To put our progress into perspective

[Hibbyradge]

Last season, Hibs beat ICT to move off the 23 point mark on 1 April, in our 32nd game.

What a remarkable turnaround this year, far in excess of anything I could have reasonably expected.

We're certainly not the finished article yet and I don't think we're not good enough to finish second, our second half display yesterday showed our fragility, but for the first time in 3 years, we don't have to worry about relegation, and we're playing some decent football.

If we can keep our loan players in January and maybe even strengthen the defence, 2013 could be enjoyable.

[Saorsa]

Last season, Hibs beat ICT to move off the 23 point mark on 1 April, in our 32nd game.

What a remarkable turnaround this year, far in excess of anything I could have reasonably expected.

We're certainly not the finished article yet and I don't think we're not good enough to finish second, our second half display yesterday showed our fragility, but for the first time in 3 years, we don't have to worry about relegation, and we're playing some decent football.

If we can keep our loan players in January and maybe even strengthen the defence, 2013 could be enjoyable.But we have not improved, Kenny Shiels said so :agree: it's all just luck :agree:

On a serious note, I agree, the turnaround has been a lot greater I think than anybody could have imagined, as you say a way tae go yet but I really believe we will get there. There is also spirit and fight, we've come back in tae games and taken something from them when before we would have collapsed and just given up. That was the one thing that actually irked me more than the losing, the gutlessness and the way we lost.

[euansdad]

Shows what a bit of fight and resilience can do. Squad seem together now. Even games like st mirren last week have illustrated the turn around. I'm convinced that would have been a game we would have lost last season

[Stevie Reid]

Just posted this in another thread: -

In 13 days time Pat will have been here for a year - to continue with the progress gauge: -

Last season we had 13 points from 13 games, this season we have 24 points from 13 games.

We now have 24 points by mid November, last season our 3-2 away win at ICT on 1 April took us from 23 to 26 points.

We have now won 7 league games, one less than last year, from 13 games - our 2-1 against Aberdeen on 2 May 2012 was our 7th league win of last season; our 36th game.

Pat's win ratio is now up to 38%

Oh, and we're top of the league.

[Stevie Reid]

Amongst many, many other things, the bond between the players, the management and the support is paying huge dividends - the belief from the stands that everything will be ok when we lose a goal is especially reassuring.

[Matty_Jack04]

Shows what a bit of fight and resilience can do. Squad seem together now. Even games like st mirren last week have illustrated the turn around. I'm convinced that would have been a game we would have lost last season

:agree: Last week and the closing 15 or so yesterday proves that every man is willing to dig deep for his team mates and grind out a result, that attitude from a squad as a whole makes it easier when like yesterday players needed moved about to accommodate injuries.

i think although last years results where poor a lot of fans frustrations where at how we where getting beat and the attitude towards it by the players that's gone now and credit to pat and the players.
I'm under no illusions, we have a small squad we're bound to hit a sticky patch at some point but I know that that squad of players won't just wave the white flag and roll over easy and that in itself is a massive improvement to how I felt lat year and the previous 2 before that

[Stevie Reid]

:agree: Last week and the closing 15 or so yesterday proves that every man is willing to dig deep for his team mates and grind out a result, that attitude from a squad as a whole makes it easier when like yesterday players needed moved about to accommodate injuries.

i think although last years results where poor a lot of fans frustrations where at how we where getting beat and the attitude towards it by the players that's gone now and credit to pat and the players.
I'm under no illusions, we have a small squad we're bound to hit a sticky patch at some point but I know that that squad of players won't just wave the white flag and roll over easy and that in itself is a massive improvement to how I felt lat year and the previous 2 before that

Fully agree but we have filled in the gaps remarkably well thus far - Deegan and Clancy have been missing for a number of games now and Sunday saw half of our regular defence missing. The adaptability of many players in the squad is excellent.

[euansdad]

True. i feared for the defence yesterday with McPake missing but they stood up well apart from that one error

[whiskyhibby]

Have to say watching the game on Hibs tv hugely impressed by the collective team spirit

[JoeTortolanoFanClub]

Just posted this in another thread: -

In 13 days time Pat will have been here for a year - to continue with the progress gauge: -

Last season we had 13 points from 13 games, this season we have 24 points from 13 games.

We now have 24 points by mid November, last season our 3-2 away win at ICT on 1 April took us from 23 to 26 points.

We have now won 7 league games, one less than last year, from 13 games - our 2-1 against Aberdeen on 2 May 2012 was our 7th league win of last season; our 36th game.

Pat's win ratio is now up to 38%

Oh, and we're top of the league.

And we are playing attractive attacking football. The two goals we scored yesterday were as fine as Easter Road has seen for a very long time. :greengrin

[YehButNoBut]

Just noticed improvement in another area as well, in attendance against Dundee Utd over the last time we played at ER.

Against Dundee Utd on 24/3/12 9,161 on a Sat afternoon with a 3pm ko.
Yesterday was 10,596, match on TV and early ko on a Sunday

An increase of 1,435, something else heading in the right direction. :thumbsup:

[Pretty Boy]

A lot of talk about fight and resilience, and rightly so. However we should also remember that we played some brilliant football yesterday as well. The build up to both goals was fantastic and some of our passing was a joy to watch. Cairney has also added some much needed, wait for it, flair.

Long way to go and we still need to prove we can put on a performance for a full 90 minutes but we should enjoy this, It's like watching Hibs again.

[Stevie Reid]

A lot of talk about fight and resilience, and rightly so. However we should also remember that we played some brilliant football yesterday as well. The build up to both goals was fantastic and some of our passing was a joy to watch. Cairney has also added some much needed, wait for it, flair.

Long way to go and we still need to prove we can put on a performance for a full 90 minutes but we should enjoy this, It's like watching Hibs again.

How do you mean? Do you expect us to dominate a game for 90 minutes? Very, very difficult to do in any league, even Barcelona (in their own league), Man Utd, Celtic don't dominate games for that long, all teams have a spell at some point in the game - more important to score when you are on top and remain resolute when the pressure is on, which we have done many times this season.

We have often started games slowly/badly, but the majority of the first half yesterday was as well as I've seen us play since the Mowbray/Collins period - then Utd made a good tactical switch which really stretched us at times, but we coped. On the whole we were devastating at times going forward and solid at the back - I would say that we looked stronger under pressure against (12 man) Utd in the closing stages this week than we did against St. Mirren's ten men last week.

I appreciate that you're being complimentary on the whole, just curious what more you would like to see. At the end of the day, you don't win 7 out of 13 games without putting in a few good 90 minute performances.