God help us

[hibs0666]

You've got to worry about our manager that thinks that our bunch of spineless cowards will do a job next season. Deary me...

HIBS boss John Hughes today insisted he doesn't envisage making wholesale changes to his Easter Road squad this summer – because he feels the best has yet to come from his players.

Although he admitted he'd like to make "one or two" signings before the start of next season, Hughes declared it was also his job as manager to get the best out of what is already at his disposal.

[Bayern Bru]

In all seriousness, sauce?

I really hope this isn't true. One or two signings?!

[DaveF]

I can only hope that the quote is a pile of steaming ***** and that Hughes is lying through his teeth.

Otherwise, we probably are ****ed.

[hibs0666]

In all seriousness, sauce?

I really hope this isn't true. One or two signings?!

This wee gem from the weekend. (http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/-Hughes-says-best-yet.6266992.jp)

It would be funny if it was not so thoroughly depressing

[Diclonius]

Oh, **** right off. Can we just not bother playing next season, John? It'll save a couple of us committing suicide in mid 2011 when the 4th goes in at Inverness, condemning us to the drop once and for all.

[Hibbyradge]

I've read a lot of speculation that Hibs will move up to a dozen of our first team squad in the summer.

This could only be a good strategy if we replaced them with better quality players..

Where will we find the money to do that?

In my view, a widespread clear out is just not realistic, even if folk think it would be desirable.

And this is why it takes years to build a team, not months, but that's a different discussion.

[Steve20]

He better be bringing in more than one or two players. Sorry Yogi, you won't get anymore out of the bunch of imposters we have playing just now.

[Iain G]

I've read a lot of speculation that Hibs will move up to a dozen of our first team squad in the summer.

This could only be a good strategy if we replaced them with better quality players..

Where will we find the money to do that?

In my view, a widespread clear out is just not realistic, even if folk think it would be desirable.

And this is why it takes years to build a team, not months, but that's a different discussion.

I think it has to be realstic, a lot of these players have shown over more that 1 season they are not cut out to play at the level required of them, time to pay off contracts or openly tout them round other clubs, we need to clear the decks of the dross and wasters if we want to progress as a team.

[down the slope]

He will not get any money from Rod unless the ST sales are good, i think he has been told Mixu/Collins style to get on with it or ship out.

[Hibbyradge]

I think it has to be realstic, a lot of these players have shown over more that 1 season they are not cut out to play at the level required of them, time to pay off contracts or openly tout them round other clubs, we need to clear the decks of the dross and wasters if we want to progress as a team.

That would be smashing.

How do we replace them?

[Phil MaGlass]

"better the devil you know" no its f,n not, we know the devils and they are spineless wimpy ba5tard5.
I really, really want Hughes, now just to f,off, but I have said earlier I will give him the first 6-10 games of next season.
Start smacking heids Hughes.No more pu55ying aboot wae so called professional(dubious) football players.
Get their er5es up Arthurs seat,thats what that lot needs,not to be pampered at a new all purpose state of the art complex, its wasted on them, beast them Hughes.
GERINTAETHUM

[SalfordHibs]

Never mind he will turn it arround in the summer window :rolleyes:

[Iain G]

That would be smashing.

How do we replace them?

With all these young fearless wunderkids we are producing in our youth teams, oh and Kevin Kyle :greengrin

[500miles]

It won't take wholesale changes - we aren't missing much, but what we ARE missing are fairly crucial parts of the machine - especially at this point in the season.

Rightback, dominant and experienced CM, and a big bustling forward. That will be enough in the close season. However, if Yogi has the aspirations that he says he does, he won't be finished, and we will continue to improve all over the park for another few seasons. The closed season after will probably include looking for a new CH, goalscorer, and left back, if we haven't addressed them half way through the season.

