Mixu backs O'Brien to live up to his star billing at Hibs

MIXU PAATELAINEN today backed Alan O'Brien to finally live up to the billing he first received when he arrived at Easter Road almost a year ago.

By his own admission, former Newcastle United star O'Brien spent a miserable first season with Hibs, rarely producing the talent which earned him a place in the Republic of Ireland set-up.

But the 23-year-old shone in the Boras Arena despite Hibs crashing out of the InterToto Cup, beaten 2-0 for a second time by high-flying Swedish outfit IF Elfsborg.

The blistering pace which had seen O'Brien dubbed "the new Ivan Sproule" was shown time and again, as the Dublin-born winger caused a defence which had conceded only four goals in 13 games numerous problems.

O'Brien was unlucky to see Elfsborg goalkeeper Johan Wiland pull off a great save to prevent him giving Hibs an early lead which would have tested the home side's nerve and now Paatelainen is urging him to reproduce Saturday's form on a regular basis.

The Hibs boss said: "Alan was very bright and caused them a lot of problems. The goalkeeper pulled off a fantastic save and Alan had another chance with which I felt he should have done a little better.

"He has tremendous pace which excites me and frightens anyone who plays against him as it either gets him through or creates space for others. Whenever you have an asset like that you must use it as much as possible."

Paatelainen believes Hibs fans saw glimpses of O'Brien's abilities during the final game of the season and now he believes a player who appeared to have suffered a crisis of confidence is ready to deliver on a regular basis.

He said: "We've spoken a lot to Alan regarding what he should do, where he should look to run and when. Hopefully, he will start doing it."

Paatelainen also believes the Hibs support can play their part in enticing the best from O'Brien.

He said: "Every player thrives on confidence, every player needs support and we have a fantastic group of supporters who, when they are right behind us, are truly like an extra man, which is important."

Meanwhile, Paatelainen revealed he may arrange an additional friendly match for this weekend after their InterToto exit left them with a blank Saturday although Hibs do have matches against Raith Rovers (tomorrow), Barcelona, Clyde, Middlesbrough and Wigan Athletic arranged.

He said: "It is something I'll think about. We have a couple of options but I also want to make sure we have time on the training ground.

"There are benefits of going away as a group but we also have a lot of things we need to improve on. I think we have learned a lot from these two games against Elfsborg.

"I looked at the tape of the game twice yesterday and I could see plenty of good stuff. So we just won't be trying to simply forget these matches, that's not the right attitude. We'll sit down, look at the tape really thoroughly, see what the players are doing, their starting positions, movement, passing, etc. That's my job."