Heard a little rumour that he has been talking to Hibs .... last week.
Printable View
Heard a little rumour that he has been talking to Hibs .... last week.
Swanson Stevenson Ozzy Hayes
I'd take that
I reckon it's plausible, especially with the extra 500k Hibs have made since Friday!
Heard this last year but wondered if it would come off with PF now in charge. Dundee Utd are resigned to losing him at the end of his contract and he had indicated it wasn't worth talks before his last injury. I would love to have him at Hibs as he would add pace but his injury record is a concern though.
I may be going against the grain here but a player who is struggling to get back into a Dundee Utd team could possibly be a`player for us but just because he is a Hibs fan doesn't mean he will be a success. Personally I don't think he has played well for a whole season. If he was on form he would be talking to a championship side and not Hibs. I wont be gutted if he goes elsewhere just like I won't be doing cartwheels if he signs.
I think he'd be a knockout at the club.:wink:
:cb
Swanson Morris Shiels Hayes
All change.
What's Swanson's fitness status these days? Is he back and playing?
Definitely a talent but fitness record is a concern, worth a gamble IMHO though.
We wouldn't have got near him a while back but lack of fitness and the form of Gary McKay-Steven might mean we could be one of his better options.
Was there not rumours about his health going about a while back.
Great? We're 6 points off the bottom of the league and the midfield has been nowhere to be seen. I'd say Stevenson has been OK but the midfield as a whole has failed us massively. I genuinely can't remember a game where our team has dominated in midfield, it's almost as if we've given up and decided to bypass it completely. Neither Osbourne or Stevenson will take the ball from the middle towards the forwards with pace or will be an option to pass to in the last third, which are essentials for at least one of the central pairing. I'm glad Stevenson has signed for another year but I want us to sign at least 4 midfielders, one for every position.
Always seems to score against us, I'd take him.
If he could kick on then great, but if he had a poor run of games then it'd just be a waste of money. Rather have Hayes, great wee player.
Would take Swanson in a heartbeat. The sort of player you would pay to watch.
Here is one of my reasons Fraz, i have nothing against Lewis works his socks of for the club, that i cannot fault him for that, gets stuck in more of a pitbull than our other pitbull does and a great lad away from football, Osbourne don't know much about him but for me he has been very hot and cold for Hibs, cant say he has been great for the whole 90 minutes of a game that he has played in.
But hear is the reason that i would like to see better for next season, as midfielders they need to do a whole lot more than what i mentioned above, no goals from either of them this season, think maybe Ozzy scored in a game but it was given as an OG, as far as i know they don't have any assists either, it really is not good enough from them as attacking midfielders, our midfield has been a problem for a couple of seasons now, not a bit of creativity amongst any of them which is needed badly, we need to go 4-5-1 for the rest of the season so we do.imo.
I really want Stevenson to do well but I am afraid he just never will fulfil his early potential.
Can't think of one pass, skinning off a full back or cross yesterday which split/hurt Killie . For someone on the ball as much as him I am looking for that. The other thread sums it up saying we don't have a midfielder who can grab the game by the scruff of the neck and run a game. Lewis has had the chance but has never done that. Whilst he works hard and gets around he a jack of all trades and master of none.
John Rankin did much the same last season and look at the stick he got. In summary, if LS played for someone else and we were trying to sign him I would think we were lacking ambition.
Hope to be proven wrong though.
No doubting the ability and flair but he has barely kicked a ball for united this season and has injury problems knee/back and dont see how a proper medical or background check will convince hibs board to take him.
Perhaps a offering of pay if u play scenario . If fit id have on for sure as he is creative and a finisher . Just a worry with limited resources a hibs
When you think of Hearts likely midfield in this final made up of Skacel, Black and Driver augmented by the likes of Santana, Templeton and Barr you really see the level of midfield we need to get to. Our current incumbents are a shadow of other teams' midfields imo.
:agree:
That's my worry for the final. We have a better forward pairing than them and the new defence isn't as much of a problem as it was but the midfield has stayed non-existent. It struggles to make an impact against poor teams so unless there's a massive improvement it will get absolutely steam rollered against them, who dominate the midfield at the best of times. As much as I don't like it I'd be tempted to play 5 in midfield or at least drop Griffiths deeper.
I can confirm he's been talking to Hibs, no surprises tho we've offered less than half the wages utd are paying just now.
Sauce? A family member.