[HIBERNIAN-0762]

This wee gem from the weekend. (http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/-Hughes-says-best-yet.6266992.jp)

It would be funny if it was not so thoroughly depressing

Hilarious stuff eh?, the sooner this clown effs off the better,

:agree:

[Hibbyradge]

With all these young fearless wunderkids we are producing in our youth teams, oh and Kevin Kyle :greengrin

:thumbsup:

So Yogi's comment about 1 or 2 new faces is accurate. :agree:

[truehibernian]

Without wanting to create false rumours or speculation, the most interesting piece of news in the papers today concerns Mark Venus now stating that he is splitting with Tony Mowbray and now concerning himself with becoming a boss in his own right. Quite strange that he chooses now to come out with this, and given (I think) his children still attend school here in Edinburgh, and he was definately in RP's sights when Mixu resigned, my little mind is a-turning :rolleyes:

[The_Sauz]

To get the best out of what we have, then we better get a new manager in a.s.a.p, because JH is not the man too do it!!

[Judas Iscariot]

TBH I don't think we're that many players away from being a decent side..

3 maybe 4 quality additions and we'll be battling for 3rd right up past February next season..

We desperately need a RB, CH and a big strong target man, possibly a strong versatile midfielder aswell!

One of the 3 GK's will hit form and be our consistant #1 next year!

Brown/Smith/Stack

New RB Bamba/New CH Hanlon Murray

Zemamma/Spoony Miller/McBride/New Midfielder Galbraith/Riordan

Stokes/Riordan/New CF

[PISTOL1875]

It won't take wholesale changes - we aren't missing much, but what we ARE missing are fairly crucial parts of the machine - especially at this point in the season.

Rightback, dominant and experienced CM, and a big bustling forward. That will be enough in the close season. However, if Yogi has the aspirations that he says he does, he won't be finished, and we will continue to improve all over the park for another few seasons. The closed season after will probably include looking for a new CH, goalscorer, and left back, if we haven't addressed them half way through the season.

If we can get decent players for those 3 positions then we will have helped our cause massively.. No need to be chopping and changing Wotherspoon's position every week. Get a RB in who knows the position and leave it at that..

A dominant midfielder can give us the presence and bite we are desperatly seeking..Nothing fancy but a experianced player who can play the holding role and let the ball players take us forward...

Big bustling forwards are hard to come by.. Playing for lone striker role has changed dramatically over the last few years.. The role isn't so much about scoring anymore but holding the ball up and bringing others into play...

[BT58]

:thumbsup:

So Yogi's comment about 1 or 2 new faces is accurate. :agree:

sorry d,,,,,,,,,,,
but the only way we will do well with this squad,,,is if we bring in a new manager
players ALWAYS try a bit harder fer a NEW boss, VERY VERY SAD btw

hb

[SalfordHibs]

Without wanting to create false rumours or speculation, the most interesting piece of news in the papers today concerns Mark Venus now stating that he is splitting with Tony Mowbray and now concerning himself with becoming a boss in his own right. Quite strange that he chooses now to come out with this, and given (I think) his children still attend school here in Edinburgh, and he was definately in RP's sights when Mixu resigned, my little mind is a-turning :rolleyes:

That would be a good appointment.

[500miles]

Big bustling forwards are hard to come by.. Playing for lone striker role has changed dramatically over the last few years.. The role isn't so much about scoring anymore but holding the ball up and bringing others into play...

That's why if we still have Nish playing that role, I won't lose any sleep. However, he is one of the less technically gifted players, so he would be one of the first to be moved down the pecking order if we were to try and move the team to the next level.

[--------]

"We realise we could do with a bit more of a physical presence in the team. There will always be comings and goings at a football club and I'm still working on bring a spirit and a culture to this club, moulding them, trying to be winners, having a pride in that green-and-white jersey."


EH? WHIT? :confused:

Loads of winning spirit and pride in the jersey on Saturday, Yogi - among the Jambos.

I agree that we actually don't need to bring in a lot of players - a right-back, a big, bustling midfield player, at least one centre-back, and a left-back to release Ian Murray to midfield. I'd make Murray captain, too.

