PDA

View Full Version : My opinion of today.



blackpoolhibs
15-08-2009, 11:51 PM
A win is a win, although we struggled against 10 men to get that win. We gave them their goal, a combination of hogg/maka and Hanlon. A stupid goal, one like we lost many times last season.:grr:

It was great to score so quickly, i'm glad we did, and the young lad took it well. We played good football at times, and you can see just how the probing will work, if we had the players to do so. The problem is we did not today.
Zemamma would have made a difference, although lack of pace and quality in both full back positions did not help the way we were trying to play. Bamba again showed just how good a player he is, he will play in the premiership.
McBride done a good job, Cregg too, young witherspoon took his goal well, and if he continues to progress will be a player, although never MOM, that was Bamba by a country mile. Hogg is a lucky man to be captain, it seems to guarantee him a place, he wouldnt be my choice, he scrapes into the side imho, only because we dont have anyone better. Far too easily muscled off the ball for me. His angled cross field balls rarely get there, although he did have one good ball down the line to witherspoon in the 2nd half.

The passing at the back to midfield was very pedestrian, and needs to be quicker/sharper, hopefully that will come with more games, and maybe better players? Rankin runs about with very little end product, did have a couple of decent digs 2nd half, but i want more than that from him.
Nish, why does he fall on his erse so much? And he never looked along the line today, and must have been caught offside 10 times, and looks unfit.:grr: Riordan did nothing much either, but did get more into the games in the 2nd half, and layed on Benjis miss, that scraped past the far post, and nearly scored with his trade mark screamer.

All in all, delighted with 3 points, plenty of positives, Bamba, Witherspoon, Cregg and McBride, and of course Benji coming on and scoring the winner.:thumbsup: A 6 out of 10 performance, plenty of room for improvement, most imho will have to be improved with a few different players, especially in the full back deparments, Murray will come in on the left, Zemamma will come back in midfield and a new forward in needed urgently, if we are to play a target man, he needs to be able to hold the ball up, stay on his feet and bring the midfield into the game.

Hibernianinc
15-08-2009, 11:55 PM
:thumbsup:

Can't disagree at all.

Lovin' the steam of consciousness.......:agree:

EskbankHibby
15-08-2009, 11:55 PM
A win is a win, although we struggled against 10 men to get that win. We gave them their goal, a combination of hogg/maka and Hanlon. A stupid goal, one like we lost many times last season.:grr: It was great to score so quickly, i'm glad we did, and the young lad took it well. We played good football at times, and you can see just how the probing will work, if we had the players to do so. The problem is we did not today. Zemamma would have made a difference, although lack of pace and quality in both full back positions did not help the way we were trying to play. Bamba again showed just how good a player he is, he will play in the premiership. McBride done a good job, Cregg too, young witherspoon took his goal well, and if he continues to progress will be a player, although never MOM, that was Bamba by a country mile. Hogg is a lucky man to be captain, it seems to guarantee him a place, he wouldnt be my choice, he scrapes into the side imho, only because we dont have anyone better. Far too easily muscled off the ball for me. His angled cross field balls rarely get there, although he did have one good ball down the line to witherspoon in the 2nd half. The passing at the back to midfield was very pedestrian, and needs to be quicker/sharper, hopefully that will come with more games, and maybe better players? Rankin runs about with very little end product, did have a couple of decent digs 2nd half, but i want more than that from him. Nish, why does he fall on his erse so much? And he never looked along the line today, and must have been caught offside 10 times, and looks unfit.:grr: Riordan did nothing much either, but did get more into the games in the 2nd half, and layed on Benjis miss, that scraped past the far post, and nearly scored with his trade mark screamer. All in all, delighted with 3 points, plenty of positives, Bamba, Witherspoon, Cregg and McBride, and of course Benji coming on and scoring the winner.:thumbsup: A 6 out of 10 performance, plenty of room for improvement, most imho will have to be improved with a few different players, especially in the full back deparments, Murray will come in on the left, Zemamma will come back in midfield and a new forward in needed urgently, if we are to play a target man, he needs to be able to hold the ball up, stay on his feet and bring the midfield into the game.

And breathe!!!!

Paragraphs man!!!!!!!!!

'Mon the Hibs.

blackpoolhibs
15-08-2009, 11:58 PM
And breathe!!!!

Paragraphs man!!!!!!!!!

'Mon the Hibs.

