David Gray admits Hibs fans could see their team play with two centre forwards at some point this season.
It has been a frustrating start to the campaign and life as permanent manager for the Hibees legend with some promising signs ultimately giving way to poor results on the whole.
A home defeat to Motherwell on Saturday was the latest and that was their fourth loss from seven Premiership games to date, leaving them tenth in the table above only St Johnstone and rivals Hearts.
There have been issues at both ends of the pitch, with pundits highlighting the ‘amateur hour defending’ and the Hibs man who should be doing better.
But it hasn’t been perfect at the other end of the pitch either despite a number of attacking players being signed towards the end of the summer transfer window – with just six goals scored, the joint-lowest.
David Gray could play two Hibs strikers
So far, the Easter Road men have operated with one centre-forward, usually Mykola Kukharevych, flanked by two wide men. But Dwight Gayle recently signed on a free transfer and that could provide different options to the manager.
Gray said: “I’m sure at times we will do that, 100 per cent. I don’t see anyone that can’t play with anyone; even Harry McKirdy coming on as well, Josh Campbell, Rudi Molotnikov, they can all play. The flexibility in that front line goes back to the strength and depth of the squad.
“I’ve never been fixed on a formation or having only one way of playing. We’ve spoken about that often enough.
“At times you definitely have to have two at front; at times you may start the game that way. It all purely depends on what we think gives us the best opportunity to win the game. And even within games, you’ll see that happening at times as well, if we’re chasing games or just to have that flexibility and different types of strikers I think also helps.”
Dwight Gayle and Mykola Kukharevych comparison
The Hibees boss admits his current two main centre forward options are very different players. Kuharevich is a hulking target man with Gayle more of a predatory penalty box striker, and he reckons that means they could complement each other well.
He added: “I think obviously Dwight’s very different to Myko in terms of stature. So obviously Myko’s a big, tall focal point, but Dwight just shows that guile and know-how in the box. He’s a fox in the box type striker so it’s a good blend to have definitely.”