The rest of the business will depend on who leaves - will we need to replace Bamba, Zouma, any of the strikers? How many of the younger players will step up, and will Hughes use them? I do think we have the basics of a reasonable squad here. I'm just entirely at a loss as to why they're performing the way they are.

Or should that be "failing to perform"? :cool2:

[down the slope]

Just when you thought it could not get any worse this was a paragraph from the EN today "What the boys have given me this season already has been fantastic, but we need them to give absolutely everything that we have got in these last two games to get to where we all want to be."

It's Mixu come back to haunt us !

[Bayern Bru]

Just when you thought it could not get any worse this was a paragraph from the EN today "What the boys have given me this season already has been fantastic, but we need them to give absolutely everything that we have got in these last two games to get to where we all want to be."

It's Mixu come back to haunt us !

I beg to ******ing differ. Nothing of what I saw at Hamilton recently, or Perth that night in February to name but two occasions could ever be described as fantastic.

Changer le disque Yogi. I want to know why the players didn't give 'absolutely everything' that they've got on Saturday.

[--------]

Without wanting to create false rumours or speculation, the most interesting piece of news in the papers today concerns Mark Venus now stating that he is splitting with Tony Mowbray and now concerning himself with becoming a boss in his own right. Quite strange that he chooses now to come out with this, and given (I think) his children still attend school here in Edinburgh, and he was definately in RP's sights when Mixu resigned, my little mind is a-turning :rolleyes:



I suspect that Mowbray will need a fairly extended time-out after his Parkhead experience before looking for another job in football. (Ball-boy? Assistant groundsman? Program seller?)

Venus won't want to be out of the game for any length of time, so he's making sure that people know he's looking for work now, before the end of this season. That's much more likely to be his reasoning (I'd guess) than his having an eye on the Hibs job.

However, you may just have got my little mind a-turning in sync with your own. Mark has the reputation of being a good technical coach, he knows the club, and as you so pertinently remind us, his kids are at school in Edinburgh. Which surely must mean that his wife is still in Edinburgh. Living in the family home? Hmm.

The squad we have right now has the potential to do much better than it's doing. (At least, I think so.)

Could Venus do better with them than Hughes? Hmm. :cool2:

[Hibbyradge]

I suspect that Mowbray will need a fairly extended time-out after his Parkhead experience before looking for another job in football. (Ball-boy? Assistant groundsman? Program seller?)

Venus won't want to be out of the game for any length of time, so he's making sure that people know he's looking for work now, before the end of this season. That's much more likely to be his reasoning (I'd guess) than his having an eye on the Hibs job.

However, you may just have got my little mind a-turning in sync with your own. Mark has the reputation of being a good technical coach, he knows the club, and as you so pertinently remind us, his kids are at school in Edinburgh. Which surely must mean that his wife is still in Edinburgh. Living in the family home? Hmm.

The squad we have right now has the potential to do much better than it's doing. (At least, I think so.)

Could Venus do better with them than Hughes? Hmm. :cool2:

I enjoyed a lot of the football under Mowbray and Venus, but all the last minute goals we shipped, our inability to beat Hearts, Zibbi, our leaky defence, Konte, the semi-final at Hampden, Simon Brown and the inter Toto have all left scars.

I don't want Venus back.

[--------]

I enjoyed a lot of the football under Mowbray and Venus, but all the last minute goals we shipped, our inability to beat Hearts, Zibbi, our leaky defence, Konte, the semi-final at Hampden, Simon Brown and the inter Toto have all left scars.

I don't want Venus back.


I know.

But if we lose the next (last) two games? I can't remember a season when we were in such a promising position at the end of January, only to throw it away so comprehensively by the end of April.

[down the slope]

Just a wee thought after Saturdays game , when i think back to it you would be hard pushed to tell which was the home team, at no time during the game did we run their ***** ragged and put them under real pressure-fantastic said our leader i beg to differ.

