Much much improvement but how do we sustain it or better still improve on it?

[smurf]

What a HUGE difference in a very short period of time Yogi has made to everything to do with our club. Last season was a miserable one for all concerned. At times we had good results. We were undefeated against the Yams in the SPL for example but we are no fools. The club was going backwards and the quality of the football was awful.

Yogi arrived and was an immediate breath of fresh air. He was saying what we wanted to hear but i think underneath it all we had our fears that he wouldn't back up talking the talk by walking the walk.

Thankfully he has. A draw at Ibrox (Even though they are far from their best they still have resources a manager of a club like Hibs can only dream about) leaving us all a little disappointed tells the story of where we are and just how far we've come.

Lets be clear however, Improvement has arrived, but our feet must be firmly on the ground, as it could in theory just as quickly go all so horribly wrong.

In all honesty though unlike two years ago when a victory at Ibrox sent us top of the SPL i have a bit more faith in this current bunch of players and indeed the manager running the show. Therefore, i'm pretty damned confident this is no false dawn.

Because we do have some quality players. Quite a few in fact. I'd suggest that the likes of Bamba, Murray, Millar, Zemamma, Mcbride, Stokes, Riordan and Benji would walk into the starting eleven of any other SPL side.

That's EIGHT players from a possible ELEVEN. So what i'm suggesting is that IMHO we currently have a stronger mainstream of a side than any other SPL club. So does that mean we are serious contenders? No i don't think so. Can we be contenders? IMHO probably unlikely. Could we be contenders? IMHO it's possible.

I think our current priority is to now confirm that we see 3rd position as our number one priority. To be honest i just don't actually see the competition. Yams? :faf: Aberdeen? No chance. Dundee United? On paper we've a better side. But in Craig Levein we've a pretty astute opponent and he'll get a bit more out of the Dundee Utd side than he should on paper. However, in reality we should be too strong. Should be though is entirely different from will be....

So what do we need to maintain and sustain what we've got? And furthermore what do we need to add to perhaps go further and be a possible contender to Rantic?

Well first thing first is consistency. We can't afford another Hamilton or St Johnstone (in CIS) if we are to be a contender. And that's why i fear that being a contender is unrealistic. To achieve 3rd we'll get away with another two or three 'Hamilton's'. And in all honesty that's where i think we are.

The second thing (Though possibly the first in order to get that consistency) is a mental toughness. In this respect i do have confidence. I look at they eight players i listed and i see it in abundance.

The third thing and what Yogi may well look at in order to achieve the mentality and consistency is personnel.

But regardless to recruiting for these reasons i think our current weakness in our best 11 suggest that we need to recruit. I think our obvious weakness is right back (Wotherspoon is doing fantastic in a position that isn't his and as i've stated previously i doubt McCann will be the answer) and centre back. Even with Bamba i feel the middle is a bit too soft and when Bamba is off in Jan (short term on international duty or dare i say longer term as i fear Bamba is our threat of a player being punted...) even more so.

In an ideal world we need two centre backs. Number one would be a left sided Jones type and number two would be a Bamba type for cover or to play alongside.... Getting in these types won't be easy. I think we've lined up Barr and he'd fill one of them but i think getting in another could be crucial. Though interstingly i'd be quite keen to see how Hanlon could do alongside Bamba...

Up front we're stronger than anyone in the SPL. In midfield we've talent in abundance in Millar, Mcbride and Zemamma (and a truly outstanding prospect in Wotherspoon in the wings). If we were able to tackle the right back and centre half slots in January and still be there or thereabouts through consistency then hey why not?:greengrin

[Jonnyboy]

What a HUGE difference in a very short period of time Yogi has made to everything to do with our club. Last season was a miserable one for all concerned. At times we had good results. We were undefeated against the Yams in the SPL for example but we are no fools. The club was going backwards and the quality of the football was awful.

Yogi arrived and was an immediate breath of fresh air. He was saying what we wanted to hear but i think underneath it all we had our fears that he wouldn't back up talking the talk by walking the walk.

Thankfully he has. A draw at Ibrox (Even though they are far from their best they still have resources a manager of a club like Hibs can only dream about) leaving us all a little disappointed tells the story of where we are and just how far we've come.