Had a bevy, :greengrin

EskbankHibby
16-08-2009, 12:00 AM
Had a bevy, :greengrin

Me too buddy, happy days.:greengrin

shamo9
16-08-2009, 12:12 AM
A win is a win, although we struggled against 10 men to get that win. We gave them their goal, a combination of hogg/maka and Hanlon. A stupid goal, one like we lost many times last season.:grr: It was great to score so quickly, i'm glad we did, and the young lad took it well. We played good football at times, and you can see just how the probing will work, if we had the players to do so. The problem is we did not today. Zemamma would have made a difference, although lack of pace and quality in both full back positions did not help the way we were trying to play. Bamba again showed just how good a player he is, he will play in the premiership. McBride done a good job, Cregg too, young witherspoon took his goal well, and if he continues to progress will be a player, although never MOM, that was Bamba by a country mile. Hogg is a lucky man to be captain, it seems to guarantee him a place, he wouldnt be my choice, he scrapes into the side imho, only because we dont have anyone better. Far too easily muscled off the ball for me. His angled cross field balls rarely get there, although he did have one good ball down the line to witherspoon in the 2nd half. The passing at the back to midfield was very pedestrian, and needs to be quicker/sharper, hopefully that will come with more games, and maybe better players? Rankin runs about with very little end product, did have a couple of decent digs 2nd half, but i want more than that from him. Nish, why does he fall on his erse so much? And he never looked along the line today, and must have been caught offside 10 times, and looks unfit.:grr: Riordan did nothing much either, but did get more into the games in the 2nd half, and layed on Benjis miss, that scraped past the far post, and nearly scored with his trade mark screamer. All in all, delighted with 3 points, plenty of positives, Bamba, Witherspoon, Cregg and McBride, and of course Benji coming on and scoring the winner.:thumbsup: A 6 out of 10 performance, plenty of room for improvement, most imho will have to be improved with a few different players, especially in the full back deparments, Murray will come in on the left, Zemamma will come back in midfield and a new forward in needed urgently, if we are to play a target man, he needs to be able to hold the ball up, stay on his feet and bring the midfield into the game.

Wall of text, hhmmmmm:hmmm:

Do I climb it or read it?:wink:

GreenOnions
16-08-2009, 12:34 AM
Thanks BH. Your post is an excellent and interesting read for those of us unable to make the game today :thumbsup:

hstn747
16-08-2009, 07:47 AM
Looking back on yesterday, the thing that pleased me is that we didn't panic & try to force the winner. Hibs teams in the recent past would have started pumping balls forwards. We kept passing the ball & moving it from side to side in order to stretch & tire St Mirren. In the end, patience paid off.

blackpoolhibs
16-08-2009, 07:58 AM
Looking back on yesterday, the thing that pleased me is that we didn't panic & try to force the winner. Hibs teams in the recent past would have started pumping balls forwards. We kept passing the ball & moving it from side to side in order to stretch & tire St Mirren. In the end, patience paid off.

:top marks. Just how good would that have been, playing that way with Murphy and whittaker as our 2 full backs? 2 Players who would have played as attacking wing backs against the 10 men.

flash
16-08-2009, 08:11 AM
:top marks. Just how good would that have been, playing that way with Murphy and whittaker as our 2 full backs? 2 Players who would have played as attacking wing backs against the 10 men.

You still not gone to bed? Good point though we said as much in the pub last night.

Hibby 2005
16-08-2009, 08:17 AM
I think you got more than a little clue as to Hughes's thinking when the subs came on, Wotherspoon and Galbraith playing as wing-backs.

In the future with a possible back three of Bamba, Hogg and Murray this could be a very effective formation in certain games.

If we play a strightforward back four then McCann and Hanlon/Murray will probably play the traditional full-back roles.

sunshine1875
16-08-2009, 08:19 AM
A win is a win, although we struggled against 10 men to get that win. We gave them their goal, a combination of hogg/maka and Hanlon. A stupid goal, one like we lost many times last season.:grr:

It was great to score so quickly, i'm glad we did, and the young lad took it well. We played good football at times, and you can see just how the probing will work, if we had the players to do so. The problem is we did not today.
Zemamma would have made a difference, although lack of pace and quality in both full back positions did not help the way we were trying to play. Bamba again showed just how good a player he is, he will play in the premiership.
McBride done a good job, Cregg too, young witherspoon took his goal well, and if he continues to progress will be a player, although never MOM, that was Bamba by a country mile. Hogg is a lucky man to be captain, it seems to guarantee him a place, he wouldnt be my choice, he scrapes into the side imho, only because we dont have anyone better. Far too easily muscled off the ball for me. His angled cross field balls rarely get there, although he did have one good ball down the line to witherspoon in the 2nd half.