[steve75]

Glad to see some of that 5% are in this thread :wink:

Big clearouts and massive amounts of signings leaves us exactly where we are now. We might get a few good players but what use is that if they don't know how to play together. Though I do hope Yogi was underestimating, Idealy we need 3/4 quality players. But we need to build a team, not chop and change every year. A new manager and players will only lead to next year being another transitional season, then when that doesn't work, what? sack him as well?

[--------]

Glad to see some of that 5% are in this thread :wink:

Big clearouts and massive amounts of signings leaves us exactly where we are now. We might get a few good players but what use is that if they don't know how to play together. Though I do hope Yogi was underestimating, Idealy we need 3/4 quality players. But we need to build a team, not chop and change every year. A new manager and players will only lead to next year being another transitional season, then when that doesn't work, what? sack him as well?


On one level of my mind I agree with you 100%, steve. We can't go on repeating the same pointless process of appointing a manager, giving him a year, falling out with him, punting him halfway through his second season, appointing another, giving him a year.... With all the attendant turnover of players that that entails.

But when we're in the middle of a run like this - TWO wins in SIXTEEN - I think we need to hear more than "the guys were fantastic - they gave me so much" every post-match interview. They WEREN'T "fantastic". They DIDN'T "give so much". At least, not on my TV they weren't and didn't.

If we had played the first half of the season the way we've played the second, we'd have been relegated by the end of January. Three months is a reasonable period over which to make an assessment of progress, so what do we make of February, March and April?

We've had injuries. We've had suspensions. We've been struggling to field a settled team at times. The demolition of one-quarter of the stadium must have had an unsettling effect on the players. And Hibs fans' propensity for getting on the back of the team as opposed to behind the team - a propensity I share, I know - doesn't help. But I can't remember a season when we've been in such a promising position around the end of January, only t see that position evaporate by the end of April.

There are too many players who need to shape up and start playing for the jersey, IMO. And there are a number of glaring gaps in the squad that need to be filled before the start of next season. They needed filled before the start of THIS season, but they weren't. Right-back. A midfield boss. Centre defence. NOW - not later.

[steve75]

On one level of my mind I agree with you 100%, steve. We can't go on repeating the same pointless process of appointing a manager, giving him a year, falling out with him, punting him halfway through his second season, appointing another, giving him a year.... With all the attendant turnover of players that that entails.

But when we're in the middle of a run like this - TWO wins in SIXTEEN - I think we need to hear more than "the guys were fantastic - they gave me so much" every post-match interview. They WEREN'T "fantastic". They DIDN'T "give so much". At least, not on my TV they weren't and didn't.

If we had played the first half of the season the way we've played the second, we'd have been relegated by the end of January. Three months is a reasonable period over which to make an assessment of progress, so what do we make of February, March and April?

We've had injuries. We've had suspensions. We've been struggling to field a settled team at times. The demolition of one-quarter of the stadium must have had an unsettling effect on the players. And Hibs fans' propensity for getting on the back of the team as opposed to behind the team - a propensity I share, I know - doesn't help. But I can't remember a season when we've been in such a promising position around the end of January, only t see that position evaporate by the end of April.

There are too many players who need to shape up and start playing for the jersey, IMO. And there are a number of glaring gaps in the squad that need to be filled before the start of next season. They needed filled before the start of THIS season, but they weren't. Right-back. A midfield boss. Centre defence. NOW - not later.


Can't argue with any of that. For me, Yogi should get the summer and if after the first round of fixtures he hasn't filled the obvious gaps and improved the team, it is clear he's just not got a scoob and he should be out.

[--------]

Can't argue with any of that. For me, Yogi should get the summer and if after the first round of fixtures he hasn't filled the obvious gaps and improved the team, it is clear he's just not got a scoob and he should be out.


Oh, and let's see how we do with a 4-4-2 line-up?

Work at not conceding goals, being harder to beat, making life difficult for the opposition? Instilling a work-ethic?

