early warning signs

[familyman]

Early days so let us not be too harsh.The following are concerns that need addressed.
The pedestrian approach does not work ,the tactic of playing too many forward against a defensive brick wall is a waste of time, it leaves no midfield and so nothing creative can be done, that was the story of the first 45mins..far too long to make a tactical change.
New players who I shall not name as it is only first game, most in fact were too slow and not focussed on the pace of the opposition ,causing dispossession and far too many wrongly placed passes.The hesitation perhaps down to unfamiliarity of those around them in Green.
I will mention Mallan who is not new but who needs to perhaps spend less time writing about Scotland and getting sharper, he was terrible today did hardly anything right ,shocking distribution.should have been substituted in first half.
Look we need time to bed in new players and missing chances is part of it,remember James Collins anyone?..he is knocking them in nowadays.
We need to lift the pace for sure and from the first whistle....
Too early as yet to point the finger but slow and casual is not what Hibs are about!
St Mirren who had more shots will feel robbed today.
Good old Scotty!!!!
It says something that a player out for a year is our best player.
How we learn is the most important thing from today.
Also:agree: credit our goalie who kept us in it.

[Nicho87]

The murmurs and rumblings were starting where I was sitting anyway. Jury out.

better players from down south have came up here and got a shock and been sent packing

[rotherhamrob]

I didn't think Scott Allan was our best player, I thought whittaker was.
Rocky had a couple of good saves but so did their keeper so I'd hardly describe it as keeping us in it.
Agree about pace of play and some shocking passing.
But for the post, a couple of poor misses and a disallowed goal it could have been more comfortable.

[Marvellous]

Early days so let us not be too harsh.The following are concerns that need addressed.
The pedestrian approach does not work ,the tactic of playing too many forward against a defensive brick wall is a waste of time, it leaves no midfield and so nothing creative can be done, that was the story of the first 45mins..far too long to make a tactical change.
New players who I shall not name as it is only first game, most in fact were too slow and not focussed on the pace of the opposition ,causing dispossession and far too many wrongly placed passes.The hesitation perhaps down to unfamiliarity of those around them in Green.
I will mention Mallan who is not new but who needs to perhaps spend less time writing about Scotland and getting sharper, he was terrible today did hardly anything right ,shocking distribution.should have been substituted in first half.
Look we need time to bed in new players and missing chances is part of it,remember James Collins anyone?..he is knocking them in nowadays.
We need to lift the pace for sure and from the first whistle....
Too early as yet to point the finger but slow and casual is not what Hibs are about!
St Mirren who had more shots will feel robbed today.
Good old Scotty!!!!
It says something that a player out for a year is our best player.
How we learn is the most important thing from today.
Also:agree: credit our goalie who kept us in it.

Eh?

[mcfly]

The new players all looked nervous today and I wasn’t impressed by Newell and James. Also Doidge missed 2 sitters. They have to improve.

We also seem reluctant for the defence to push forward.

However not easy playing against a team with 11 behind the ball.

On a positive note Marciano had 2 outstanding saves and I thought Whittaker played v well.

A win is a win but we need to improve.

[hibeerealist]

Early days so let us not be too harsh.The following are concerns that need addressed.
The pedestrian approach does not work ,the tactic of playing too many forward against a defensive brick wall is a waste of time, it leaves no midfield and so nothing creative can be done, that was the story of the first 45mins..far too long to make a tactical change.
New players who I shall not name as it is only first game, most in fact were too slow and not focussed on the pace of the opposition ,causing dispossession and far too many wrongly placed passes.The hesitation perhaps down to unfamiliarity of those around them in Green.
I will mention Mallan who is not new but who needs to perhaps spend less time writing about Scotland and getting sharper, he was terrible today did hardly anything right ,shocking distribution.should have been substituted in first half.
Look we need time to bed in new players and missing chances is part of it,remember James Collins anyone?..he is knocking them in nowadays.
We need to lift the pace for sure and from the first whistle....
Too early as yet to point the finger but slow and casual is not what Hibs are about!
St Mirren who had more shots will feel robbed today.
Good old Scotty!!!!
It says something that a player out for a year is our best player.
How we learn is the most important thing from today.
Also:agree: credit our goalie who kept us in it.

One up top against St Mirren at home is concerning, especially as the one was Kamberi - Kamberi struggles as a lone striker Hecky must have clocked this before now. Too pedestrian (the team) especially first half, it is all too easy for a team sitting in.

Agree Rocky had two cracking saves, that will help him.