The passing at the back to midfield was very pedestrian, and needs to be quicker/sharper, hopefully that will come with more games, and maybe better players? Rankin runs about with very little end product, did have a couple of decent digs 2nd half, but i want more than that from him.
Nish, why does he fall on his erse so much? And he never looked along the line today, and must have been caught offside 10 times, and looks unfit.:grr: Riordan did nothing much either, but did get more into the games in the 2nd half, and layed on Benjis miss, that scraped past the far post, and nearly scored with his trade mark screamer.

All in all, delighted with 3 points, plenty of positives, Bamba, Witherspoon, Cregg and McBride, and of course Benji coming on and scoring the winner.:thumbsup: A 6 out of 10 performance, plenty of room for improvement, most imho will have to be improved with a few different players, especially in the full back deparments, Murray will come in on the left, Zemamma will come back in midfield and a new forward in needed urgently, if we are to play a target man, he needs to be able to hold the ball up, stay on his feet and bring the midfield into the game.

Good honest summary of the first, traditionally difficult, opening game of the season.

Totally agree that we needed good overlapping full-backs and Zemamma back.

Maka - sorry, but your time is almost up. Yes it was a poor backpass, but he had plenty of time yet panicked.

Hogg - mixes the very good, with some poor play

McBride - an idiot close to my seat, from the first kick, says "your rubbish" and kept repeating it. Give the guy a chance.

Hughes - did well the change the game in the second half, which is a contrast from last year.

blackpoolhibs
16-08-2009, 08:27 AM
You still not gone to bed? Good point though we said as much in the pub last night.

Couldnt sleep with all yesterdays excitement. The ball retention as yogi calls it was very good yesterday, although imho the ball was not moved on quick enough from side to side, and both full backs showed their limitations at going forward. 99% of our crosses from our defenders were from deep positions, when they needed to be from much further forward. Concidering they only had 10 men, we did not get to the bye line often enough, purely down to imho the quality of our full backs, its just not their game. Both are more comfortable defending than going forward. Murray will do a better job on the left, but we will need a different type of right back, if we want to do the same on that side.

ronaldo7
16-08-2009, 08:46 AM
Good honest summary of the first, traditionally difficult, opening game of the season.

Totally agree that we needed good overlapping full-backs and Zemamma back.

Maka - sorry, but your time is almost up. Yes it was a poor backpass, but he had plenty of time yet panicked.

Hogg - mixes the very good, with some poor play

McBride - an idiot close to my seat, from the first kick, says "your rubbish" and kept repeating it. Give the guy a chance.
Hughes - did well the change the game in the second half, which is a contrast from last year.

I've seen McBride in about 6 games now and he has looked a very good holding midfielder, always looks for a pass and is available for a return. Good reader of the game and links well with wee paddy Cregg.

I don't know what he did to the Falkirk fans, but if they have anymore like him, we'll take them.

Keep it going Marra:thumbsup:

bingo70
16-08-2009, 08:57 AM
Couldnt sleep with all yesterdays excitement. The ball retention as yogi calls it was very good yesterday, although imho the ball was not moved on quick enough from side to side, and both full backs showed their limitations at going forward. 99% of our crosses from our defenders were from deep positions, when they needed to be from much further forward. Concidering they only had 10 men, we did not get to the bye line often enough, purely down to imho the quality of our full backs, its just not their game. Both are more comfortable defending than going forward. Murray will do a better job on the left, but we will need a different type of right back, if we want to do the same on that side.

Was dissapointed by Mccann yesterday, not really a fan of his anyway as i feel he's too slow for that position and will really struggle against good wingers, however the one thing i was always impressed with was his ability on the ball, yesterday though i thought he was terrified of it, every time he got it he just gave it to someone else more often than not the safe option and back the way, i also felt he had some great opportunities to run into space but instead just stood still.

Hopefully it was just to do with the fact it was his first game back and a bit nervous about his injuries, once he plays a bit more hopefully he gets his confidence back.

Albanian Hibs
16-08-2009, 09:04 AM
A win is a win, although we struggled against 10 men to get that win. We gave them their goal, a combination of hogg/maka and Hanlon. A stupid goal, one like we lost many times last season.:grr:

It was great to score so quickly, i'm glad we did, and the young lad took it well. We played good football at times, and you can see just how the probing will work, if we had the players to do so. The problem is we did not today.
Zemamma would have made a difference, although lack of pace and quality in both full back positions did not help the way we were trying to play. Bamba again showed just how good a player he is, he will play in the premiership.
McBride done a good job, Cregg too, young witherspoon took his goal well, and if he continues to progress will be a player, although never MOM, that was Bamba by a country mile. Hogg is a lucky man to be captain, it seems to guarantee him a place, he wouldnt be my choice, he scrapes into the side imho, only because we dont have anyone better. Far too easily muscled off the ball for me. His angled cross field balls rarely get there, although he did have one good ball down the line to witherspoon in the 2nd half.