[monktonharp]

On one level of my mind I agree with you 100%, steve. We can't go on repeating the same pointless process of appointing a manager, giving him a year, falling out with him, punting him halfway through his second season, appointing another, giving him a year.... With all the attendant turnover of players that that entails.

But when we're in the middle of a run like this - TWO wins in SIXTEEN - I think we need to hear more than "the guys were fantastic - they gave me so much" every post-match interview. They WEREN'T "fantastic". They DIDN'T "give so much". At least, not on my TV they weren't and didn't.

If we had played the first half of the season the way we've played the second, we'd have been relegated by the end of January. Three months is a reasonable period over which to make an assessment of progress, so what do we make of February, March and April?

We've had injuries. We've had suspensions. We've been struggling to field a settled team at times. The demolition of one-quarter of the stadium must have had an unsettling effect on the players. And Hibs fans' propensity for getting on the back of the team as opposed to behind the team - a propensity I share, I know - doesn't help. But I can't remember a season when we've been in such a promising position around the end of January, only t see that position evaporate by the end of April.

There are too many players who need to shape up and start playing for the jersey, IMO. And there are a number of glaring gaps in the squad that need to be filled before the start of next season. They needed filled before the start of THIS season, but they weren't. Right-back. A midfield boss. Centre defence. NOW - not later.I agree with your opinion re-key gaps in the team. we have obviously needed a RB,all season, we obviously need a big midfield boss and have done all season,CH or the lack of,is staring us in the face,but you can hardly blame injuries/suspensions/knocking down a rickety auld stand as reasons for pathetic performances of late. the players should have had the guile and guts to get us over the finishing line for a european place,and it should have been in the bag at least 6 games ago. btw,I think the backing the team got from where I was standing on Saturday,was the best i've heard for a long time so you cant blame the fans for getting on their backs. certainly not over the last 3 games at ER.

[Saorsa]

You've got to worry about our manager that thinks that our bunch of spineless cowards will do a job next season. Deary me...

HIBS boss John Hughes today insisted he doesn't envisage making wholesale changes to his Easter Road squad this summer – because he feels the best has yet to come from his players.

Although he admitted he'd like to make "one or two" signings before the start of next season, Hughes declared it was also his job as manager to get the best out of what is already at his disposal.Aye and he's doing a grand job of that right enough, nothing tae worry about there then :rolleyes:

[Tyler Durden]

Re Yogi making the best of his current resources, I find it astonishing that he continues to field the same players in roughly the same formation and finds it surprising that the results are the same.

Surely any manager on the back of such a terrible run should use the age old cliche of going "back to basics". He's had plenty of opportunities to do this, by which I mean make the team harder to beat. Adopt a classic 4-4-2 with holding midfielders (ie Thicot and Bamba) and wide men playing in a more narrow, compact unit. Instruct the team to fight for every ball and your luck will turn.

But no, he continues to field an expansive team, even when we're only 10/20 minutes from a positive result. Case in point, bringing Gow on at the weekend. Absolute madness and yet game after game he'll then say "we need to pick the boys up and go again" etc. FFS, you need to change things, or the results will continue in the same vein.

I personally continue to back Yogi but he seems to do himself no favours with his team selections and post match comments.

[rightwinger]

Hopefully Hughes is just giving backing to the current crop.

Maybe he thinks he can't slate the current crop given we still have 4th place to play for, however unlikely it seems.

Personally, I'd like to have seen him come out and say 'the boys are playing for the futures in the next two games'.

He needs to make changes. The squad is greatly lacking physically. Pace, power, height all noticeable lacking.

The team basically lacks a spine, a core. We need a big, uncompromising centre half to play with Bamba. We need a similar type of centre midfielder (an Ian Murray type). We also need a similar type of player up front such as Kevin Kyle.

We have the skill but we need the brawn and toughness.

