Lennon's post-match quotes and our home form

[MWHIBBIES]

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How is he wrong? We finished third last season and are sitting in second. On our day we are a match for anyone but there is obviously some kind of block that prevents us from doing it convincingly on a regular basis. It's not ability it is as Lennon says psychological. This team has not shown it has what it takes to win the league.

So unless players win every week they are losers? Mentally this team has been through more than any side in our history, especially guys like Hanlon and Stevenson, and they came out of it with the Scottish cup. They have shown multiple times that they are quality players and given us some incredible wins. They are not losers. If not for the injuries we would have been a comfortable 2nd place/maybe even 1st with the poor run Rangers had at the end. IMO the quality and mental attributes of our team aren't the problem, the way they are being utilised is.

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In terms of the league are they really playing worse than last year? Only lost 1 in 8 and, without checking, I'd guess that we are probably sitting with more points than at this time last year.

It just looks like more of the same to me with the issues from last year not addressed.

We are playing worse than last year IMO, our home form was excellent last season and has been dreadful this.

[Forza Fred]

There were some who pooh poohed the fact that Lennon's pre season media commitments would have an effect on his understanding of our needs and we would suffer from his lack of attention at a critical time.

I think we have, and am now starting to consider whether Lennon really treats THIS job as a 'make or break' indication of his managerial ability, or whether he basically views it as his footballing equivalent of a 'gap year'...whereas it would be nice if we won promotion, but if things don't go as hoped, it can be dismissed as, , 'hey ho..not really a full on job'....

I agree that his constant comments re Celtic are not helpful to the perception that we are maybe not uppermost in his thoughts sometimes.

I DO hope my perceptions are wrong, and he supplies what is needed though...

[ekhibee]

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Have you seen some of the garbage that has been promoted over the years? This team is clearly good enough and to call them all losers and downplay their Scottish cup win is pathetic. To overcome everything the did and win the Scottish cup shows they aren't losers. This team don't need to prove you wrong, you are quite clearly wrong right now.

What do you mean overcoming everything they did? In two seasons we've blatantly failed to get promoted back into the top league, that's worse than any other Hibs team I can remember. No, they're not losers and we will all remember the Scottish Cup win, but the very fact that they do have plenty of ability makes you question the attitude of the team if they can't even finish 2nd in the Championship. If players, individually or as a team, show more than enough ability to challenge for a league title, and then don't even get to the final of the play-offs, then IMO people have every right to question what the priorities of the players are. Or are you saying we were just unlucky virtually every time we played Dumbarton, Falkirk,etc?

[bingo70]

What specific senior players do people think were hiding on Saturday?

Mcgeough was a shadow of the player he can be and Shinnie was dreadful, I don't think I'd say he was hiding though?

Anybody else?

[High-On-Hibs]

The issue is that different players are motivated in different ways. Some players need a good kick up the a**e, while others just need pulled to the side and spoken to quietly.

Managers need to identify what works best for each individual. But I feel that we've gone through far too many managers with a 1 size fits all approach. If you do that, then there's always going to be a revolt by those who don't respond well to the 1 dimensional regime.

Lennon needs to identify what works best for each individual player, rather than losing the head with all of them, all of the time. Because that's not what every player needs to get the best out of them.

[Alex Trager]

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I know what you're saying, but I honestly don't think we can blame the stadium. Just think back to recent wins over Hearts or The Rangers. There's a terrific atmosphere when there's a product on the pitch worth getting excited about and with the crowds we're getting at present there's the potential for plenty of noise if the the football on the park wasn't so dull. I know the big games tend to generate their own atmosphere but if we were witnessing a Hibs team which looked like it was going to blow teams off the park in this league rather than tip tapping around uncertainly then we'd hear more than enough backing from the stands.

I agree, It is difficult to get up for games against Shan teams, so it's hardly surprising that the ground is not rocking against Ayr etc

[Borderhibbie76]

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Last season folk were slating Stubs for not having a go at the players because he was always defending them, if the players want praise from their manager then start ****in winning games.

