"We've tried to implement a style that we think they're all happy with" - Alan Stubbs

[TheFamous1875]

http://youtu.be/lwTQFHo51dY

A statement like that points to exactly what a lot of us were saying about Butcher and how he had got it wrong last season. The argument at the time was that he'd changed too much, too soon and instead should've been trying to get his players to play a style which suited their abilities.

Now it can be argued that for a lot of the squad, to us fans at least, a lot of the players haven't ever really showcased their best attributes, eg, Liam Craig, the attacking midfielder, being a poor man's Kevin Thomson in a holding role, OTJ never imposing himself on any game like he consistently did for ICT, and to an even more extreme extent, Lewis Stevenson who began the season as our right-back, a decision that was almost unanimously derided as being completely misguided and naive of Pat Fenlon (Lewis had a hard time of it at the beginning of the season, but overall has shown quality over the years, but you get my example).

Now, unless Stubbs is some kind of deluded tyrant in the same vein that Terry Butcher was accused of being, he's immediately got the first thing right: work with what you've got and get the best out of it.

So, I've started this thread to create debate among ourselves on how we think our current squad (which is all he is referring to) as a collective could play well together and work well together on the pitch - based on their strengths, weaknesses and the correlation of those attributes with their teammates' strengths and weaknesses (we're assuming a goalkeeper would be in the team before anyone starts being facetious when this is a purely theoretical discussion).

What formations, tactics and game plan would you use to get the best out of this team? Assuming that they're all confident and motivated which is the basic minimum requirement any coach should be able to give to his squad.

Here's the current list of our squad members:

3Callum Booth
4Paul Hanlon
5Michael Nelson
7Alex Harris
8Scott Robertson
10Liam Craig
16Lewis Stevenson
17Owain Tudur Jones
19Danny Handling
23Jordon Forster
24Paul Heffernan
26Sam Stanton
29Ross Caldwell
35Jason Cummings

[danofire]

so which one's playing in goal on Saturday?:confused:

[hibs0666]

so which one's playing in goal on saturday?:confused:

ffs

[cam75]

so which one's playing in goal on Saturday?:confused:

Got to be Stubbs sweeper role at this ratę :)
Ggtth

[cabbageandribs1875]

so which one's playing in goal on Saturday?:confused:


ffs


he's not even in the squad :confused:

[sahib]

so which one's playing in goal on Saturday?:confused:

17Owain Tudur Jones

Big lad, might, be good dealing with crosses. He is Welsh, I understand and they used to be good at rugby, which involves catching the ball.
He may have played it at school. He didn't look like he had played much football before, I thought.

[JeMeSouviens]

17Owain Tudur Jones

Big lad, might, be good dealing with crosses. He is Welsh, I understand and they used to be good at rugby, which involves catching the ball.
He may have played it at school. He didn't look like he had played much football before, I thought.

Dangerous assumption there: Oli Gottskalkson was a basketball player! :wink:

[CRAZYHIBBY]

so which one's playing in goal on Saturday?:confused:

I heard they are putting a hollogram of a keeper from the 1920s era to coincide with the launch of the new strip

[Keith_M]

so which one's playing in goal on Saturday?:confused:


We have this guy as a trialist


12974

[Keith_M]

I heard they are putting a hollogram of a keeper from the 1920s era to coincide with the launch of the new strip


Maybe this one then....


12976

[sambajustice]

We have this guy as a trialist


12974


Andy Goram is coming back to Hibs???

Who'd have thunk...!!

[Hibbyradge]

Dangerous assumption there: Oli Gottskalkson was a basketball player! :wink:

You learn something every day.

I never knew Gottskalkson was Welsh.

[TowerHibs]

Good interview - glad to get back to thinking about football and not about material of the strips.

Interesting when he said the club is changing its structure and how we operate. This takes time....people on the board expecting everything to be in place and players in the door immediately will have to be patient and let the guys do their work

[erin go bragh]

so which one's playing in goal on Saturday?:confused:

We have two under 20 keepers . So id guess one of them .


Ggtth

[bigwheel]

We have two under 20 keepers . So id guess one of them .


Ggtth

Yes , and I'm sure they are absolutely buzzing at getting this opportunity - hope the one chosen has a good debut and enjoys themselves !