The passing at the back to midfield was very pedestrian, and needs to be quicker/sharper, hopefully that will come with more games, and maybe better players? Rankin runs about with very little end product, did have a couple of decent digs 2nd half, but i want more than that from him.
Nish, why does he fall on his erse so much? And he never looked along the line today, and must have been caught offside 10 times, and looks unfit.:grr: Riordan did nothing much either, but did get more into the games in the 2nd half, and layed on Benjis miss, that scraped past the far post, and nearly scored with his trade mark screamer.

All in all, delighted with 3 points, plenty of positives, Bamba, Witherspoon, Cregg and McBride, and of course Benji coming on and scoring the winner.:thumbsup: A 6 out of 10 performance, plenty of room for improvement, most imho will have to be improved with a few different players, especially in the full back deparments, Murray will come in on the left, Zemamma will come back in midfield and a new forward in needed urgently, if we are to play a target man, he needs to be able to hold the ball up, stay on his feet and bring the midfield into the game.

Good post BH, even if you did have a bevy :greengrin Agree with all of that.

Dashing Bob S
16-08-2009, 09:05 AM
Decent summary. Like you, I feel that getting the full-backs further forward is the key to this style of play and i'd like to see McCann and Hanlon hitting the by-line more.

Great to see a passing game again and a manager who changes things when it's not working out.

Agree about Bamba as MOM. He's been outstanding as CH in the Blackburn, Bolton and St Mirren games, though I feel that his best position is still midfield. But today was the sort of performance that you totally unconcerned about Jones's departure.

The ball retention was good, honed against physical sides in the Lancs preseason, and we were pretty well disciplined when St Mirren tried to rough us up.

In Wotherspoon we have an emerging star and I think he'll figure prominently this season.

It's a good start, and frankly, we are further ahead from where I though we'd be in terms of Yogi's restructuring of the side. It's good to have a manager who instills confidence in the fanbase both by his words and actions.

There was a nice, animated atmosphere at ER and it felt like old times.

Albanian Hibs
16-08-2009, 09:06 AM
Decent summary. Like you, I feel that getting the full-backs further forward is the key to this style of play and i'd like to see McCann and Hanlon hitting the by-line more.

Great to see a passing game again and a manager who changes things when it's not working out.

Agree about Bamba as MOM. He's been outstanding as CH in the Blackburn, Bolton and St Mirren games, though I feel that his best position is still midfield. But today was the sort of performance that you totally unconcerned about Jones's departure.

The ball retention was good, honed against physical sides in the Lancs preseason, and we were pretty well disciplined when St Mirren tried to rough us up.

In Wotherspoon we have an emerging star and I think he'll figure prominently this season.

It's a good start, and frankly, we are further ahead from where I though we'd be in terms of Yogi's restructuring of the side. It's good to have a manager who instills confidence in the fanbase both by his words and actions.

There was a nice, animated atmosphere at ER and it felt like old times.

:agree:

Expecting Rain
16-08-2009, 09:12 AM
A win was of the upmost importance yesterday especially against 10 men, it was the first true test for some players and they passed with flying colours, notably McBride, Wotherspoon and Cregg, we all know what the others are capable of, fortunately and unfortunately, in the latter category Makalamby, Hogg, Rankin and especially Nish were found wanting, no big surprises there.
The re-emergence of the Morrocans allied to Ian Murray, Riordan and Bamba should compensate for our shortcomings, if the rumours regarding Boozy and Stokes come to fruition, i`ll be more than content, Yogi`s vision of the way he wants us to play can`t be underestimated and if scottish football wants to come out of the dark ages then the others should follow suit, its a long road ahead and i want Hibs to be at the forefront.

blackpoolhibs
16-08-2009, 09:15 AM
Decent summary. Like you, I feel that getting the full-backs further forward is the key to this style of play and i'd like to see McCann and Hanlon hitting the by-line more.

Great to see a passing game again and a manager who changes things when it's not working out.

Agree about Bamba as MOM. He's been outstanding as CH in the Blackburn, Bolton and St Mirren games, though I feel that his best position is still midfield. But today was the sort of performance that you totally unconcerned about Jones's departure.

The ball retention was good, honed against physical sides in the Lancs preseason, and we were pretty well disciplined when St Mirren tried to rough us up.

In Wotherspoon we have an emerging star and I think he'll figure prominently this season.

It's a good start, and frankly, we are further ahead from where I though we'd be in terms of Yogi's restructuring of the side. It's good to have a manager who instills confidence in the fanbase both by his words and actions.

There was a nice, animated atmosphere at ER and it felt like old times.

