Benji

[The Big No.9]

Benji is a centre forward as is stokes, play them in there correct positions and you see the difference and i agree as soon as Nish comes in we lump it long.

Nish doesnt win headers, second touch is a header or a tackle, so so weak, his starting position is all wrong, the guy is garbage.

[euro Hibby]

Benji has grafted this year no question. Just had an off day in not his best position !

[WindyMiller]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Well done for winning the hysterical over-reaction of the month prize - Nov 2009.

Benji didn't have a good game on saturday but TBH that didn't surprise me - he has great touch and is good with the ball at his feet but he is hardly a grafter which is perhaps what we needed to compete with the yAMS' far more industrious midfield. Also, with Nish in the side, players often seem to take the "easy" option and bypass the midfield - thus Benji was almost invisible for much of the game.
Benji has his faults but is part of the quality in depth which we have up front - what Saturday showed for me is that we lack depth in the creative midfield berths and if Zemama is out we all of a sudden look a much more ordinary side.

Bit early for that, no?
I'm sure there will be some stiff opposition over the next 3 weeks.

[Jack]

A bad day in the office for our front line.

Zippo anticipation between the players and players and ball seemed to have a Teflon coating.

[Speedway]

The distance between nish's 1st and 2nd touches is often 20-30 yards. For this reason alone he wouldn't be in my starting XI under any circumstances.

Benji can only pass to Zoumer who wasn't on the pitch, so that was always going to be that.

Personally I'd offload everyone in January and bring players in to replace them who are better.

eg.

Out - Nish
In - Villa

[Nailrod]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Was that his worst ever performance in a Hibs strip ? Complete passenger from the first minute to his inevitable substitution. If he doesn;t have the excuse of injury, then I'd drop him for Nish for the next few games.

I agree that both Benji and Stokes were ineffective in the first half, but I assume both were doing as they were told. Upshot was that Benji was lying deep and Stokes way out wide, both of them much too far away from Nish to pick up any worthwhile possession from the occasional long balls that he managed to win. The tactic just didn't work.

I don't think we can afford to play Nish if Zemamma is injured, particularly if Rankin is the alternative. Z is the only player we have who can carve open a defence and create any real chances for Nish, and without him we will simply end up punting long balls to Nish, most of which he won't win - Saturday being a perfect case in point.

Away from home I would rather see Stokes and Benji together up front, with Galbraith rather than Rankin if Zemamma is unfit. At home against teams that are playing tight against us I would play Nish rather than Benji, with Stokes in the centre to feed off him - as long as The Zouma is available.