At the moment Hughes is compromising things. We lack height and presence so he has to play Nish. But he can't drop Riordan or Stokes so Riordan goes out wide. Nish isn't a target man and Riordan's too lazy and selfish to be a proper left midfielder. So the three of them end up being square pegs -doing only two players' work. That impacts the midfield because Miller, Rankin and Wotherspoon end up having to play as a centre 3. The consequence of that is a big lack of width as well as the midfield getting overrun. The midfield getting overrun means that the opposition gets to your 18 yard line too easily. By the time we have the ball back on the edge of our own box there's 50 yards between our midfielders and strikers.

Assuming no signings:

------------------------Smith

Wotherspoon-----Thicot-------Bamba-------Hanlon

Miller------------McBride------Murray-------Rankin

-----------------Stokes-------Riordan

That team would at least have a bit of height and structure to it.


Assuming we signed a new spine (say Kasper Schmeichel, Russell Anderson, Simon Mensing, and Kevin Kyle) the team would be:

----------------------Schmeichel

Thicot-----------Anderson-----Bamba--------Murray

Miller----------McBride--------Mensing--------Rankin

---------------Kyle----------Stokes

Obviously, the Zemmamas and Riordans could come into the equation on a game by game basis. But you can't field 3-4 lazy lightweight luxuries every match and expect consistency throughout the season. Rankin and Thicot were our best players on Saturday. There's a time to play and a time to work. At this time of the season you need workers more than players. History has told us this time and time and time again and every club in the world has grasped this except us.

[--------]

I agree with your opinion re-key gaps in the team. we have obviously needed a RB,all season, we obviously need a big midfield boss and have done all season,CH or the lack of,is staring us in the face,but you can hardly blame injuries/suspensions/knocking down a rickety auld stand as reasons for pathetic performances of late. the players should have had the guile and guts to get us over the finishing line for a european place,and it should have been in the bag at least 6 games ago. btw,I think the backing the team got from where I was standing on Saturday,was the best i've heard for a long time so you cant blame the fans for getting on their backs. certainly not over the last 3 games at ER.


I suppose I'm just an old softy. I was trying to be as generous as I could be.

FWIW, I'd say that the state of the pitch from Christmas onwards didn't suit our style of play. However, it shouldn't have come as a surprise that the pitch deteriorated - it's called a Scottish winter and it happens every year. We should have been able to adapt.

Injuries and suspensions disrupt the team - but again, these are to be expected in the final third of a football season, and again, we should have been equipped to adapt.

Major ground alterations do have an effect on players, I think, and the stadium does look and feel very strange at the moment. However, since we play half our games away from home, and since the palyers are supposed to be professionals, we should (again) have been able to adapt, at leat to the point of acquiring the half-dozen extra points that would have made the Europa place safe NOW.

IMO there's been something else going on that we don't know about (dark, mysterious conspiracy theory smilie).

[skipster7]

Never mind he will turn it arround in the summer window :rolleyes:
you are a ray of positive thinking:wink:

[skipster7]

Hopefully Hughes is just giving backing to the current crop.

Maybe he thinks he can't slate the current crop given we still have 4th place to play for, however unlikely it seems.

Personally, I'd like to have seen him come out and say 'the boys are playing for the futures in the next two games'.

He needs to make changes. The squad is greatly lacking physically. Pace, power, height all noticeable lacking.

The team basically lacks a spine, a core. We need a big, uncompromising centre half to play with Bamba. We need a similar type of centre midfielder (an Ian Murray type). We also need a similar type of player up front such as Kevin Kyle.

We have the skill but we need the brawn and toughness.

At the moment Hughes is compromising things. We lack height and presence so he has to play Nish. But he can't drop Riordan or Stokes so Riordan goes out wide. Nish isn't a target man and Riordan's too lazy and selfish to be a proper left midfielder. So the three of them end up being square pegs -doing only two players' work. That impacts the midfield because Miller, Rankin and Wotherspoon end up having to play as a centre 3. The consequence of that is a big lack of width as well as the midfield getting overrun. The midfield getting overrun means that the opposition gets to your 18 yard line too easily. By the time we have the ball back on the edge of our own box there's 50 yards between our midfielders and strikers.