Whitty was our best player, a lot of us seem to agree on that today, he showed real hunger today and I only wish some of the others had (Newell) !

Good post let’s hope it improves and quickly.

[SChibs]

One up top against St Mirren at home is concerning, especially as the one was Kamberi - Kamberi struggles as a lone striker Hecky must have clocked this before now. Too pedestrian (the team) especially first half, it is all too easy for a team sitting in.

Agree Rocky had two cracking saves, that will help him.

Whitty was our best player, a lot of us seem to agree on that today, he showed real hunger today and I only wish some of the others had (Newell) !

Good post let’s hope it improves and quickly.

It's not the 1 striker that's the problem. Plenty teams play effective and successful football with lone strikers. It's probably more popular than 2 strikers these days

[hibIBZ]

I wasnt at the game today so I have no idea about the game but from what I am hearing is the it a matter of us being pedestrian and lacking an attacking edge or a an organised defensive team that came for a point a d took us 85mins to break down?

[Allant1981]

I wasnt at the game today so I have no idea about the game but from what I am hearing is the it a matter of us being pedestrian and lacking an attacking edge or a an organised defensive team that came for a point a d took us 85mins to break down?

St mirren definitely sat in and tried to play on the counter, very difficult to play against, we do seem to lack a bit of pace though

[Scouse Hibee]

Early days so let us not be too harsh.The following are concerns that need addressed.
The pedestrian approach does not work ,the tactic of playing too many forward against a defensive brick wall is a waste of time, it leaves no midfield and so nothing creative can be done, that was the story of the first 45mins..far too long to make a tactical change.
New players who I shall not name as it is only first game, most in fact were too slow and not focussed on the pace of the opposition ,causing dispossession and far too many wrongly placed passes.The hesitation perhaps down to unfamiliarity of those around them in Green.
I will mention Mallan who is not new but who needs to perhaps spend less time writing about Scotland and getting sharper, he was terrible today did hardly anything right ,shocking distribution.should have been substituted in first half.
Look we need time to bed in new players and missing chances is part of it,remember James Collins anyone?..he is knocking them in nowadays.
We need to lift the pace for sure and from the first whistle....
Too early as yet to point the finger but slow and casual is not what Hibs are about!
St Mirren who had more shots will feel robbed today.
Good old Scotty!!!!
It says something that a player out for a year is our best player.
How we learn is the most important thing from today.
Also:agree: credit our goalie who kept us in it.

Scott Allan wasn’t our best player today at all.

[judas]

[QUOTE=familyman;5869686
St Mirren who had more shots will feel robbed today.
[/QUOTE]

Don’t be a gimp.

Hibs hit the post twice, scored one dubiously offside goal and missed 3 complete sitters.

[staunchhibby]

Well done whittaker.Thought he played well.

[hibIBZ]

St mirren definitely sat in and tried to play on the counter, very difficult to play against, we do seem to lack a bit of pace though

Thanks

[Scouse Hibee]

It's not the 1 striker that's the problem. Plenty teams play effective and successful football with lone strikers. It's probably more popular than 2 strikers these days

It is when the one is Kamberi, it’s not his game.

[vercol36]

A fair and well-reasoned post, Familyman, though I don’t share the opinion. I think we did just what we needed to today, and were unlucky to win by more. The team are gelling, getting to know each other a bit more, and I think the outlook is good. When we all sit at the end of each season, saying to ourselves “If only we’d won a few more games, we could have been third”....this was one of those games. Intense, nervy and unconvincing...but three points in the bag.

[wookie70]

We looked a bit disjointed today but that might have been expected as Heck has used pre-season to get all the players game time rather than working on a first 11 and a cohesive formation. There were definitely some positives with Allan scoring and some nice bits of football allowing us to get behind their tightly packed defence. It's a win on opening day and a clean sheet so hopefully it is an early sign of regularly being able to beat teams that sit in against us, something Lennon and STubbs often failed to do.

From what I saw we were nervous first half an unwilling to take too many chances. That led to the ball being very slow to progress up the pitch and by the time our playmakers got it the Buddies had 11 men behind the ball. We then tried to hard to force a pass and that gave them possession and confidence. Hats off to Hanlon for a captains performance as he pushed us forward and was willing to take the chance, similarly MOTM Whitts did everything he could to drive us forward.

[AngusHibby]

The new players all looked nervous today and I wasn’t impressed by Newell and James. Also Doidge missed 2 sitters. They have to improve.

We also seem reluctant for the defence to push forward.