Lets be clear however, Improvement has arrived, but our feet must be firmly on the ground, as it could in theory just as quickly go all so horribly wrong.

In all honesty though unlike two years ago when a victory at Ibrox sent us top of the SPL i have a bit more faith in this current bunch of players and indeed the manager running the show. Therefore, i'm pretty damned confident this is no false dawn.

Because we do have some quality players. Quite a few in fact. I'd suggest that the likes of Bamba, Murray, Millar, Zemamma, Mcbride, Stokes, Riordan and Benji would walk into the starting eleven of any other SPL side.

That's EIGHT players from a possible ELEVEN. So what i'm suggesting is that IMHO we currently have a stronger mainstream of a side than any other SPL club. So does that mean we are serious contenders? No i don't think so. Can we be contenders? IMHO probably unlikely. Could we be contenders? IMHO it's possible.

I think our current priority is to now confirm that we see 3rd position as our number one priority. To be honest i just don't actually see the competition. Yams? :faf: Aberdeen? No chance. Dundee United? On paper we've a better side. But in Craig Levein we've a pretty astute opponent and he'll get a bit more out of the Dundee Utd side than he should on paper. However, in reality we should be too strong. Should be though is entirely different from will be....

So what do we need to maintain and sustain what we've got? And furthermore what do we need to add to perhaps go further and be a possible contender to Rantic?

Well first thing first is consistency. We can't afford another Hamilton or St Johnstone (in CIS) if we are to be a contender. And that's why i fear that being a contender is unrealistic. To achieve 3rd we'll get away with another two or three 'Hamilton's'. And in all honesty that's where i think we are.

The second thing (Though possibly the first in order to get that consistency) is a mental toughness. In this respect i do have confidence. I look at they eight players i listed and i see it in abundance.

The third thing and what Yogi may well look at in order to achieve the mentality and consistency is personnel.

But regardless to recruiting for these reasons i think our current weakness in our best 11 suggest that we need to recruit. I think our obvious weakness is right back (Wotherspoon is doing fantastic in a position that isn't his and as i've stated previously i doubt McCann will be the answer) and centre back. Even with Bamba i feel the middle is a bit too soft and when Bamba is off in Jan (short term on international duty or dare i say longer term as i fear Bamba is our threat of a player being punted...) even more so.

In an ideal world we need two centre backs. Number one would be a left sided Jones type and number two would be a Bamba type for cover or to play alongside.... Getting in these types won't be easy. I think we've lined up Barr and he'd fill one of them but i think getting in another could be crucial. Though interstingly i'd be quite keen to see how Hanlon could do alongside Bamba...

Up front we're stronger than anyone in the SPL. In midfield we've talent in abundance in Millar, Mcbride and Zemamma (and a truly outstanding prospect in Wotherspoon in the wings). If we were able to tackle the right back and centre half slots in January and still be there or thereabouts through consistency then hey why not?:greengrin

:top marks K :thumbsup:

[bobbyhibs1983]

very good points the thread starter has made.I feel we have inproved from last season, could it have gotten any more boring/frustraing from last season?


I feel our biggest problems are a cb and a rb, I love bamba as a layer but i dont think hes a great centre half,its imo though but i feel we need someone who has a pressence and can like get people going, i think bamba has good pressence though

[blackpoolhibs]

Great post. :thumbsup:

I think we do need at least one central defender, two would be nice. We also need a right back, if we got those in January, i would think that would give us the best balanced team we have had in a very long time, a team that would challenge at the right end of the league.

We also need the fans to play their part, i know i have been pissed off since the cup win, i saw the team Mowbray assembled torn apart, and replaced with utter dross.

Yogi has reversed that trend, and with a rejuvenated Benji back, and Zemamma looking as good as any player in the SPL, coupled with Yogi's astute signing, things really are looking as if we are on the right track again.

I also think if we do get success, Yogi wont be out the door as soon as a bigger team want him, i think we will see him here for a good while yet. So he needs ALL the fans behind him, he needs the support, the team need the support, and if we do, i think we will see our club progress into a team thats constantly up there challenging on all fronts.:thumbsup:

[smurf]

could it have gotten any more boring/frustraing from last season?

