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View Full Version : This is how it feels (Kilmarnock 03 04 19)



Jonnyboy
03-04-2019, 10:27 PM
I was looking forward to tonight’s game as matches between Hibs and Killie have been really entertaining these past few years. Sadly the game fell way short of expectations in terms of goalmouth action with neither goalkeeper beaten. On a cold, damp night these teams basically cancelled each other out as both determined to get every man behind the ball when not in possession. I’m an upbeat kinda person and so I’ll try to dwell on the positives and there were some despite the lack of goals.

Still unbeaten In the league since his arrival, Paul Heckingbottom made just the one change to his starting eleven with Slivka brought into the midfield, Milligan moved to centre back and Darren McGregor dropped to the bench. I wondered whether Daz wasn’t able to play two games in a short space of time because for me he was immense against Livingston and surely wasn’t dropped due to his performance.

The game started slowly and in truth it never really gathered any speed from the first whistle to the last. A good twenty five minutes had elapsed before the first real effort on goal and even then calling it an effort is being complimentary because Broadfoot’s shot was miles wide of the target. On the subject of Mulumbu I felt he was a lucky boy not to be red carded. A foul on Mallan in the first half and a shocker of a tackle on Omeonga in the second brought only one yellow from Steven McLean and that was for the Omeonga challenge. Mulumbu and Omeonga had earlier exchanged words and the odd shove and so it was always going to be that the on-loan Celtic man would take out the Hibs player when the chance arose.

It took Hibs thirty minutes to trouble the Killie goalie and that came after Hibs won possession near their own corner flag before cleverly passing their way to the other end of the park. It was a good move but ended when the strangely subdued Daryl Horgan forced Bachmann to tip his effort over the bar for a corner.

The first half hadn’t been great but that was due in no small part to the efficiency of both defences. Hanlon and Milligan had a pretty easy time of it as the Killie strikers offered no physical challenge of note and so it was no surprise when Kris Boyd came on for the second half. Killie started brightly without really causing any trouble to the Hibs goal before Stevie Mallan hit a long distance daisy cutter but it didn’t really trouble Bachmann who was able to collect the ball with ease. Soon after that a woeful pass by Paul Hanlon landed at the feet of Jordan Jones who raced in on goal and unleashed a pile driver of a shot which Marciano brilliantly saved with a strong right hand.

The congested midfield ensured some pretty meaty challenges going in and referee Steven McLean was busy with his yellow card, with Tshibola lucky not to see red for a challenge that saw him catch Mallan in the chest with a high boot.

With around fifteen minutes left, Shaw replaced the out of touch Kamberi and very nearly weighed in with a goal when a lovely cross from Lewis Stevenson allowed Oli to send a header just wide of goal. At the other end, Hibs made a hash of clearing a corner and the ball reached the normally deadly Boyd just a few yards out but he screwed his shot wide.

In truth a draw was a fair result. If anything I felt both teams showed the other too much respect but at the end of the day we kept a clean sheet and in doing so secured a top six finish. If and it’s a big if we can turn Hearts over on Saturday we’ll leapfrog them into fifth going into the final round of games. Just a few short weeks ago that seemed highly unlikely and so great credit is due to the players and coaches for achieving their first target with a game to spare.

The players

Rocky – Other than his stunning save from Jones he had very little to worry him and never really looked like he might concede.

SDG – Solid as ever though I felt he didn’t get forward quite as much as usual.

Milli – I know I said he was little troubled in the first half but that was as much due to his reading of the game as anything else. Even the introduction of a much more physical presence in the shape of Kris Boyd didn’t faze him and nor did being moved into midfield for the last half hour. Milli gets my man of the match award tonight.

Paul – Other than that quite horrendous pass that went straight to Jones I felt he was fine tonight although he didn’t break out from the back as often as he has done in recent weeks.

Lewis – Voted sponsors man of the match and he wasn’t far behind Milli in my award too. Defended really well and got down the left more often that SDG did in the right.