Assuming no signings:

------------------------Smith

Wotherspoon-----Thicot-------Bamba-------Hanlon

Miller------------McBride------Murray-------Rankin

-----------------Stokes-------Riordan

That team would at least have a bit of height and structure to it.


Assuming we signed a new spine (say Kasper Schmeichel, Russell Anderson, Simon Mensing, and Kevin Kyle) the team would be:

----------------------Schmeichel

Thicot-----------Anderson-----Bamba--------Murray

Miller----------McBride--------Mensing--------Rankin

---------------Kyle----------Stokes

Obviously, the Zemmamas and Riordans could come into the equation on a game by game basis. But you can't field 3-4 lazy lightweight luxuries every match and expect consistency throughout the season. Rankin and Thicot were our best players on Saturday. There's a time to play and a time to work. At this time of the season you need workers more than players. History has told us this time and time and time again and every club in the world has grasped this except us.

bambas probably away, kyle seems keen on aberdeen and anderson has signed a new deal at derby.dont think any midfield with miller,mcbride and rankin is up to it long term tbh.need a couple of players in there with a bit more presence imo.

[ekhibee]

I have to disagree with Hughes over the need to have just one or two players, and I also disagree with people who suggest we just need 3 or 4. We need decent replacements for these positions as well IMO, because of injuries,international duty,etc. Too often clubs like Hibs suffer from key players being injured, and inadequate replacements being used because there is nobody else to fill the position. Of course the problem with this theory is that it's obviously going to be costlier to bring in more players, but even if we bring in just 3 or 4 players, for example, there is no guarantee that all of them will be good signings for Hibs, so you do need back up in these key positions such as midfield, central defence etc.
The other point I was going to make was concerning training. I just wondered if Hughes/Rice make their decisions on who should play according to how, for example they can pass the ball, tackle properly, command their area of the pitch, that kind of thing. It's just that to me, anyway, somebody like Thicot should have been brought into the central defence a long time ago, and Danny Galbraith should definitely have been given a run in the side. The players he has picked have, for the most part, simply not performed over the last few months, and there seems to be a bit of stubborness about actually getting round to using these 2 players for example. So I'm sorry, but at the moment Yogi, 'The boys have certainly NOT done great.'

[truehibernian]

Hibs need 3 or 4 players, however they should be players who are experienced and battle hardened. We have great young players, whom probably most have not seen (not their fault), in Booth, Smith, Welsh, Currie, Moyes and Love. Kurtis Byrne and Danny Galbraith are good players trust me, but not in the system Hughes plays IMHO. Hughes teams have no width or real pace and football is played through the middle and quite considered (keep ball). Its probing football as opposed to fast, blood and thunder, 100 mile and hour stuff. There is also no midfield balance with each player far too similar in style and characteristics. For me, we do not need front men at all, perhaps adding one if Benji and Nish leave, and for me it has to be a right winger not a striker. We do however need good solid defenders with experience, and two gritty ball winning midfielders. The best of Liam Miller is not when he is having to chase, harry and win possession back. The best of Miller is when another player breaks up play and releases him. Same on the left. Riordan is literally a waste of a jersey in left midfield, and puts far too much pressure on Murray to track up and down. Murray is rightly a spent force after 75 minutes for all the running, tracking and tackling he does. The fact a right back was not signed is quite simply neglect on Hughes and Rice's part. Your defenders do not need to be Sauzee-esque and cultured. Just strong, committed and have good energy. So this summer the emphasis on signings should be on the physical side of our game at the back IMO. And a couple in midfield. Plenty young players to come through and apply the finishing touches to the side. Sadly, the manager we have is not as innovative as he made out pre season. He is one dimensional, and other managers know it all too well.