Agree will all that Bob, although i used to think Bamba was needed in midfield, i think at centre half we have a real star in the making. He reads the game well, he is quick, strong and good in the air. I said it after the games in england, you could have put him in both Blackburn and Boltons central defence, and we would not have seen any reduction in quality.Mixu's finest achievement as manager was signing this lad. He will make us a good bit of money in the future. He will make the odd mistake, but he has not played at any decent standard yet, but is getting better by the week, and i'm sure he can go much further than the SPL as a central defender.

Expecting Rain
16-08-2009, 09:23 AM
Agree will all that Bob, although i used to think Bamba was needed in midfield, i think at centre half we have a real star in the making. He reads the game well, he is quick, strong and good in the air. I said it after the games in england, you could have put him in both Blackburn and Boltons central defence, and we would not have seen any reduction in quality.Mixu's finest achievement as manager was signing this lad. He will make us a good bit of money in the future. He will make the odd mistake, but he has not played at any decent standard yet, but is getting better by the week, and i'm sure he can go much further than the SPL as a central defender.

BH, i can`see Yogi disrupting his midfield apart from the possible replacement of Rankin, the return of Zemmama should see him restored to the bench, McBride and Cregg are pretty much shoe ins and Wotherspoon with consistency will be hard to dislodge, Stevenson is also waiting in the wings should injuries and suspensions occur, Hibs won`t feel the need to rush out and buy a centre-half while Bamba is around, i`d like to see Murray slotting in beside the big guy and also captaining the team, i`d hate to be a centre forward playing against those two, guaranteed to come off the pitch black and blue.:greengrin

Dashing Bob S
16-08-2009, 09:27 AM
Agree will all that Bob, although i used to think Bamba was needed in midfield, i think at centre half we have a real star in the making. He reads the game well, he is quick, strong and good in the air. I said it after the games in england, you could have put him in both Blackburn and Boltons central defence, and we would not have seen any reduction in quality.Mixu's finest achievement as manager was signing this lad. He will make us a good bit of money in the future. He will make the odd mistake, but he has not played at any decent standard yet, but is getting better by the week, and i'm sure he can go much further than the SPL as a central defender.

Yes, he certainly has all those attributes and has done well. I'll hedge my bets on his best position till I see his levels of concentration, particularly in competitive away games where we will be more under the cosh for sustained periods. But the early signs are good. Wherever he ends up though, he's going to be a big star.

Least we moan too much about our talent being plundered, think of Dunfermline, as Bamba is the biggest steal in the Scottish game in long while. If he were playing in the championship, they'd be talking about £10M at this stage.

Hibbyradge
16-08-2009, 09:49 AM
A win is a win, although we struggled against 10 men to get that win. We gave them their goal, a combination of hogg/maka and Hanlon. A stupid goal, one like we lost many times last season.:grr:

It was great to score so quickly, i'm glad we did, and the young lad took it well. We played good football at times, and you can see just how the probing will work, if we had the players to do so. The problem is we did not today.
Zemamma would have made a difference, although lack of pace and quality in both full back positions did not help the way we were trying to play. Bamba again showed just how good a player he is, he will play in the premiership.

McBride done a good job, Cregg too, young witherspoon took his goal well, and if he continues to progress will be a player, although never MOM, that was Bamba by a country mile. Hogg is a lucky man to be captain, it seems to guarantee him a place, he wouldnt be my choice, he scrapes into the side imho, only because we dont have anyone better. Far too easily muscled off the ball for me. His angled cross field balls rarely get there, although he did have one good ball down the line to witherspoon in the 2nd half.

The passing at the back to midfield was very pedestrian, and needs to be quicker/sharper, hopefully that will come with more games, and maybe better players? Rankin runs about with very little end product, did have a couple of decent digs 2nd half, but i want more than that from him.


Nish, why does he fall on his erse so much? And he never looked along the line today, and must have been caught offside 10 times, and looks unfit.:grr: Riordan did nothing much either, but did get more into the games in the 2nd half, and layed on Benjis miss, that scraped past the far post, and nearly scored with his trade mark screamer.

All in all, delighted with 3 points, plenty of positives, Bamba, Witherspoon, Cregg and McBride, and of course Benji coming on and scoring the winner.:thumbsup:

A 6 out of 10 performance, plenty of room for improvement, most imho will have to be improved with a few different players, especially in the full back deparments, Murray will come in on the left, Zemamma will come back in midfield and a new forward in needed urgently, if we are to play a target man, he needs to be able to hold the ball up, stay on his feet and bring the midfield into the game.

Not too far from how I feel except it was Rankin who laid on the ball for the first goal and Galbraith for the second.