Daryl – So far off it tonight I was stunned he lasted as long as he did. There’s a player in there but that player simply didn’t turn up tonight.

Viki – Like Horgan, Viki wasn’t really at it tonight although the fact we were outnumbered in midfield for large parts of the game may have been part of the reason.

Stevie – Played far too deep for me. If he and Slivka are to start I’d switch their roles as Mallan offers a real goal threat which is not the case with Slivka.

Stephane – Flitted in and out of things a bit but when he gets involved he’s exciting to watch. I’m guessing he won’t be on Mulumbu’s Christmas card list though.

Flo – Playing him wide left did not work tonight and even when he moved into a more central position for the second half his contribution was pretty poor and it didn’t surprise me when he was replaced by Oli Shaw.

Sparky – The goals have dried up for the moment but then he was so isolated in the first half and double marked in the second it’s no surprise he didn’t score tonight.

Daz – Won just about every header and was the perfect foil to deny the bustling Kris Boyd the freedom to boss our defenders.

Oli – Was unlucky with that header and had been equally unlucky minutes earlier when he just failed to control a ball that would have given him the chance to run in on goal.

Fraser – I really like and rate Fraser and felt for him tonight as the couple of things he tried didn’t really come off for him. Given the chance I’m sure he’ll impress in the future.

Hecky – I heard his post-match interview and agreed with his view that Killie are a very good side and got their tactics right in basically denying us the space to play.

The fans – I thought the atmosphere was flat for the most part tonight. Sporadic outbursts of singing but little more than that although I confess I was impressed by the number of Killie fans in attendance and in the noise that they made.

The ref – I guess he was better than he has been of late but there were a few decisions that rattled both sets of supporters as it was difficult to see how he had reacted or failed to on a few occasions.

sean04
03-04-2019, 10:37 PM
Think we lose a threat when Mallon plays deep. Prefer him higher up getting shots away and trying to get in the box

Stonewall
03-04-2019, 10:38 PM
I don’t think I’ve seen the ball passed behind a player so often since the days of Brian Kerr.

Took all the momentum out of the odd attack we managed to mount.

Agree with your report and mom award.

calumhibee1
03-04-2019, 10:39 PM
I don’t think I’ve seen the ball passed behind a player so often since the days of Brian Kerr.

Took all the momentum out of the odd attack we managed to mount.

Agree with your report and mom award.

Does my head in. Has been happening all season, the amount of times players have acres to run into and someone plays the pass to where their standing rather than infront of them is incredible. It's one thing I always notice Celtic do well.

Forza Fred
03-04-2019, 10:40 PM
Agree with nearly all of this.

Thought MOM was between Rocky and Millsy.

A feature of the first 60 minutes was Millsy being used almost as the ‘go to man’ for our defenders when put under pressure...he was always available for them and his individual possession stats woul top the list I think.

Nothing fancy, but totally dependable.

Rocky too, did not theatrically throw himself about, but his one handed save to save Paul Hanlon’s blushes and save on the line from a corner kept a clean sheet, whereas other keepers may have conceded.

BILLYHIBS
03-04-2019, 11:01 PM
Brilliant Jonnyboy as usual

But!

Just one minor point

Milli sounds like a girls name :confused:

It is Millsy

Captain of Australia the Socceroos :greengrin

CMurdoch
03-04-2019, 11:05 PM
Milligan was my MOTM. Very good throughout. Rocky saved our ass a couple of times as well.

What i have not seen on all the other threads is any mention of the height advantage of our opponents over us tonight which gave us a hard time in the 1st half from corners and free kicks.

Excepting the goalkeepers and strikers they had:
6'3" Broadfoot & Findlay at the back
6'3" Tshibola & 6'2" Dicker in the midfield
Our guys looked very short and feeble in comparison and did well not to lose a set piece goal.

Slivka and Kamberi are our tall guys at 6'3" & 6'2" respectively and we know that Slivka isn't a physical player.

