That's exactly my thoughts on this.
The "Liam Miller's pish" thing was started by jambos who can't believe we've signed a player of his quality. Unfortunatley some Hibs fans seem to be easily swayed into believing what Hearts fans tell them.
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The SPL site is clearly p*sh cos I can think of Riordan having at least 4 assists. Stokes goal in the derby, Stokes 1st vs Well at ER. Nish's goal at Well, the OG that they took off Riordan vs Falkirk at ER.
He's probably got a few more, that's just off the top of my head.
Absolutely - lets not judge Miller when at the moment he is basically having to do the job of 2 Centre Midfielders due to the fact that Rankin is incapable.
Granted if come the end of the season he has still been horse whilst playing alongside KMcB we can start to question his ability but certainly not now!
In my opinion Liam Miller is the best player in the current squad.
I can appreciate that he is trying to run the midfield himself. That said, I think he can do things faster at times, he seems to get caught on the ball when there is no need. I do sympathise with him though as there arent many options for our players when they have the ball, which is half Miller's problem at the moment.
He is blatantly a class player, and with better players around him in the midfield (ie McBride) he will flourish for us, of that I have no doubt.:agree:
Andy, seriously, dinnae pish me off.
Liam Miller is great for Hibs but theres plenty id have ahead of him.
Liam Miller so far , absolute qaulity for Hibs, but id have quite a few players before him, and if you dont agree thats YOUR opinion, and if you wanna argue ive got allnight.
But dinnae be wide.
Derek Riordan isn't the same player as the one that left. His inability to take advantage of the Yams piss poor right back was the perfect example of this.
He will score some screamers and i dare say win us some matches, but I don't think he will weigh in with the 20+ he used to and when he's not scoring, he is doing absolutely nowt.
Games against Killie, Aberdeen, Rangers, Hearts and now Dundee utd have shown him to be a complete passenger and one that we can't afford to keep carrying.
Rankin isn't making Miller look bad. Riordan and Zemmama are making Rankin and Miller look bad because they are doing the defensive work of 4 men. There is so much pressure on them and so much ground to cover, they can't get forward as much and create chances.
I've said it before but a proper left midfielder will create, score and give the other midfielders more of an opportunity to create and score more goals than Riordan is going to provide us with. It will also give the team better balance and increase the work ethic ten fold.
Liam Miller is quality and we should appreciate what we have as he will surely leave in the not too distant future IMO.
Mostly agree with this. I do think Rankin simply isn't good enough. However Miller most certainly is, and I agree with your analysis regarding Riordan and Zemamma.
Too many times we've been playing with a very small, two-man midfield which means they're overpowered and overstretched even by fairly ho-hum SPL midfielders when trying to defend. And when we have the ball, the lack of options in midfield often leads to the big hopeful punt, or one of the midfield two being shepherded into a blind alley.
We need a genuine left-sider, as you rightly say, and a strong physical presence in midfield. (Yes, I know, the Matty Jack thing). And we need Riordan and Zemamma to drop the laziness and selfishness and play for the team. Far too often they try the fancy option to make themselves look good and end up shooting off target or losing the ball.
I'm pretty confident that Yogi knows all this and more, and will be taking the necessary steps. That's the difference from last year - then I had no confidence in the manager either being aware of the team's weaknesses, or having any ability to do anything about it.
I Think everyone likes our midfield this year better than last, IMHO Zouma is never effective in the winter months.