However not easy playing against a team with 11 behind the ball.

On a positive note Marciano had 2 outstanding saves and I thought Whittaker played v well.

A win is a win but we need to improve.

I thought Tom James looked very promising before he was subbed off.

[CockneyRebel]

Well done whittaker.Thought he played well.

I second that, very influential today popping up all over the place and spread some great passes about.

[Torto7]

I second that, very influential today popping up all over the place and spread some great passes about.

He was in the ear of Doidge and Newell at full-time as well geeing them up. He's a more than useful guy to have around the squad.

[hibee_girl]

He was in the ear of Doidge and Newell at full-time as well geeing them up. He's a more than useful guy to have around the squad.

Also spent a lot of time chatting to Mackie at full time. It looked like Whittaker was telling him what he should have done at the corner instead of diving in

[hibbyfraelibby]

For me Whittaker, Allan, Kamberi and Slivka were our best players. Mallan oassed to the Saints more than his own side and Rocky's distribution is slow, haphazard and woeful at times despite the great saves it almost cost us late into 2nd half.

With james crocked and wearing a boot the sooner a couple of cup winners return the better.

[Weegreenman]

TEMPO needs to be quicker. Everything was way too slow. We miss the Boyler soooooo much right now.

[SMAXXA]

I didn't think Scott Allan was our best player, I thought whittaker was.
Rocky had a couple of good saves but so did their keeper so I'd hardly describe it as keeping us in it.
Agree about pace of play and some shocking passing.
But for the post, a couple of poor misses and a disallowed goal it could have been more comfortable.

I agree Whittaker for me was our best player which some won’t like to hear

[B.H.F.C]

TEMPO needs to be quicker. Everything was way too slow. We miss the Boyler soooooo much right now.

This. The goalie taking forever to take a goal kick sets that tempo. Then Jackson and Hanlon passing it between each other forever. Simple things make a big difference.

[Ozyhibby]

I think our shape was good but to play that formation you really need the full backs overlapping and attacking from the wings.
Neither James or Whittaker are that type of full back. Not a criticism of Whittaker, as others have said he had a decent game but he’s not that type of full back.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Lancs Harp]

I thought Tom James looked very promising before he was subbed off.

My first impression of James was that he looked comfortable in possession but i think hes going to strugrgle with wide players running at him defensively and he'll come up against far better than he faced today. Jury well and truly out for me

[tamig]

Early days so let us not be too harsh.The following are concerns that need addressed.
The pedestrian approach does not work ,the tactic of playing too many forward against a defensive brick wall is a waste of time, it leaves no midfield and so nothing creative can be done, that was the story of the first 45mins..far too long to make a tactical change.
New players who I shall not name as it is only first game, most in fact were too slow and not focussed on the pace of the opposition ,causing dispossession and far too many wrongly placed passes.The hesitation perhaps down to unfamiliarity of those around them in Green.
I will mention Mallan who is not new but who needs to perhaps spend less time writing about Scotland and getting sharper, he was terrible today did hardly anything right ,shocking distribution.should have been substituted in first half.
Look we need time to bed in new players and missing chances is part of it,remember James Collins anyone?..he is knocking them in nowadays.
We need to lift the pace for sure and from the first whistle....
Too early as yet to point the finger but slow and casual is not what Hibs are about!
St Mirren who had more shots will feel robbed today.
Good old Scotty!!!!
It says something that a player out for a year is our best player.
How we learn is the most important thing from today.
Also:agree: credit our goalie who kept us in it.

I’m assuming that was the first time you’ve seen us this season? There’s been a marked improvement in both tempo and performance as the weeks have progressed. Today wasn’t great but there have been very positive signs - to me anyway - that we’ve been getting to the required level week on week

[BSEJVT]

My first impression of James was that he looked comfortable in possession but i think hes going to strugrgle with wide players running at him defensively and he'll come up against far better than he faced today. Jury well and truly out for me

And me!

He looked slow physically and mentally, timid and I doubt very much he will be robust enough for the Scottish game (and that has nothing to do with him getting injured which can happen to anyone)

That's the 3 times I have seen him now and his record at stopping crosses coming in is abysmal and as Lancs Hibs says we have played no one.

Hopefully, it is just a matter of him stepping up to it, but I haven't been impressed at all so far.

[Hiber-nation]

And me!

He looked slow physically and mentally, timid and I doubt very much he will be robust enough for the Scottish game (and that has nothing to do with him getting injured which can happen to anyone)

That's the 3 times I have seen him now and his record at stopping crosses coming in is abysmal and as Lancs Hibs says we have played no one.

