance.
“It gets to that stage when you lose a few games in a row, you just want to win, any kind of win. We will try to do it in a good way, with a bit of style, but, realistically, all that matters is that we go up to Ross County and win.”