Spot on BH 100% they are well paid professionals underperforming in a sh## league - if they can't handle a bit of criticism from their manager ...then diddums

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[TrinityHibby]

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What specific senior players do people think were hiding on Saturday?

Mcgeough was a shadow of the player he can be and Shinnie was dreadful, I don't think I'd say he was hiding though?

Anybody else?

Forster looked like he had never seen a football before and his 'hoof balls' would not have looked out of place at Tynecastle. Hanlon needs to return at CH and like it or not Stevenson at LB. Midfield is a real dilemma as McGeoch, McGinn and Fyvie all playing well below their best. Shinnie, Harris and Marciano also failing to impress.

[mca]

Is Neils... Career not on the on the Line Here..

If He Fails.. Who Else Will Want him !!! Sky Sports !!! Doubt It

[jacomo]

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There were some who pooh poohed the fact that Lennon's pre season media commitments would have an effect on his understanding of our needs and we would suffer from his lack of attention at a critical time.

I think we have, and am now starting to consider whether Lennon really treats THIS job as a 'make or break' indication of his managerial ability, or whether he basically views it as his footballing equivalent of a 'gap year'...whereas it would be nice if we won promotion, but if things don't go as hoped, it can be dismissed as, , 'hey ho..not really a full on job'....

I agree that his constant comments re Celtic are not helpful to the perception that we are maybe not uppermost in his thoughts sometimes.

I DO hope my perceptions are wrong, and he supplies what is needed though...

Lennon had a bad experience and Bolton and his managerial reputation is on the line, no question about it.

No reason to doubt his commitment is there? Obviously we've had a rocky month but surely no reason to suggest he's not giving 100%?

[Booked4Being-Ugly]

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Forster looked like he had never seen a football before and his 'hoof balls' would not have looked out of place at Tynecastle. Hanlon needs to return at CH and like it or not Stevenson at LB. Midfield is a real dilemma as McGeoch, McGinn and Fyvie all playing well below their best. Shinnie, Harris and Marciano also failing to impress.

A bit of perspective is required - Fyvie has been the exception to our recent poor form and Harris got MoM against St Mirren.

[J-C]

I was going to say that our dip in form came since Holt has been out of the team but we got humped 1-3 by QOS at home in the League cup when he played and also in the loss to Ayr. Looking at our results, it's quite baffling to see where anything has actually happened to effect these games. Shinnie's 1st game we won, the two sendings off didn't help but I'd say Lennon got the subs all wrong against Ayr that day, the 1st win against Falkirk he played Martin in midfield and the laddie hasn't been seen since.

I think my biggest question would be why has Lennon fielded a different team in every game and why play 3 games in a row with a winning 3 at the back, the suddenly change to a back 4?

I can understand why the players may be confused as they as getting shunted around from one formation to another and the team hhas yet to settle as it's forever changing.

[NAE NOOKIE]

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What do you mean overcoming everything they did? In two seasons we've blatantly failed to get promoted back into the top league, that's worse than any other Hibs team I can remember. No, they're not losers and we will all remember the Scottish Cup win, but the very fact that they do have plenty of ability makes you question the attitude of the team if they can't even finish 2nd in the Championship. If players, individually or as a team, show more than enough ability to challenge for a league title, and then don't even get to the final of the play-offs, then IMO people have every right to question what the priorities of the players are. Or are you saying we were just unlucky virtually every time we played Dumbarton, Falkirk,etc?

There are a number of factors which have contributed to our failure to get promoted over the last two seasons ... but I have seen every Hibs home game since we were relegated and I defy anybody to point to one where the players showed a poor attitude, even in the game where we lost 3 - 0 to Morton the players tried and tried to change the game, only to be hit by 3 sucker punches, they lost because of mistakes and one poor effort by the keeper, but not because they didn't try.