Hopefully, it is just a matter of him stepping up to it, but I haven't been impressed at all so far.

That's the 3rd time I've seen him G and today was the poorest by far. Thought he was decent the other night but as you say stands off his man too much and doesn't offer much going forward.

Haven't read any posts on here tonight but for me today was a massive disappointment, slow and ponderous and we let them in too many times at the back.

[BSEJVT]

That's the 3rd time I've seen him G and today was the poorest by far. Thought he was decent the other night but as you say stands off his man too much and doesn't offer much going forward.

Haven't read any posts on here tonight but for me today was a massive disappointment, slow and ponderous and we let them in too many times at the back.

It's far too early to decide J, but James and Vela (whom I have liked what I have seen of so far) looked way off the pace.

Worrying that players who were failing under Lennon like Kamberi, Whittaker & Slivka looked so far ahead of our new signings.

We are painfully slow and lacking in any sort of urgency, Scott Allan is wasted as a second striker or whatever role he was playing in first half

Going very much against the grain but Newall looks neat & tidy to me and could play in a midfield 4 but is no use whatsoever to us in a 4-3-3.

Having said that neither is Kamberi, there were a good few crosses put in the box in the first half with not a Hibs player near them as that isn't his game

Keep waiting for Horgan to really step up to the plate, but the game passed him by today also.

Crying out for some pace and energy in the team.

IMO Allan has to start and on the evidence to date that cant be in a 3 with Vela & Mallan

[Onion]

St mirren definitely sat in and tried to play on the counter, very difficult to play against, we do seem to lack a bit of pace though

Pace wasn't the problem today, it was the lack of urgency and poor set up with a huge gaping hole in midfield. Once we changed our set up, and started passing quickly and pressing St M their defence looked decidedly dodgy and we created a shed load of chances.

[Mutu]

Far too early to judge.

5 new players who are still learning to play together in a new system which requires a lot of tactical understanding to pull off - I thought it was fairly promising. Notice how the entire game we insisted on playing out from the back and never resorted to long balls. The wing play is what let us down - we didn't push the full backs on and the wide players didn't come inside to help out Kamberi.

Lovely to see Allan again. Whittaker MOTM.

[I'm Spartacus]

No knee jerk reaction from me but you could feel the atmosphere in the stadium become fairly impatient :|

The tempo was brutal, they sat in so for me we need a high tempo quick passing game to run them out of position and create spaces.

[J-C]

I keep reading St Mirren had 11 behind the ball and it's hard to play against that, they actually played a well organised high press and gave us little time on the ball. The fact that we dawdled and were ponderous played into their hands. I bet St Johnstone played pretty deep and tight but Celtic probably played a quick passing attacking game to score 7 goals. It's not a problem playing against 11 deep men, it's how you go about it.

[percy veer]

Win, clean sheet first game of the season great start .

[Allant1981]

I keep reading St Mirren had 11 behind the ball and it's hard to play against that, they actually played a well organised high press and gave us little time on the ball. The fact that we dawdled and were ponderous played into their hands. I bet St Johnstone played pretty deep and tight but Celtic probably played a quick passing attacking game to score 7 goals. It's not a problem playing against 11 deep men, it's how you go about it.

St mirren did not play a high press game yesterday, they sat in and defended when we had the ball and tried to play on the counter, it was very clear from about 30 minutes in they were going to do that, not sure what you seen if you thought they were pressing high up the park

[Aldo]

We played some neat stuff at times but over played it in final 3rd.

Should have been 2 or 3 but for missed chances.

St Mirren sat in and their aim was not to get beaten. They also booted us off the park. How the ref and his assistant missed the elbow on Horgan is beyond me. Then the tackle on James that again went without a card!

Goodwin set his team up like he played... kick kick kick.

As for MOTM. That is easy and it was Whittaker. He showed composure and covered well!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[onthefence]

This. The goalie taking forever to take a goal kick sets that tempo. Then Jackson and Hanlon passing it between each other forever. Simple things make a big difference.

