Two Very Poor Teams

[Keith_M]

First up, this is not a complaint about Hearts winning yesterday's game; they scored, we didn't, so fair dos.


I just thought I'd post, though, what my opinion is about the sides, that they are both pretty poor. Yesterday's game was really dire, with little football or imagination on display. Add to that the fact that both teams missed glaring sitters, and It was hardly a great advert for Scottish Football.

We rightly criticize Levein for his tactics, which are negative to the extreme, but let's face it, Hibs are hardly any great shakes either.

I think some of us got a bit carried away when we had a reasonable winning streak earlier in the season but, having actually now had the chance to watch Hibs in the flesh, so to speak, numerous times in the last three months instead of only on TV, I have to be honest that we're a pretty average side.

I'm not for a minute saying we're a really bad side but I watch games and wonder what on earth the tactics are meant to be, why we're so ponderous or whether some players really have the ability we need to improve. We give away really easy goals then often struggle to convert numerous chances and possession into goals ourselves.


I have my own thoughts on the matter but, is the Lennon experiment actually working?

[FifeHibs]

Promotion 2 cup semis 4th in premiership, signing international players. Drawn with Celtic twice should have beaten Rangers and Hearts twice.
We have always conceded soft goals

There is a massive over reaction to 1 derby defeat

[Engels74]

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Promotion 2 cup semis 4th in premiership, signing international players. Drawn with Celtic twice should have beaten Rangers and Hearts twice.
We have always conceded soft goals

There is a massive over reaction to 1 derby defeat

This 100%

[Keith_M]

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Promotion 2 cup semis 4th in premiership, signing international players. Drawn with Celtic twice should have beaten Rangers and Hearts twice.
We have always conceded soft goals

There is a massive over reaction to 1 derby defeat

Actually, it's not a reaction to one game. My opinion is based on what I've been watching since I moved home and started attending games regularly again in October.

I've watched us struggle against some very poor sides, including Hamilton and Ross County.

[Skol]

The pitch dimensions contribute to the way you can play at tynecastle.

[One Day Soon]

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Actually, it's not a reaction to one game. My opinion is based on what I've been watching since I moved home and started attending games regularly again in October.

I've watched us struggle against some very poor sides, including Hamilton and Ross County.

Neither of these, on their day, are very poor sides. I was surprised at both games by their energy and organisation if not their class.

We're a leaky defence away from being a very, very difficult team to beat. Sort out our full backs and everything else follows.

[Nicho87]

We don't score enough goals

[The_Exile]

Our movement is really bad. You don't see it on the telly but if you're at the games you can spot it. There's usually 3 phases of movement within the game, attacking, defending, and set pieces. We simply don't move at set pieces, throw ins, nobody wants the ball, corners, they rarely reach a man. We actually largely defend quite well, all our defenders do well with marking and defensive mids pick up runners or cover the full backs competently but we are prone to really really stupid lapses of concentration and focus. Attacking we seem bereft of ideas of where to be at any given time, there's no one in the box for crosses or pull backs and there's no eye for a through ball or even a speculative pass to a runner. Clear cut chances are a rare thing.

Ina nutshell, there are times we look good, and there are times we really don't, and at these times it looks quite bad because of how basic the mistakes and lack of intelligence on the pitch is. All our main guys are a bit off the boil at the moment and we could do with a result to kick start us.

[jacomo]

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The pitch dimensions contribute to the way you can play at tynecastle.

And the state of the pitch itself, surely?

[leithsansiro]

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Our movement is really bad. You don't see it on the telly but if you're at the games you can spot it. There's usually 3 phases of movement within the game, attacking, defending, and set pieces. We simply don't move at set pieces, throw ins, nobody wants the ball, corners, they rarely reach a man. We actually largely defend quite well, all our defenders do well with marking and defensive mids pick up runners or cover the full backs competently but we are prone to really really stupid lapses of concentration and focus. Attacking we seem bereft of ideas of where to be at any given time, there's no one in the box for crosses or pull backs and there's no eye for a through ball or even a speculative pass to a runner. Clear cut chances are a rare thing.

Ina nutshell, there are times we look good, and there are times we really don't, and at these times it looks quite bad because of how basic the mistakes and lack of intelligence on the pitch is. All our main guys are a bit off the boil at the moment and we could do with a result to kick start us.

I'd agree with this. Without beginning to sound like a tactical bore like Cathro, I think that part of the reason we struggle isn't in the phases as generally our players do their job, such as defending. It's the transitions between the phases that wrecks us constantly. Midfield runners, for example, who are anticipating an attack. It almost seems like it always comes down to schoolboy tactics like "when we have the ball, you run forward"

[swin82]

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Promotion 2 cup semis 4th in premiership, signing international players. Drawn with Celtic twice should have beaten Rangers and Hearts twice.
We have always conceded soft goals

There is a massive over reaction to 1 derby defeat

Couldn’t agree with you more👍🏻

[Kojock]

Said that after the game yesterday that it was two poor teams who managed to make a bad game even worse.
Time to roll the sleeves up and get behind the team at Dundee. GGTTH

[Elephant Stone]

This place must have been an absolute nightmare when we actually were a poor team, fortunately that seems like a long time ago.