Bartley would have been a much better option tonight than Horgan giving us some much needed physical presence in the midfield against Dicker. That may have allowed our other midfield guys to play a bit.

Greenbeard
03-04-2019, 11:15 PM
I don’t think I’ve seen the ball passed behind a player so often since the days of Brian Kerr.

Took all the momentum out of the odd attack we managed to mount.

Agree with your report and mom award.
Stand out point for me too. Disjointed and no flow. And no Flo. Nor Horg. No Spark up the park.
Fur call rhymes with Slivka otherwise he'd get a no-show mention too.

GreenOnions
03-04-2019, 11:44 PM
I don’t think I’ve seen the ball passed behind a player so often since the days of Brian Kerr.

Took all the momentum out of the odd attack we managed to mount.

Agree with your report and mom award.

I noticed this too. A fair number of forward moves turned into backwards passes once the receiving player had to stop his run in order to gather the ball.

It seemed to me to demonstrate the high level of caution shown by both sides tonight.

I think Johnnyboy's summary is good - as always. FWIW I thought Omeonga challenged Milligan for MotM tonight - especially in the second half.

NAE NOOKIE
04-04-2019, 12:43 AM
I don’t think I’ve seen the ball passed behind a player so often since the days of Brian Kerr.

Took all the momentum out of the odd attack we managed to mount.

Agree with your report and mom award.

Totally agree with this, it wasn't just tonight though, we seem to play so many passes which don't go in front of the player and put him at a standstill as a result. In all of our games this season where we have been poor our passing has been way below what you should expect from folk paid to play football with simple short range passes under little pressure failing to find their target.

If we can sort this out we will be a far better team because in so many games where we have failed to do well it has been our failure to do the basics right that has been our downfall rather than great play by the opposition.

We were below par tonight and Killie are a good side so I suppose a draw isn't a bad outcome, because if we had lost a goal I don't see where we would have got an equalizer the way we were playing.

Forza Fred
04-04-2019, 04:23 AM
I noticed this too. A fair number of forward moves turned into backwards passes once the receiving player had to stop his run in order to gather the ball.

It seemed to me to demonstrate the high level of caution shown by both sides tonight.

I think Johnnyboy's summary is good - as always. FWIW I thought Omeonga challenged Milligan for MotM tonight - especially in the second half.

Guess it’s all about opinions, so not knocking your view on things but, admirer of Omeonga as I am, I just didn’t think it was one of his better performances.

Hopefully he will raise a level for Saturday and be the key that unlocks the Jambos defence.

Forza Fred
04-04-2019, 04:30 AM
Totally agree with this, it wasn't just tonight though, we seem to play so many passes which don't go in front of the player and put him at a standstill as a result.



One of my hobby horses!

Being an old fart I played most of my formative years of football in the sixties and very early seventies.

Growing up, we didn’t receive much ‘coaching’ then, but when we did we were always taught to pass the ball about a yard in front of the player we were passing to, so that he did not have to check his stride.

Nowadays it’s ball to feet, which means they sometimes have to perform like ballerinas to stop and move with the ball.

Guess it’s just another example of how football has changed over the years.

BILLYHIBS
04-04-2019, 06:11 AM
Missing link:

Scott Allan

The futures bright the futures green and white. :agree:

theonlywayisup
04-04-2019, 06:22 AM
Missing link:

Scott Allan

The futures bright the futures green and white. :agree:

Agree, plus Boyle and Porteous.

BILLYHIBS
04-04-2019, 06:27 AM
Agree, plus Boyle and Porteous.

Boyles pace a big miss

Porteous outstanding young talent

Need him to give our ageing defence a break

Bring back Efe :greengrin

Brightside
04-04-2019, 06:31 AM
Milligan was my MOTM. Very good throughout. Rocky saved our ass a couple of times as well.

What i have not seen on all the other threads is any mention of the height advantage of our opponents over us tonight which gave us a hard time in the 1st half from corners and free kicks.