No!:greengrin

[CapitalHibs]

January will be the critical month imo. If we lose Bamba, Benji and Zemmama. I think Yogi will have to bring out Plan B. We may have to grind out results rather than depend on our total football to get results and the state of the pitches may dictate this anyway. Hopefully the likes of Galbraith, Cregg, Hanlon, McCann and Byrne can step up, but a new right back and centre half would not go amiss.

[RoYO!]

Great post, well said.

as far as i remember winter has been an historically dire time for hibs. (any hibs stattos care to prove this either way?)

however the training centre must be such a huge boost, not having to worry about frozen pitches and public parks, lets hope we start to see that really paying dividends.

roll on saturday, i hope (and think) the fans give the team a rapturous reception and keep it up throughout the game. the chance to go 9 points clear of a team that will likely be there or there abouts is huge!

COME ON THE HIBEES! :thumbsup:

[Greenblood70]

It's been great to see the buzz back about the club recently again, while enjoying it, I'm doing my best to try not to get carried away with it all.

With that in mind I'd echo whats already been said, our central defence and Right back positions need strengthened. I'm a big fan of Wotherspoon and think in time he'll be a great midfield player for us and has probably learned a huge amount in the RB position already watching the players in front of him. However, it's not his natural position and at times the inexperience shows. A Right Back with a bit of pace to give us that wing back option would add a new dimension I think.

Hogg seems a great lad but unfortunately, for me, he is not good/strong enough to justify his continued selection. He's often caught in posession, distribution is woeful and is bullied easily by opposition strikers. We need a replacement in the next window imo.

I think this will right itself soon but i'd like to see us being a bit more clinical in front of goal. We seem to create any number of chances but squander a pretty high percentage. I'd like to see us get more of the "bread and butter" goals to compliment the beauties we see from Deek, Zouma and Stokes. I think Benji could do this once he's had a run of games and his sharpness returns fully.

It would be great to get on a roll of results..confidence and the feel good factor could play a huge part in the success of this season. String a few good results together in this tight league and before you know it you can have pulled clear of your nearest rivals.

Overall, I honestly thought it would take a good season and a half to recover from the mess of last season. Yogi, the coaching staff and players are due huge credit for a vast improvement. To go from where we were to now only looking like we need a couple of defensive players to have a realistic chance of 3rd or better is miraculous.

[jakedance]

I'd be quite content if we brought in a good centre half and got Kevin McCann fit. Yep, quite content.

[Sprouleflyer]

I think the reason we are where we are, is down to having a pretty experienced, although fairly young team.

Under Mowbray we had a great bunch of young exciting player but with all young teams, consistency is a problem and that’s where we suffered.

A coupe of years on and players like Murray, Riordan, Benji, Hogg, Bamba and Zemmama have gained quite a lot of SPL experience coupled with players like Stokes, Miller and Mcbride and you can’t argue that 9 of our starting 11 are very experienced SPL players and consistency may have finally arrived at ER, still too early to judge but with that pool of players we may, just may have a chance of winning more than we lose.

[ahibby]

As far as I can see many SPL clubs have been stocking up on physical players however, so far we have used footballing prowess rather than physical prowess to over come that. What happens when we start to play in winter conditions perhaps not so much silky football on display and will we still overcome the physical prowess of other teams, I think so. However as has been said if we lose those players mentioned on international duty or if we even have say two injuries from our settled starting eleven we could see a difference. Therefore a signing or two in Jan would be useful.

[matty_f]

What a HUGE difference in a very short period of time Yogi has made to everything to do with our club. Last season was a miserable one for all concerned. At times we had good results. We were undefeated against the Yams in the SPL for example but we are no fools. The club was going backwards and the quality of the football was awful.

Yogi arrived and was an immediate breath of fresh air. He was saying what we wanted to hear but i think underneath it all we had our fears that he wouldn't back up talking the talk by walking the walk.

Thankfully he has. A draw at Ibrox (Even though they are far from their best they still have resources a manager of a club like Hibs can only dream about) leaving us all a little disappointed tells the story of where we are and just how far we've come.

Lets be clear however, Improvement has arrived, but our feet must be firmly on the ground, as it could in theory just as quickly go all so horribly wrong.

In all honesty though unlike two years ago when a victory at Ibrox sent us top of the SPL i have a bit more faith in this current bunch of players and indeed the manager running the show. Therefore, i'm pretty damned confident this is no false dawn.