[Northernhibee]

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Promotion 2 cup semis 4th in premiership, signing international players. Drawn with Celtic twice should have beaten Rangers and Hearts twice.
We have always conceded soft goals

There is a massive over reaction to 1 derby defeat

It's the icing on the cake - two wins in ten is very poor. We need to improve, quick.

[MWHIBBIES]

Hibs are not a very poor team, we played very poorly yesterday but there is plenty of quality in our squad.

[Kojock]

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Hibs are not a very poor team, we played very poorly yesterday but there is plenty of quality in our squad.

That's the most disappointing thing, we have quality players but too many had an off day yesterday.

[NAE NOOKIE]

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Our movement is really bad. You don't see it on the telly but if you're at the games you can spot it. There's usually 3 phases of movement within the game, attacking, defending, and set pieces. We simply don't move at set pieces, throw ins, nobody wants the ball, corners, they rarely reach a man. We actually largely defend quite well, all our defenders do well with marking and defensive mids pick up runners or cover the full backs competently but we are prone to really really stupid lapses of concentration and focus. Attacking we seem bereft of ideas of where to be at any given time, there's no one in the box for crosses or pull backs and there's no eye for a through ball or even a speculative pass to a runner. Clear cut chances are a rare thing.

Ina nutshell, there are times we look good, and there are times we really don't, and at these times it looks quite bad because of how basic the mistakes and lack of intelligence on the pitch is. All our main guys are a bit off the boil at the moment and we could do with a result to kick start us.

That's a pretty decent summary to be honest. We don't have runners into the box when we get the ball in from wide areas .. watch Aberdeen they do it all the time with Christie for example. We don't have enough players showing for throw ins and as a result consistently give the ball away. Our corner kicks are poor, with about 40% of them easy catches for the keeper and we rarely see a defence splitting through ball to a forward.

Two points on throw ins. Point #1 ..... I don't think I've seen a game with as many throw ins as Sunday's, did it set some kind of record? Point #2.... I have it on good authority that professional players spend quite a lot of time in the gym these days working on upper body strength, when you look at Lewis lifting the cup at Hampden the wee guy has muscles like Atom Ant ..... how is it then that he seems incapable of throwing a football more than 6 yards, in fact that seems to be the case for everybody in our team apart from Efe Ambrose.

One of the UK records for the shot put is held by a 16 year old girl who threw a 105oz shot 17 yards ..... a size 5 ball weighs approx 16oz and half the width of ER is 37 yards ..... how the hell cant a fully grown male athlete throw a ball at least that distance?

[Baader]

We are not as good as the sum of our parts. We have better players than results suggest. Something that needs addressed.

[matty_f]

The game was almost a carbon copy of the last few meetings at the Wernham Hogg - scrappy, dull, poor. There was very little between the teams and neither would be happy watching that standard week in/week out imho.

[Tyler Durden]

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The pitch dimensions contribute to the way you can play at tynecastle.

I think this is totally overplayed to be honest. Every time we got the ball wide we looked a threat. We should have had Boyle hugging the touch line and 2 men in the middle to aim for.

[ozwoody]

we played a very narrow diamomd in midfield and a centreback at right back.Efe drifted into the centre a couple of times and, with no midfielder tracking back , left mitchell acres of room to exploit that side.No better example than ofirs brilliant save.Mitchell has ran past midfield and positioned himself to take the half volley.A true right back, in conjunction with a flat 4 midfield and he would not have risked taking that run on

[Smartie]

Would you ever recommend an Edinburgh derby as a place for anyone to go looking for quality football?

Aside from the passion and atmosphere, it is undoubtedly the fixture that has produced the least football in my football spectating lifetime. It's blood and snotters stuff, and always will be, especially when Hearts have Levein as boss and the game is at Tynecastle (with all that that entails).

Re our movement, throw-ins etc - I think this is where you have to give Hearts a bit of credit. Their defensive record is as good as it is because they don't give you any time on the ball. They are switched on and ready at every throw-in or set-piece. Levein has them very well-drilled indeed.

We just weren't quite good enough to overcome it but also remember - Boyle's shot goes a foot either side of their keeper and we are a goal up with minutes to go. We only needed to do a bit better, get a bit more luck at the set piece they scored from and we have another replay. I'd back us to beat them at Easter Road, on a decent pitch.

So in many ways I thought both teams actually did quite a lot that was technically good, even if it wasn't at all easy on the eye.