Excepting the goalkeepers and strikers they had:
6'3" Broadfoot & Findlay at the back
6'3" Tshibola & 6'2" Dicker in the midfield
Our guys looked very short and feeble in comparison and did well not to lose a set piece goal.

Slivka and Kamberi are our tall guys at 6'3" & 6'2" respectively and we know that Slivka isn't a physical player.

Bartley would have been a much better option tonight than Horgan giving us some much needed physical presence in the midfield against Dicker. That may have allowed our other midfield guys to play a bit.

Bartley would have been lost in that game tonight. Killie move the ball quickly. Bartley would have added nothing. Both teams were playing for the draw last night. Neither taking chances and opening up. I found it really interesting tactically but agree with many saying it wasn’t the most exciting game. Tactically it was a strong performance and got the point that the gaffer wanted. Our passing was very poor all night tbh but our defence bar the shocker from Paul were outstanding. Boyd never got a touch.

Brightside
04-04-2019, 06:32 AM
Boyles pace a big miss

Porteous outstanding young talent

Need him to give our ageing defence a break

Bring back Efe :greengrin

Killie scored 5 last week. We had a clean sheet against them. Defence did well.

BILLYHIBS
04-04-2019, 06:35 AM
Killie scored 5 last week. We had a clean sheet against them. Defence did well.
Did not say they didn’t :confused:

we are hibs
04-04-2019, 06:48 AM
I do think we are trying to play more football under heckingbottom. Not launching it at kamberi and mcnulty and saying "Do something" which seemed to be our tactics most of this season. We are more structured off the ball. Earlier this season every time the other team came forward I was ****ting myself thinking they were going to score as the defence and midfield were all over the place. That's not the case now. We are desperately missing that width on the opposite side from Horgan. I don't like Flo playing out wide. I thought he improved slightly upfront 2nd half but even then he toiled.

Since452
04-04-2019, 07:22 AM
Milligan was my MOTM. Very good throughout. Rocky saved our ass a couple of times as well.

What i have not seen on all the other threads is any mention of the height advantage of our opponents over us tonight which gave us a hard time in the 1st half from corners and free kicks.

Excepting the goalkeepers and strikers they had:
6'3" Broadfoot & Findlay at the back
6'3" Tshibola & 6'2" Dicker in the midfield
Our guys looked very short and feeble in comparison and did well not to lose a set piece goal.

Slivka and Kamberi are our tall guys at 6'3" & 6'2" respectively and we know that Slivka isn't a physical player.

Bartley would have been a much better option tonight than Horgan giving us some much needed physical presence in the midfield against Dicker. That may have allowed our other midfield guys to play a bit.

One thing i noticed was all they Killie players looked like they'd been hitting the gym. All big units. We looked a bit lightweight in comparison.

Brightside
04-04-2019, 07:39 AM
Did not say they didn’t :confused:

Porteous outstanding young talent

Need him to give our ageing defence a break

Bring back Efe

:greengrin:confused:

CockneyRebel
04-04-2019, 07:43 AM
]I don’t think I’ve seen the ball passed behind a player so often since the days of Brian Kerr.[/B]

Took all the momentum out of the odd attack we managed to mount.

Agree with your report and mom award.

IMO most of our more promising moves were snuffed out or slowed down because of this, even when our player looked up before passing the ball.

HibsGW
04-04-2019, 08:03 AM
Porteous outstanding young talent

Need him to give our ageing defence a break

Bring back Efe

:greengrin:confused:

🤦🏼*♂️😴

BILLYHIBS
04-04-2019, 08:11 AM
Porteous outstanding young talent

Need him to give our ageing defence a break

Bring back Efe

:greengrin:confused:

I know

Spoke to Derby fans at the game last night who say he no where near first team squad

Unlikely but never say never :greengrin

Since452
04-04-2019, 09:03 AM
Thought Mulumbu was a class above last night. Excellent player.

hughio
04-04-2019, 09:10 AM
One of my hobby horses!

