Hibs boss in frank admission after Falkirk collapse – and provides explanation for Elie Youan absence

By Gbam Godwin On Sep 24, 2025

Hibs boss in frank admission after Falkirk collapse – and provides explanation for Elie Youan absence.

Easter Road is undefeated in the league despite losing a 2-0 lead against newly promoted Bairns.

Hibs manager David Grey confessed his team might have easily lost their opening Scottish Premiership game of the season after giving up a two-goal lead at Falkirk.

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He has also explained the absence of French forward Elie Youan, who has been sidelined for the second consecutive game. Hibs were leading 2-0 at the Falkirk Stadium when they conceded a sucker punch goal just before halftime. And they were stunned when the Bairns scored 2-2 from a corner shortly after the hour mark.

Grey confessed that his club is struggling with reoccurring problems early in the SPFL season, asking: “What’s going wrong at the moment?

I believe the obvious one is that we are creating enough opportunities, but we are not being clinical enough to finish games. And the other obvious one that I can’t avoid, and I’ve already addressed it, and I’ll probably say it again in this news conference, is the timing of the goals we’re losing before halftime.

“The second thing is that it’s a set piece. We’ve actually defended well with set-pieces, but we lose a key goal this weekend (in the 2-0 Premier Sports Cup loss to Rangers at Ibrox) because of that drive to make sure your man doesn’t score.

“Unfortunately, this happened again tonight. And I believe that is what is going wrong at the moment.

Easter Road boss: ‘We should have been three or four up.’

“I thought we were extremely excellent; we created a lot of chances and were up 2-0. And with all of our chances, we should have been three or four ahead by that point.

“And then you always suspect that the following goal in the game, at 2-0, will be really critical, just before halftime. We lose another goal by not stopping the cross and then failing to protect the box adequately.

“I quickly reminded the guys at halftime that we were still winning, and you were 2-1 up. Then, remind the players of what led to their success in the first half.

So why were we so happy in the first half? It was all about how rapidly we moved the ball, how often we switched plays, and how many opportunities we created. “And then I think in the second half, we stopped doing it.

In the first five minutes, we had a couple of chances to switch to play, but we tried to play in the middle and turned the ball over, giving the opposition momentum again. And then it felt like the momentum had switched, and we conceded a really bad goal.

“And then, to be honest, the roar in the stadium and the vibe suggested that Falkirk was certain to win. At that point, I was disappointed that we only got a point from a chance to get three.

However, I am optimistic about the fact that we are still undefeated in the league away from home at a difficult location. We need to move forward quickly.

French attacker Youan was linked with Legia Warsaw

Youan, who saw a Deadline Day deal to Legia Warsaw fall through, did not make the matchday squad for the weekend’s loss at Ibrox or tonight’s stalemate in Falkirk.

“Dundee United game he was involved, and then he’s felt his ankle, so he’s had a little bit of a setback with his ankle,” Grey told reporters.

The manager continued: “He’s been for a scan and seen a specialist just now, so hopefully it’s not too long, but he has got a bit of an issue with his ankle at the minute, so he’s just not available.” Dan Barlaser, on loan from Middlesbrough, earned his first start for Hibs since signing on Deadline Day, with Grey commenting, “I thought Dan was good.”

“I thought he showed his quality, range of passing, and positional control within the game.

He tired a little bit towards the end, as you would expect. He hadn’t played much football since pre-season, so I was very wary of that.”

But in terms of his control in the game, particularly in the first half, switches of play, and what he’s going to bring to the squad, it’s clear that he’s a really good footballer, and that gives us another option in the middle of the pitch, which is always good for team competition.”