A very late 'This is how it feels (Aberdeen 09112018)

[Jonnyboy]

Let me start off with an apology. Normally, I write up my ‘This is how it feels’ once I get home from a game but the journey to and from Aberdeen left me puggled so I resolved to write it on the Saturday morning. Unfortunately, I went down with a virus and was pretty much laid up for a few days. As a result of all of that, I’m several days late and have obviously now read the various media reports and messageboard posts so my offering is influenced – not for the worse, I hope!

I’m going to make my usual summary of the game but as it is likely to be shorter than usual, I’m going to offer up a bit more for some in my player reviews.

To begin with it must be said that the atrocious weather conditions were never really mastered by either team and I felt the quality of football suffered as a result. The wind was strong and swirling and made reading the flight of the ball a bit of a lottery but as I say, both teams suffered as a result.

Perhaps with the conditions in mind, Lenny made a number of changes which saw Slivka, Kamberi, Porteous and McGregor in the starting eleven while big Marv hobbled off during the warm up and was replaced on the bench by Sean Mackie.

As you might expect, Aberdeen attacked from the off with the first ten or fifteen minutes seeing them enjoy the bulk of possession without really troubling Bogdan. At the other end Mallan had a chance from a free kick but couldn’t find the target. With half time fast approaching, Porteous was woefully short with a pass aimed at Stevenson, allowing Mackay Steven to nip in and send a low drive into the bottom corner.

Hibs were better in the second half and had a couple of decent chances to equalise when first a Dons player almost sliced a Mallan corner into his own net before another corner saw Milligan head over the bar when scoring looked easier. Perhaps the best chances fell to Kamberi. The first saw him latch on to a super ball from Slivka before rounding Joe Lewis, only to crash his shot over the bar with Maclaren waiting for the cut back. The second saw him completely miskick from six yards when a low cross from Boyle arrived at his feet.

It may sound odd to say this but while I don’t think we did enough to win, we also didn’t deserve to lose. My memory tells me we had more efforts on goal than Aberdeen did but of course one of their efforts went in and the points were lost.

The players

Adam – My mate usually travels with us but couldn’t make this game. Had he been there he probably would have said Bogdan should have saved Mackay Steven’s effort but personally I think that would have been harsh.

Efe – I worried that he would be playing wide right because he got roasted in the 4-1 game last season but on this occasion I thought he was fine. Never really troubled and seemed to read the flight of the ball better than most.

Daz – I felt Daz struggled more than most with the conditions and a fair number of his attempted headed clearances came off his head at odd angles. He did have the best challenge of the game though when the vastly over hyped Stevie May broke free, nudged the ball past Bogdan and had an open goal in front of him until that fantastic challenge by Daz.

Ryan – I think it is fair to say this was not one of his best outings and I thought he made not one, but two errors for the goal. The obvious one was his awful pass towards Lewis and the second was that he failed to read that Mackay Steven would veer left as he approached him. Given the Aberdeen man is all left foot it should have been an easy read but instead, Ryan was left flat footed and Bogdan was left horribly exposed. Having said all of that, his early and daft booking didn’t stop him playing his usual game so kudos for that.

Lewis – I felt he was pinned back a lot, especially in the first half but he defended well and had to go off late in the game after he was assaulted, erm I mean tackled by an Aberdeen player and didn’t even earn a free kick but more about the referee later.

Boyler – It pain me to say it but I thought Boyler had his worst game yet in a Hibs jersey. His second touch was invariably a tackle and I lost count of the number of times he was caught on his heels which is not a good place to be when your biggest strength is your speed over the ground. Suffered a few hefty and largely unpunished tackles but to his credit he kept getting up again.

Stevie – I’m reading that in the view of some he offers nothing but goals and while I confess this was not a great ninety minutes from him I feel that goals only label is extremely unfair. His work rate was good and yes he may have looked to have backed away from making tackles but on a number of those occasions the path of the ball seemed to make him hesitate. I’m fed up reading he’s not McGinn. When SJM arrived he was a bit of a rough diamond but improved greatly thanks to good coaching. We need to give Mallan the chance to do the same.

Slivka – Vicky is another player who divides opinion. Against the Dons he made the best couple of passes in the game but these have been ignored largely by the doubters. I like him as a player and I reckon given a proper run in the middle of the park will see him make a positive contribution. Just don’t play him wide right, Lenny – he’s poor when he plays there.

Mark – Despite the stadium announcer insisting we were fielding Mark McMillan, I can categorically assure you that it was Milligan. It was pleasing to see him back in midfield as he is far better there and although he missed a good chance with a poor header I still give him my man of the match award.

