Shaun Maloney did things the Hearts way against Celtic but now he must give Hibs fans what they crave – Tam McManus

Anyone who has pulled on a Hibs jersey knows there’s a demand from the stands to play a certain way.

The Easter Road punters like to be entertained. The want fast, attacking football and plenty of goals.

At some clubs it’s all about winning – or not losing – and the supporters will be happy no matter how they do it.

Like Hearts, for example.

There’s always been a Hibs way of playing over the years but there has to be a time and a place.

It wasn’t on Sunday against Celtic – but Shaun Maloney showed there are more ways than one to skin a cat.

I know it wasn’t pretty to look at but it was a great point and another clean sheet.

Maloney looks to have made Hibs hard to beat, and that’s always the first job a new boss needs to do.

He just needs to figure out the other side of the game now as they are looking a bit shot shy.

It’s hard to get the balance. I played at Easter Road under Bobby Williamson and Tony Mowbray and you couldn’t get more different approaches.

No one will be surprised to hear Bobby was more pragmatic. He liked to keep it tight and lob long balls up to Mixu Paatelainen.

It’s not a lot of fun for a striker playing that way sometimes, but funnily enough, I finished top scorer under him.

It was only with 11 goals but that was with about 15 chances! My stats were through the roof.

Under Mowbray it was a different ball game and he didn’t mind conceding three if we managed to score four.

It was a lot less lonely up front, that’s for sure. I actually had teammates for company rather than just chasing around trying to get on the end of Mixu flick ons.

In fairness, Mowbray had a strong squad to pick from – stronger than Maloney has right now.

But there are signs he’s going in the right direction. They were well