Lee Johnson in Hibs 'weirdo' confession as he takes Easter Road deep dive to find winning formula

Lee Johnson has described himself as a ‘weirdo’ after admitting he is ready to play the Matt Damon role from the popular movie Good Will Hunting in a bid to find a winning formula at Hibs.

Ahead of tomorrow’s derby visit of Hearts, Johnson was taken aback at how much the Leith side lagged behind their city foes last season when it came to all the stats on the pitch. That included expected goals, box entries and percentage of box entries when you get first touch.

In the end it was the points column that mattered most last term as Hibs finished some 16 points adrift of third place Hearts. But just like the young mathematical genius played by Damon in the acclaimed Hollywood blockbuster, the Hibs boss is also planning to play the numbers game in the Easter Road dugout to make sure the figures look good come the end of the season.

Johnson said: “I’m a bit of a weirdo aren’t I? In terms of the way I see football. I see a numbers game, I’m always looking for reference points on the pitch, numbers overloads, box entries, distances.

“What’s that film where he writes all the things on the board with Matt Damon? Good Will Hunting.

“That’s exactly how I am seeing football matches, I am always taking little reference points and playing the numbers game. Of course it does not guarantee you a win but playing the numbers game over a period of time does guarantee you progression.

“The big thing statically last year was that our attacking threat was not anywhere near good enough and if you look at the key elements that produce goal scoring teams, we were not anywhere near Hearts.

“That for me is the acid test, defensively we were solid and we know we’re tweaking the dial this year to turn that a bit. Does it mean we’ll concede more