Being an old fart I played most of my formative years of football in the sixties and very early seventies.

Growing up, we didn’t receive much ‘coaching’ then, but when we did we were always taught to pass the ball about a yard in front of the player we were passing to, so that he did not have to check his stride.

Nowadays it’s ball to feet, which means they sometimes have to perform like ballerinas to stop and move with the ball.

Guess it’s just another example of how football has changed over the years.

I so agree with you Forza and Nookie and Green Onions...
Pass the f'ing ball in front of the man!

And this endless passing along the back four...Jesus!You say football has changed since the old days Forza..too right.Both teams used to go out trying to score goals whenever they got the ball.
I am just another boring old fart I guess.

BILLYHIBS
04-04-2019, 09:19 AM
Thought Mulumbu was a class above last night. Excellent player.

Thought he was constantly fouling and lucky to stay on the park and let Omeonga half his size wind him up

Opinions eh?

Jonnyboy
04-04-2019, 09:15 PM
Brilliant Jonnyboy as usual

But!

Just one minor point

Milli sounds like a girls name :confused:

It is Millsy

Captain of Australia the Socceroos :greengrin

It's a fair cop, Billy. I 'inherited' Milli from NL but I know Forza Fred has mentioned before that in Australia, MM is known as Millsy so Millsy it shall be from now on :aok:

crash
05-04-2019, 04:41 AM
It's a fair cop, Billy. I 'inherited' Milli from NL but I know Forza Fred has mentioned before that in Australia, MM is known as Millsy so Millsy it shall be from now on :aok:

Millsy:confused: That sounds too Lovellesque :sick:
Call him Marker, that covers his name and his job description :thumbsup:

JimBHibees
05-04-2019, 06:05 AM
I so agree with you Forza and Nookie and Green Onions...
Pass the f'ing ball in front of the man!

And this endless passing along the back four...Jesus!You say football has changed since the old days Forza..too right.Both teams used to go out trying to score goals whenever they got the ball.
I am just another boring old fart I guess.

Got to be said I would rather we passed it across the back than try a more difficult pass and lose it. Kilmarnock are set up to take advantage of that and we contained them well. You just know the same people moaning about keeping the ball would be even more upset if we launched it straight to a Killie player. Sometimes you need to be patient and the Killie game was one of them. That is two home clean sheets on the bounce can't remember last time that happened.

B.H.F.C
05-04-2019, 06:43 AM
Thought Mulumbu was a class above last night. Excellent player.

It was a good battle with him and Omeonga.

Mulumbu thought he could bully him and the wee man stood up to him. It was just Omeonga’s final pass that let him down.

No way was Mulumbu a class above him though.

BILLYHIBS
05-04-2019, 06:46 AM
It's a fair cop, Billy. I 'inherited' Milli from NL but I know Forza Fred has mentioned before that in Australia, MM is known as Millsy so Millsy it shall be from now on :aok:

Yeah!

Result

Fair dinkum!

:thumbsup:

BILLYHIBS
05-04-2019, 06:53 AM
It was a good battle with him and Omeonga.

Mulumbu thought he could bully him and the wee man stood up to him. It was just Omeonga’s final pass that let him down.

No way was Mulumbu a class above him though.

Agree

Shudda been booked for a blatant shove in the wee mans face in front of the Ref in the first half

Totally lost his discipline

Not as bad as Kent’s “shove” on Broony though :greengrin

Iggy Pope
05-04-2019, 06:08 PM
Bartley would have been lost in that game tonight. Killie move the ball quickly. Bartley would have added nothing. Both teams were playing for the draw last night. Neither taking chances and opening up. I found it really interesting tactically but agree with many saying it wasn’t the most exciting game. Tactically it was a strong performance and got the point that the gaffer wanted. Our passing was very poor all night tbh but our defence bar the shocker from Paul were outstanding. Boyd never got a touch.

Can you be moving the ball about quickly and still ‘play for a draw’? Sounds like coaching manual bollox.