Rankin ran around the ballcarrier when defending and would never put a tackle in. Lewis can be relied on to take the ball and pressure the attacker. When Rankin tried to start an attack, he usually gave possession away cheaply. Lewis almost never gives away posession.
I'm willing to accept Lewis needs to improve his goalscoring and move.away from deep positions when Fenlon asks him to, but theres no comparison with Lewis 2011 and Rankin 2010. Except they are both midfielders. And short.
How can Utd offer more than Hibs, they get smaller crowds, that is pathetic.
Are you having a blooming laugh:greengrin Our midfield hardly ever has the ball never mind keeping possession. I am all for passionate defence of good players but there aren't any of our midfielders who couldn't be easily improved upon next season if PF gets his act together.
Knowing Dannys recent injury situation Hibs would be stupid to offer a high basic. If he plays give him a decent wage
Kenny Shiels was in the papers before yesterday's game saying he was interested in at least two of the players Hibs signed in January, but Killie couldn't compete with the offers made by Hibs.
But why let facts get in the way of a good moan?
Dundee United are alot better than us just now, he may well see it as a step down?
I'd take him if it was possible.
I have to agree with hibsbolah, Stevenson must have one of the highest completed pass % rate in our team. What I would say is that he may not give the ball away much but he doesn't do much with it either. Anyone can pass a ball 10 yards, the issue is when he passes it to another player it tends to be that player who gives it away.
You must've missed the bit where I said "As much as I don't like doing it" or maybe you're just determined to have an argument, something seems to have touched a nerve here so I'm not sure which best fits.
Our midfield as it is will get steam rollered, we don't have any viable replacements, as much as I wouldn't like to do so I would think about dropping Griffiths a bit deeper to give the midfield an extra player close by to pass to.
That's not great thinking, it's trying the best out of a ****ing awful predicament. Hope you're OK with my idea.
If he 'always seems to score against us' then he has played against Hibs only twice.
If he has played against Hibs more than two times, then he doesn't always score against us. & IIRC his temperament is a bit dodgy as he has been sent off a few times for stupid things. Once against Hibs for a handball minutes after coming on as a sub.
If being 6 points away from relegation with a few games left isn't an awful situation to you then you're in even more deluded than your Beuzelin and Osbourne comparison implies. This midfield is highly culpable for us being here and if it performs like it has all season there is a high chance we will lose to Hearts at Hampden and there is nothing I can possibly imagine in football which would be anywhere near as bad that.
Of course we've got a chance, I'm not saying we don't, I'm saying we need to make some changes to the midfield or hope for a much improved performance from them in the set up that we've got. Who knows? They might just give us one. I'd rather play it safe and remember how desperately impotent it's been all season and try to make a positive change.
The game you were talking about was the Hearts game, where you said you'd rather we played an extra midfielder and how we are in an "awful predicament" I'd hardly call being in a cup final an awful predicament. No doubting our league form has been crap. Most of that was down to Calderwood.
You've been laying into Osbourne since he came to the club aswell IIRC, so you're right, no point in arguing about that one as your mind is already made up.
Just think its a daft idea that you have to put more emphasis on a weaker part of our team (midfield) whilst destroying a partnership that could cause Hearts all kind of problems.
O'Connor and Sparky up top. Anything else and we're right up against it IMO.
I can think of three he has scored against us. Winner in a 1-0 in January 2010, cracker at ER in a midweek game also that season and one in the 3-3 at ER this season.
I get your point though, he maybe has three goals in 4 or 5 seasons worth of games v us.
I also get Iceman's point in that he has played well v us a good few times.
You are right about his temperament. I am sure Levein and Houston have had a go at him a few times for doing stupid things. He's still worth a gamble IMHO. We need players with that extra bit of skill and craft. Players who can pick a decisive pass, hit the bye line and make crosses and score the odd good goal themselves. We don't really have anyone doing this for us just now. Swanson on his day can do this though has had his problems.
The Dean Shiels who plays for Kilmarnock would be an excellent signing for the above reasons as he seems to have added consistency to his game since he left Hibs. Can't help but feel the player was always there, he just never got a chance really for a full season as a first XI pick when he was at Hibs. He would be first on the team sheet if he was at Hibs now, partly a sign of how he has improved and partly a sign of the drop in standards since he was last at Hibs.
Who is the Hayes guy being mentioned?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonny_Hayes .
Scored a belter against us earlier in the season.
Cracking player.