Jamie – Let’s settle one thing first. He is not ‘gash’ and he is not a ‘great player’ but somewhere in the middle as most players in our league are. The amount of criticism aimed at him is shameful in my opinion and I for one think he does not deserve it. The ninety minutes at Pittodrie was not his best but had Flo been more aware he could have set up the perfectly positioned Maclaren for an equaliser.

Flo – Got clattered again and more than once but got little or no protection from the ref. His partnership with Jamie has worked well in the past and I’m pretty sure it will work well again. To me, he does not look fully fit as his movement is not as good as it has been.

Daryl – Did his customary buzzing about but didn’t really create anything of worth.

Lewis A – A few around me were surprised when Lewis was brought on but he’s a striker, he’s a big lad and we needed a goal. A bit of a no brainer really.

Sean M – Only got the dying moments after replacing Lewis.

Lenny – I heard his post-match interview but in truth I’ve forgotten most of what he said! All I can recall was nodding along with him as he spoke.

The fans – That was a very decent turnout for a Friday night game being covered live on TV. Pretty much got behind the team from the off and stayed there throughout. A few random boos at the end and one divot in front of me screaming at Mallan, who’d come over to acknowledge the support, that he was pish.

Alan Muir – I’m not sure why he bothered turning up to replace The Rangers’ favourite referee. Given that Shinnie basically reffed the game, Muir was largely redundant. I counted four Shinnie tackles worthy of a yellow card but Muir didn’t oblige. Instead he, on more than one occasion, shared a laugh and a joke with Shinnie and even patted him on the shoulder on one occasion. Maybe they’re both from the same Lodge?

[Keith_M]

Better late than never, JB

[Bostonhibby]

Cheers JB. Can rest easy at last. Been awake for days waiting on this

Sent from my SM-J320FN using Tapatalk

[Forza Fred]

Careful John, I suggested MacLaren was neither gash nor great a few weeks ago, and the tin hat got very dented as a result😉

[BILLYHIBS]

👍🏾

[The 90+2]

Nothing to apologise for. It’s always appreciated the time taken (me anyway not that, that matters much) hope you feel better.

[Jonnyboy]

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Careful John, I suggested MacLaren was neither gash nor great a few weeks ago, and the tin hat got very dented as a result😉

I got myself an extra strong one, Fred

[Smartie]

Good point about Slivka.

On another day he has 2 assists for the 2 balls he played in to Kamberi - passes that if Scott Allan had played them we'd all have been fawning over them.

There are lots of criticisms that Slivka fails to influence games - he's unlucky that Kamberi was uncharacteristically wasteful, as he played his part and that should be acknowledged.

If we could have 2 more like those in our next game then we should be happy.

[Moulin Yarns]

Cheers. Much appreciated. 🇳🇬

[Scotty Leither]

Well done John, pretty much how I saw the game too.

I agree with you on Mallan, that he's a guy that should respond to constant coaching much in the same way McGinn did; my only worry is that he looks like he's towing a caravan half the time, and can t really burst away from an opponent like McGinn could do.

Agree about the ref though, and while I never want to see Hibs top the "statement league", we've suffered too many times at the hands of this clown and it's high time someone senior at the club were calling him out publicly, as other clubs seem to do with impunity.

[angus hibby]

Made the same comment myself about Shinnie refereeing the game!

sure I remember him going right up to the refs face at one point after a decision went against him and couldn’t believe he wasn’t booked for it!

[JimBHibees]

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Good point about Slivka.

On another day he has 2 assists for the 2 balls he played in to Kamberi - passes that if Scott Allan had played them we'd all have been fawning over them.

There are lots of criticisms that Slivka fails to influence games - he's unlucky that Kamberi was uncharacteristically wasteful, as he played his part and that should be acknowledged.

If we could have 2 more like those in our next game then we should be happy.

Pretty sure it was Mark Milligan that played the ball through for Flo when he went past the goalie.

[Viva_Palmeiras]

“This is how it felt” ;)

[greenlex]

Good stuff JC. Spot on with the analysis. I’m sure it was Shinnie that smashed into Lewis..
They really are a bunch of spoilers. On one occasion Shinnie just ran at Bogdan and fouled him as he was attempting a quick throw in. Not even as much as a raised eyebrow from the ref.

[PapillonVert]

Hope you're feeling better, John.

Looking forward to your next dispatch from the SPL front!

[Kojock]

Hard to disagree with any of that JB. Not sure people appreciated how strong the wind was we were 3 rows from the front and it was blowing a hoolie. Said at the time the only difference between the teams on the night was young Ryan's mistake.

[Baldy Foghorn]

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Hard to disagree with any of that JB. Not sure people appreciated how strong the wind was we were 3 rows from the front and it was blowing a hoolie. Said at the time the only difference between the teams on the night was young Ryan's mistake.

Yip, you saw how strong wind was, when Efe was with ball, and it started veering away when it was on the deck.