I also thought Nish played a bigger part in that win than most people give him credit for.

He does fall down too often for my liking and the ball didn't stick as much as it should have, but he didn't give the St Mirren defence a moments peace and was very unlucky not to score a couple himself.

Immediately after the game I gave them 8 out of 10, but I've revised that to 7 overnight.

Compared to some of the performances from last season, I'm an awful lot happier.

Hamish
16-08-2009, 10:18 AM
First game, for a number of reasons, I have been to for some time.

Thought we passed the ball well - yes some of it was back and could have been a bit slicker, but give it time.

Nishy is infuriating and his hold up play has to improve BUT he does a lot of work and puts his head in a lot of places other people wouldn't dream of. Most of the second half he was getting his jersy pulled or otherwise impeded. He dishes it out as well though.

Wotherspoon was very tidy and looks like he could be a good 'un, still very early in his career though and I remember Billy Findlay....

McCann and Hanlon need to get past the 18 yard box on runs and not be afraid. They now have McBride (and to a lesser extent Cregg) to sit and protect the central defence if they get caught out.

Overall quite impressed but there are still a LOT of people who attend games who have no idea about football - quite a few round about me from some of the comments:bitchy:

SRHibs
16-08-2009, 10:24 AM
Thought it as a good performance overall tbh. Passed the ball wall and had a fair few good chances.
Think we possibly would've struggled less against 11 men as they would've been more aggressive. They just sat 10 men behind the ball after the sending off and hit us on the break.

Had to laugh at the guy sitting near me shouting "FFS, go direct Hibs".
Are people ever happy?

DC_Hibs
16-08-2009, 10:26 AM
Good to read these summaries from yday as its looking positive re the way we are playing.

Hopefully the "exciting" signings materialise that Hughes spoke about this week.

We shouldnt expect too much too soon but the other teams are very poor so I'm hoping we will be up there challenging for 3rd this season.

davemcbain
16-08-2009, 10:30 AM
I also thought Nish played a bigger part in that win than most people give him credit for.

Think I watched a different game. Nish reminded me of Ronaldo - in terms of falling over a lot and whining. Unfortunately in terms of a goalscoring threat and workrate, he reminded me of Ronald McDonald - it was all the more evident when a half fit Benji came on and made him look pedestrian.

Rankin in the first half was rank..in the second half he woke up and made a telling contribution.

Not sure how anyone could slate Makalamby on yesterdays performance? - no way was he at fault for the goal and I don't recall anything else worthy of being called a shot.

I think Cregg could be a real find, if yesterday is anything to go on - always available for a pass, great workrate and he passed the ball to green jerseys - novel, but it worked.

Wotherspoon looked like he belonged in the big team.

My missus came to the game for the first time in years and her comment yesterday was "that wee ned with the star on his elbow needs anger management". Guess not a lot more to say on that one?

Hibbyradge
16-08-2009, 10:40 AM
Think I watched a different game. Nish reminded me of Ronaldo - in terms of falling over a lot and whining. Unfortunately in terms of a goalscoring threat and workrate, he reminded me of Ronald McDonald - it was all the more evident when a half fit Benji came on and made him look pedestrian.



Yet he had 2 chances in the first half, one of which was a fine diving header, and he hit the bar in the second.



Rankin in the first half was rank..in the second half he woke up and made a telling contribution.



Yet it was Rankin who made the run to cut the ball back for Wotherspoon to score.



Not sure how anyone could slate Makalamby on yesterdays performance? - no way was he at fault for the goal and I don't recall anything else worthy of being called a shot.



On balance, I agree. Hogg's pass back put Maka under unnecessary pressure and Hanlon should have done better too.

Maka also had one very smart save in the first half.



I think Cregg could be a real find, if yesterday is anything to go on - always available for a pass, great workrate and he passed the ball to green jerseys - novel, but it worked.



I agree. I was delighted with both Cregg and McBride's performances.





Wotherspoon looked like he belonged in the big team.



I agree again. He looked extremely comfortable and confident in his own ability. I passed similar comment at the game.

I do hope he can find consistency.

TornadoHibby
16-08-2009, 10:59 AM
A win is a win, although we struggled against 10 men to get that win. We gave them their goal, a combination of hogg/maka and Hanlon. A stupid goal, one like we lost many times last season.:grr:

It was great to score so quickly, i'm glad we did, and the young lad took it well. We played good football at times, and you can see just how the probing will work, if we had the players to do so. The problem is we did not today.
Zemamma would have made a difference, although lack of pace and quality in both full back positions did not help the way we were trying to play. Bamba again showed just how good a player he is, he will play in the premiership.
McBride done a good job, Cregg too, young witherspoon took his goal well, and if he continues to progress will be a player, although never MOM, that was Bamba by a country mile. Hogg is a lucky man to be captain, it seems to guarantee him a place, he wouldnt be my choice, he scrapes into the side imho, only because we dont have anyone better. Far too easily muscled off the ball for me. His angled cross field balls rarely get there, although he did have one good ball down the line to witherspoon in the 2nd half.