Because we do have some quality players. Quite a few in fact. I'd suggest that the likes of Bamba, Murray, Millar, Zemamma, Mcbride, Stokes, Riordan and Benji would walk into the starting eleven of any other SPL side.

That's EIGHT players from a possible ELEVEN. So what i'm suggesting is that IMHO we currently have a stronger mainstream of a side than any other SPL club. So does that mean we are serious contenders? No i don't think so. Can we be contenders? IMHO probably unlikely. Could we be contenders? IMHO it's possible.

I think our current priority is to now confirm that we see 3rd position as our number one priority. To be honest i just don't actually see the competition. Yams? :faf: Aberdeen? No chance. Dundee United? On paper we've a better side. But in Craig Levein we've a pretty astute opponent and he'll get a bit more out of the Dundee Utd side than he should on paper. However, in reality we should be too strong. Should be though is entirely different from will be....

So what do we need to maintain and sustain what we've got? And furthermore what do we need to add to perhaps go further and be a possible contender to Rantic?

Well first thing first is consistency. We can't afford another Hamilton or St Johnstone (in CIS) if we are to be a contender. And that's why i fear that being a contender is unrealistic. To achieve 3rd we'll get away with another two or three 'Hamilton's'. And in all honesty that's where i think we are.

The second thing (Though possibly the first in order to get that consistency) is a mental toughness. In this respect i do have confidence. I look at they eight players i listed and i see it in abundance.

The third thing and what Yogi may well look at in order to achieve the mentality and consistency is personnel.

But regardless to recruiting for these reasons i think our current weakness in our best 11 suggest that we need to recruit. I think our obvious weakness is right back (Wotherspoon is doing fantastic in a position that isn't his and as i've stated previously i doubt McCann will be the answer) and centre back. Even with Bamba i feel the middle is a bit too soft and when Bamba is off in Jan (short term on international duty or dare i say longer term as i fear Bamba is our threat of a player being punted...) even more so.

In an ideal world we need two centre backs. Number one would be a left sided Jones type and number two would be a Bamba type for cover or to play alongside.... Getting in these types won't be easy. I think we've lined up Barr and he'd fill one of them but i think getting in another could be crucial. Though interstingly i'd be quite keen to see how Hanlon could do alongside Bamba...

Up front we're stronger than anyone in the SPL. In midfield we've talent in abundance in Millar, Mcbride and Zemamma (and a truly outstanding prospect in Wotherspoon in the wings). If we were able to tackle the right back and centre half slots in January and still be there or thereabouts through consistency then hey why not?:greengrin

Good post, Smurf. :agree:


Great post. :thumbsup:

I think we do need at least one central defender, two would be nice. We also need a right back, if we got those in January, i would think that would give us the best balanced team we have had in a very long time, a team that would challenge at the right end of the league.

We also need the fans to play their part, i know i have been pissed off since the cup win, i saw the team Mowbray assembled torn apart, and replaced with utter dross.

Yogi has reversed that trend, and with a rejuvenated Benji back, and Zemamma looking as good as any player in the SPL, coupled with Yogi's astute signing, things really are looking as if we are on the right track again.

I also think if we do get success, Yogi wont be out the door as soon as a bigger team want him, i think we will see him here for a good while yet. So he needs ALL the fans behind him, he needs the support, the team need the support, and if we do, i think we will see our club progress into a team thats constantly up there challenging on all fronts.:thumbsup:

:top marks

Scottish football is on it's arse at the moment. When will we get a chance like this again to establish ourselves firmly at the top end of the league and make ourselves a credible alternative to the OF?

The club can do so much - they've shown ambition in abundance, IMHO, over the last couple of seasons in terms of holding onto players as long as possible, and bringing in some terrific talent like Deek, Stokes and Miller.

We need to do our bit now - fill the ground as often as we can and give Yogi that bit more spending power in the January window.

[hibhib7]

If we had got Barr at the start of the season we would probably be top now! But not complaining, everyone - the board, manager, players and coaching staff deserve a lot of credit for the way we are playing. Does anyone know if Barr wants to come to us in January because it could be the icing on the cake. Let's hope that the supporters start turning up in increasing numbers as it could make all the difference, atmosphere-wise, at ER and help us through difficult games.