We have a number of problems to overcome if we are to win the league this season, but I just cant agree given what I have watched for two years that 'attitude' is one of them ..... If there has been a change to that then the one factor that has changed since the season started is the manager.
As far as he goes having watched Lennon as a player and a manager I would find it difficult to believe that he is anything other than determined to make a success of any job he takes on .... The only thing that does worry me about him on the man management front is that he seems quick to turn on the players if things don't go the way he wants them to. The one thing Stubbs got right above all else was to promote a 'we are all in this together' feeling between the coaching staff and the players, if Neil Lennon throws that baby out with the bathwater by castigating the players all the time, then yes I can see the players reacting to it, and not in a good way.

[ekhibee]

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There are a number of factors which have contributed to our failure to get promoted over the last two seasons ... but I have seen every Hibs home game since we were relegated and I defy anybody to point to one where the players showed a poor attitude, even in the game where we lost 3 - 0 to Morton the players tried and tried to change the game, only to be hit by 3 sucker punches, they lost because of mistakes and one poor effort by the keeper, but not because they didn't try.

We have a number of problems to overcome if we are to win the league this season, but I just cant agree given what I have watched for two years that 'attitude' is one of them ..... If there has been a change to that then the one factor that has changed since the season started is the manager.
As far as he goes having watched Lennon as a player and a manager I would find it difficult to believe that he is anything other than determined to make a success of any job he takes on .... The only thing that does worry me about him on the man management front is that he seems quick to turn on the players if things don't go the way he wants them to. The one thing Stubbs got right above all else was to promote a 'we are all in this together' feeling between the coaching staff and the players, if Neil Lennon throws that baby out with the bathwater by castigating the players all the time, then yes I can see the players reacting to it, and not in a good way.

Well I agree with a lot of what you say, but to be fair I wasn't just talking about home games. My point, which maybe I didn't make clearly, was that over the last couple of seasons we had a good team in terms of ability, a much better team on paper than most teams in the Championship. We seemed to be able to beat premiership teams virtually whenever we played them, but dropped far too many points against teams in our own league, teams that we should have been beating. I agree totally with what you say about what Stubbs was promoting, but for me personally, I find it difficult to agree with the excuses a lot of people made on here about why we dropped so many points, particularly last season. If we can beat Aberdeen, Hearts, St Johnstone etc we really shouldn't be struggling to beat, for example, Dumbarton, and that's no disrespect to Dumbarton at all. They did their job, we didn't do ours. The excuse that the other team puts 10 men behind the ball and it's difficult to break down only applies when you're talking about playing that team for the 1st time, not when you're still not able to get results against them later in the season, so it comes down to either bad luck every time we dropped points against these teams, Stubbs consistently not knowing how to break these teams down, or the players not doing what they're supposed to do.

I appreciate that some of that bears no relation to what you were saying, because I do actually agree with a lot of what you say, it's just this season, under Lennon, is starting to have an all too familar look to it. We've been here before. But it's early days yet, there's still a long, long way to go.

[Speedway]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo..._campaign=1490

Interesting follow up

[eastcoasthibby]

what have we got left of the old guard that got us relegated ?? 3-4 of them max.

I wonder if some of them get this perception that Hibs are a big club in name and support but haven't delivered much on that for years, but do they see it that they have made it and don't need to perform to keep their jobs ?

Yes all of these players could do a decent job in any premier team, but for whatever their mindset is poor and they are not working hard enough to make things happen.
Yes Lennon may well shoulder some of the blame for his team selection, shape and subs, but that doesn't excuse players not trying and if being asked to play in a slightly different position from what they prefer, but jeez they should just get the Fec$ on with it they get paid enough and only work 3 hours a day for it "!!

A bit of an aside I actually think our squad is massively imbalanced we are overloaded by central midfielders none except Shinnie are overly attack minded, and our only natural winger is terrified of anything physical so doesn't want on the ball if there is a risk he might get tackled, the only other one with real pace wants to be a centre forward which he will never be .. our defenders are too prone to switching off at the wrong times and a keeper that is unconvincing at this time.. so we are in my mind nowhere near to be a finished article and our performances are a bit of Lennons creating but he cannot make them work and fight on the park that's their livelihood !!