[pontius pilate]

Interesting that AS stated he had a list of 12 goalkeepers so god knows how many names he has got to go through. I will retract what I stated on another thread that signing someone quick is beneficial to everyone. I have confidence and faith that AS and LD will get the correct players in and I reckon we will see the first ones the end of next week. There is under 20 players who im confident can and will make the step up and imo its pre-season a time to work on understanding and cinfidence and fitness.

GGTTH

[Nevi_SOL]

Interesting that AS stated he had a list of 12 goalkeepers so god knows how many names he has got to go through. I will retract what I stated on another thread that signing someone quick is beneficial to everyone. I have confidence and faith that AS and LD will get the correct players in and I reckon we will see the first ones the end of next week. There is under 20 players who im confident can and will make the step up and imo its pre-season a time to work on understanding and cinfidence and fitness.

GGTTH


Agreed maybe some u20's will give alan something to think about which in turn could be a win win

[JeMeSouviens]

You learn something every day.

I never knew Gottskalkson was Welsh.

He certainly leeked goals! (boom, boom)

[down-the-slope]

We have two under 20 keepers . So id guess one of them .


Ggtth

I am sure one of them will get a chance - but would expect that a Triallist keeper would play one half

[hihohibby]

I agree in principle with the idea of getting the best out of every player and getting the team to play in a certain way (tactically), but, for me, there are still too many losers and average Joes in the current squad. I still err on the side of binning as many of last years failures as possible. This would appear unlikely as they are contracted, unfortunately for Alan Stubbs and all of us who pay to watch. The pressure on the same bunch of players will be enormous, especially if and when early season results and performances are poor/indifferent. I keep my fingers crossed that quality (and I mean, quality!) players arrive -bringing fight, determination and a belief that promotion is achievable and realistic. The new players will hopefully inspire last years failures and losers to improved performances across the park.

[Deansy]

Get Lewis back in the midfield, he thrived there earlier in the season. Imho, he's been mis-used in defence.

[Bristolhibby]

You learn something every day.

I never knew Gottskalkson was Welsh.

Could you not tell by the surname?

J

[monktonharp]

I agree in principle with the idea of getting the best out of every player and getting the team to play in a certain way (tactically), but, for me, there are still too many losers and average Joes in the current squad. I still err on the side of binning as many of last years failures as possible. This would appear unlikely as they are contracted, unfortunately for Alan Stubbs and all of us who pay to watch. The pressure on the same bunch of players will be enormous, especially if and when early season results and performances are poor/indifferent. I keep my fingers crossed that quality (and I mean, quality!) players arrive -bringing fight, determination and a belief that promotion is achievable and realistic. The new players will hopefully inspire last years failures and losers to improved performances across the park.the players we still have, are sooooo last year. and, they don't perform(at all) under pressure FACT.

[Sumner]

.. and that style only needs a dozen players and no goalkeepers.. its the future !!

[Speedway]

The boy Stubbsy's come in and he's looking to do a job to be fair. He's not just going to sign players for the sake of it and he's looking for quality not quantity. The lads he's got have been tremendous all week and it's all about pulling together in the same direction.

We all want the same thing, to win games of football and it's for that reason that no training sessions in pre-season will be given on mastering any other kind of sport.

He's had agents on the phone and a load of work is going on behind the scenes to bring in players of quality to win games of football. It's no secret that players of quality show their quality on the field of play by playing with other players of quality on the field. If the boy Stubbsy can get players of quality on the field then we'll win games of football and being a Hibs fan will be quality.

He knows what it's like to be a fan to be fair and so does Leannennaneennaaanee and he wants an Alan Stubbs team to play football with players of quality to win games of football to be fair.

If the fans can go home with a smile on their face, that's what we all want and that'll happen by playing in and winning, to be fair, games of football.

We're all in this together and there's been a lot of changes so there has to be patience as Toxteth wasn't burnt in a day to be fair and we want to finish as high up the league as possible, if not higher, to get back in the bottom six of the SPFL where we belong.

To be fair.

[Sumner]

Quality post. To be fair.

[Northernhibee]

I asked Stubbsy about how the weather is going to be this weekend. To be fair.