No fan of CC but he picked up 13 points from 42 available to him. Fenlon has got 13 from 54. Our other point was gained when Billy Brown was caretaker.
Fenlon is getting cut a hell of a lot of slack from us (myself included) purely because his minimum remit was to keep us up and he is still on track to do it. If we get relegated, some of it is CC's fault but a lot of questions have to be asked of Fenlon. In fact if we stay up, a lot of questions have to be asked of Fenlon but he deserves some more time to answer them.
Swanson is a good player on his day, but you can bet that if he's being offered a vastly lower wage he'd rather go somewhere that will be silly enough to pay him what he wants. If he was playing every week then I'm confident he would merit full wages, but not when on the treatment table.
When Deano was here he didn't really get a run in the team at all. Like you say, the player was there but just never got the chance to prove it. Dean Sheils would be first pick in any team outwith the Old Firm IMO, he's developed that much :agree:
This thread really turned sour, as with most threads these days unfortunately. Noone wants to read petty bickering. If there's something good to say, say it. If not, don't bother.
Statistics eh? :nerd:
I think football fans in general see more than statistics although sometimes they're hard to ignore. In Calderwood's case, he had to go as there was no hope of improvement. With Fenlon, we realise the situation he found himself in and we also see improvement both on and off the pitch. Sometimes these things can make up for the difference in points and give a manager some leeway.
Swanson is a good player, I would however think he has his sights set a little higher than hibs. He has performed well in a Dundee Utd team that has achieved over the past few seasons, he is probably set for a move down south for more than a few extra quid a week once his contract runs out.
I would agree with that. Osbourne has been our only midfielder that is actually willing to take the ball and go past a player. Lewis (as good as he has been) and Claros spend most of their time passing 10 yards inside our own half or 5 yards into the opposite. Since Osbourne moved back into the midfield he has been the only one that looks to take the ball beyond the opposition defense, do not understand the level of crit he takes.
I hear what you are saying and like him as a player however he is infuriating at times given the level of ability that he has with basic mistakes like simple passes going astray. He is one player on his day who could be a massive plus for Hibs if he hits form in the final however as Blackpool has said these great performances are rare and we mostly get a mixture of very good and rank average play from him.
I have been impressed with Ozzy this season, one of CC better signings but we're badly missing someone to create something out of nothing in the midfield and if getting that means benching Ozzy then so be it.
I think Swanson would be a good signing, we have been needing wingers for a few years now so him and at least 1 more winger has to be a top priority IMO.
We've stopped conceding silly goals and our defence looks a lot more solid. The improvement I was talking about was the fact that Hanlon's got a decent centre back partner beside him for the firts time in ages (ever?) and our defence has improved greatly. Remember the St Johnstine game at Home? (2-3) You can't tell me we're not watching a different, more comfortable player than the Paun Hanlon from that game.
The improvement of both full backs and another centre half have improved us, hanlon is still making most of the same mistakes he made before they arrived, but better players are able to clear them up now.
Has he suddenly got quicker, has his passing ability improved, and does he now out muscle players he previously didn't?
What are these improvements i'm failing to see?:confused:
His improvement is playing a good part in a much more solid defence. He has a great understanding with McPake. McPake attacks the ball, Hanlon drops off, dealing with balls in behind. Can you remember any glaring mistakes Hanlon has made in the past few weeks/months? he gave away a penalty at ICT, apart from that, I can't remember many. At the start of the season alongside O'Hanlon he was making some very basic errors. They've pretty much dried up.
Think its an absolute embarassment that we've got people still attacking Hanlon when he's been an integral part of a much more solid back four.
Perhaps O'Hanlon should partner McPake?
The penalty at inverness was only one of many mistakes he made that day. While i think he played well on Sunday, and during the semi made some timely tackles, he was still caught the wrong side of his man on a few occasions, and while i accept he's the best we have to partner McPake, i'd much prefer another McPake like player in beside James.
On Pie and Bovril. Paul Cairney (Partick Thistle) and Fouad Bachirou (Morton) have been rumoured to us :cb
I think we constantly under-estimate the value than Hanlon brings. He has a decent turn of pace, comfortable on the ball, good in the air and takes responsibility...he is also left sided which brings balance to the team ...he improves consistently each season ... He will go on to play at a higher level...
He is a player that will seem better when he is gone . Fletcher only really matured in his final season, he wasn't seen as a top talent before then..