The passing at the back to midfield was very pedestrian, and needs to be quicker/sharper, hopefully that will come with more games, and maybe better players? Rankin runs about with very little end product, did have a couple of decent digs 2nd half, but i want more than that from him.
Nish, why does he fall on his erse so much? And he never looked along the line today, and must have been caught offside 10 times, and looks unfit.:grr: Riordan did nothing much either, but did get more into the games in the 2nd half, and layed on Benjis miss, that scraped past the far post, and nearly scored with his trade mark screamer.

All in all, delighted with 3 points, plenty of positives, Bamba, Witherspoon, Cregg and McBride, and of course Benji coming on and scoring the winner.:thumbsup: A 6 out of 10 performance, plenty of room for improvement, most imho will have to be improved with a few different players, especially in the full back deparments, Murray will come in on the left, Zemamma will come back in midfield and a new forward in needed urgently, if we are to play a target man, he needs to be able to hold the ball up, stay on his feet and bring the midfield into the game.

Astonishingly positively for you BH! :agree:

I'll have to go for a lie down now as that's so unexpected from you! :wink:

Said much the same myself on another thread!

With a bit of luck this season could have something to cheer about! :wink:

TornadoHibby
16-08-2009, 11:03 AM
Overall quite impressed but there are still a LOT of people who attend games who have no idea about football - quite a few round about me from some of the comments:bitchy:

Agreed! :top marks

Noticed that myself yesterday being, as I was, in a new ST seat having just moved in the close season! :agree: :wink:

Some things never change! :wink:

DC_Hibs
16-08-2009, 11:18 AM
Think I watched a different game.
Not sure how anyone could slate Makalamby on yesterdays performance? - no way was he at fault for the goal and I don't recall anything else worthy of being called a shot.



You must have watched a different game then as Makalambay cocked up three times at their goal.

Firstly, he fails to control what was a shocking pass back from Hogg. He tries to cushion it with a flick instead of just stopping the ball dead then dealing with it.
Secondly, kick out along the ground straight to a Falkirk player
Thirdly, failed with his favoured one handed basketball catch for the cross

Others may well be culpable also but theres three reasons he can be slated

He is prone to cock ups every couple of games, yesterday didnt cost us thankfully and now we will have Stack in goals for the duration of the season injuries permitting. Job done. I'm amazed that Maka recovered from the worst goalkeeping display I have ever seen against Aberdeen. He seems to be improving but not yet at first choice keeper level.

Glad to help, have this one for free OK.

Hibbyradge
16-08-2009, 11:21 AM
Secondly, kick out along the ground straight to a Falkirk player

Glad to help, have this one for free OK.

He kicked it to Paul Hanlon.

See, everyone makes mistakes.

Viva_Palmeiras
16-08-2009, 11:54 AM
Was dissapointed by Mccann yesterday, not really a fan of his anyway as i feel he's too slow for that position and will really struggle against good wingers, however the one thing i was always impressed with was his ability on the ball, yesterday though i thought he was terrified of it, every time he got it he just gave it to someone else more often than not the safe option and back the way, i also felt he had some great opportunities to run into space but instead just stood still.

Hopefully it was just to do with the fact it was his first game back and a bit nervous about his injuries, once he plays a bit more hopefully he gets his confidence back.

Wasn't at the game but he's had a long lay off. I think if it were me I'd want to play the percentages rather than get those helpful "you're rubbish" twallies on my back first home game of the season. Hopefully things will come good for McCann.

Could argue it was a brave decision by Yogi with the number of debutants and folks coming back from lay-offs. Onwards & upwards!

Chuckie
16-08-2009, 11:58 AM
You must have watched a different game then as Makalambay cocked up three times at their goal.

Firstly, he fails to control what was a shocking pass back from Hogg. He tries to cushion it with a flick instead of just stopping the ball dead then dealing with it.
Secondly, kick out along the ground straight to a Falkirk player
Thirdly, failed with his favoured one handed basketball catch for the cross

Others may well be culpable also but theres three reasons he can be slated

He is prone to cock ups every couple of games, yesterday didnt cost us thankfully and now we will have Stack in goals for the duration of the season injuries permitting. Job done. I'm amazed that Maka recovered from the worst goalkeeping display I have ever seen against Aberdeen. He seems to be improving but not yet at first choice keeper level.

Glad to help, have this one for free OK.


Smart ass not so smart... :wink:

basehibby
16-08-2009, 12:14 PM
A win is a win, although we struggled against 10 men to get that win. We gave them their goal, a combination of hogg/maka and Hanlon. A stupid goal, one like we lost many times last season.:grr:

It was great to score so quickly, i'm glad we did, and the young lad took it well. We played good football at times, and you can see just how the probing will work, if we had the players to do so. The problem is we did not today.
Zemamma would have made a difference, although lack of pace and quality in both full back positions did not help the way we were trying to play. Bamba again showed just how good a player he is, he will play in the premiership.
McBride done a good job, Cregg too, young witherspoon took his goal well, and if he continues to progress will be a player, although never MOM, that was Bamba by a country mile. Hogg is a lucky man to be captain, it seems to guarantee him a place, he wouldnt be my choice, he scrapes into the side imho, only because we dont have anyone better. Far too easily muscled off the ball for me. His angled cross field balls rarely get there, although he did have one good ball down the line to witherspoon in the 2nd half.

The passing at the back to midfield was very pedestrian, and needs to be quicker/sharper, hopefully that will come with more games, and maybe better players? Rankin runs about with very little end product, did have a couple of decent digs 2nd half, but i want more than that from him.
Nish, why does he fall on his erse so much? And he never looked along the line today, and must have been caught offside 10 times, and looks unfit.:grr: Riordan did nothing much either, but did get more into the games in the 2nd half, and layed on Benjis miss, that scraped past the far post, and nearly scored with his trade mark screamer.

All in all, delighted with 3 points, plenty of positives, Bamba, Witherspoon, Cregg and McBride, and of course Benji coming on and scoring the winner.:thumbsup: A 6 out of 10 performance, plenty of room for improvement, most imho will have to be improved with a few different players, especially in the full back deparments, Murray will come in on the left, Zemamma will come back in midfield and a new forward in needed urgently, if we are to play a target man, he needs to be able to hold the ball up, stay on his feet and bring the midfield into the game.

:agree: A pretty good summary of events from BH. I agree that Bamba was a standout at centre half but would say that he had one close contender for MOM in Cregg who I was delighted with - he was getting stuck in from the start with some crunching and excellently timed tackles which perhaps resulted in the retaliatory challenge which saw Saints reduced to 10 men so early on. Added to that he was at the hub of almost everything Hibs did going forward and linked up excellently throughout - if that's the standard we can expect from him every week then he's going to be an excellent signing. McBride was less of a standout for me but still looked very tidy and had a superb rocket of a shot turned away near the end.
I was also delighted with Hughes' handling of the game - the starting lineup and general style of play had a cohesiveness and purpose about it which was pretty much absent under Mixu's tenure - also his substitutions MADE SENSE and had a real impact on the flow of the game and IMO contributed directly to the 3 points staying at ER.
As Yogi is fond of saying himself - it's early doors and there's plenty of room for improvement - that said, the signs are good that we're already headed in the right direction and can expect a good deal more excitement and less frustration than last season. :thumbsup:

--------
16-08-2009, 01:21 PM
You must have watched a different game then as Makalambay cocked up three times at their goal.

Firstly, he fails to control what was a shocking pass back from Hogg. He tries to cushion it with a flick instead of just stopping the ball dead then dealing with it.
Secondly, kick out along the ground straight to a Falkirk player
Thirdly, failed with his favoured one handed basketball catch for the cross

Others may well be culpable also but theres three reasons he can be slated

He is prone to cock ups every couple of games, yesterday didnt cost us thankfully and now we will have Stack in goals for the duration of the season injuries permitting. Job done. I'm amazed that Maka recovered from the worst goalkeeping display I have ever seen against Aberdeen. He seems to be improving but not yet at first choice keeper level.

Glad to help, have this one for free OK.


.... causing huge disruption and a major pile-up on the M8 just east of Junction 6 on its way to Ibrox Park?

How do you think he would have 'dealt with it'? Punted it out the park? That's what Chris Hogg should have done in the first place. He made a mistake under pressure, and from there on stuff happened.

Going on the number of guys who've been slated so far, I'm kind of surprised we actually won this game? Maka needs sacked; the full-backs were disappointing; Hogg was rubbish; Rankin was rank; Nish did nothing at all; Deek was off form; that leaves Bamba, Wotherspoon, Cregg, and McBride, Benji and Galbraith. Oh yes, Benji shouldn't have even been on the bench, according to some. Then there were 5.

:bitchy:

Maybe we didn't?

Win the game, I mean.