The 2 centre backs and full backs passing the ball between them is an instruction from the manager to be patient. Unfortunately it end ups being pointless possession. Would you rather have 70% poession with 6 attempts on goal OR 50% possession with 12 attempts? I reckon all would rather the latter

[The Leith Dutch]

Early days so let us not be too harsh.The following are concerns that need addressed.
The pedestrian approach does not work ,the tactic of playing too many forward against a defensive brick wall is a waste of time, it leaves no midfield and so nothing creative can be done, that was the story of the first 45mins..far too long to make a tactical change.
New players who I shall not name as it is only first game, most in fact were too slow and not focussed on the pace of the opposition ,causing dispossession and far too many wrongly placed passes.The hesitation perhaps down to unfamiliarity of those around them in Green.
I will mention Mallan who is not new but who needs to perhaps spend less time writing about Scotland and getting sharper, he was terrible today did hardly anything right ,shocking distribution.should have been substituted in first half.
Look we need time to bed in new players and missing chances is part of it,remember James Collins anyone?..he is knocking them in nowadays.
We need to lift the pace for sure and from the first whistle....
Too early as yet to point the finger but slow and casual is not what Hibs are about!
St Mirren who had more shots will feel robbed today.
Good old Scotty!!!!
It says something that a player out for a year is our best player.
How we learn is the most important thing from today.
Also:agree: credit our goalie who kept us in it.

100% agree on the bit in bold.

I think the fact the formation is questionable means it's difficult to judge the players.

If you're going to play wingers they need to play as wingers and you need to set the team up to hit them out wide by holding the middle.
Instead we're playing two attacking midfielders in Allan and Mallan in the centre. There is, as you say, no platform built.

Allan and Mallan were playing too deep for my liking generally - probably because they've been told to or are trying to because we've used 3 of our outfield players on forwards.
That completely wastes their talents.

Mallan for me has consistently been played far too deep. He's not a Centre Mid he's an Attacking mid and he needs to be looking for space in and around the 20 - 25 yards out pocket so he can play strikers in or shoot from distance where he's one of the top players in the league. You play Mallan primarily for set pieces and shooting from range and the number of times he's in a position to shoot from range is low and that's more because of where he's playing than Mallan as a player (I actually think Stevie Mallan has been a consumate professional in trying to play a role that isn't him to the best of his abilities).

Which brings me to one of the most bugging things about the new formation.
Scott Allan for me is the first name down on the team sheet and any formation that doesn't give him license to roam and find space where he can hurt the opposition is a flawed formation.
If you let him do that he'll make whatever other attacking players you have much more effective.

The Allan/Mallan thing might work but not with two wingers and a striker.

[Barman Stanton]

Disallowed goal should have stood. 2 open goals missed. Had these have been in we would have been talking about a decent win and the mood would be totally different.

[Allant1981]

Disallowed goal should have stood. 2 open goals missed. Had these have been in we would have been talking about a decent win and the mood would be totally different.

And the shot from allan, another inch inside and that's in also

[J-C]

St mirren did not play a high press game yesterday, they sat in and defended when we had the ball and tried to play on the counter, it was very clear from about 30 minutes in they were going to do that, not sure what you seen if you thought they were pressing high up the park

They were in our faces all game, defence and midfield little time on the ball, Vela, Mallan, Allan, Horgan all making mistakes due to being too slow with their passes and their players snapping at our heels, they certainly never sat back and allowed us to just play.they were stubborn and well organised and the slow laborious football will struggle against these teams. Quick passing and good quick movement will create space against teams like this.

[Squirrel 1875]

Was completely unsurprised by the performance yesterday. This was the latest example of a below par hibs performance from a Heckingbottom team. I predict a lot more of these performances over the course of his tenure, particularly due to the level of signing made, his poor starting formations and lineups.

Early warning signs after yesterday? I would say the warning came with the poor performances during last season. Even when winning it wasn't up to scratch.

Sincerely hope I’m wrong but I just can’t see it with Heckingbottom.

[Allant1981]

They were in our faces all game, defence and midfield little time on the ball, Vela, Mallan, Allan, Horgan all making mistakes due to being too slow with their passes and their players snapping at our heels, they certainly never sat back and allowed us to just play.they were stubborn and well organised and the slow laborious football will struggle against these teams. Quick passing and good quick movement will create space against teams like this.

Jackson and hanlon had loads of time on the ball in the second half, hence hanlon playing almost as an extra midfielder at times, they packed the defence and midfield making it difficult, that's very different to playing a high pressing game

[matty_f]

St mirren did not play a high press game yesterday, they sat in and defended when we had the ball and tried to play on the counter, it was very clear from about 30 minutes in they were going to do that, not sure what you seen if you thought they were pressing high up the park

Correct. They tried to win the back back in their half. That’s not a high press at all.

[weecounty hibby]

I keep reading St Mirren had 11 behind the ball and it's hard to play against that, they actually played a well organised high press and gave us little time on the ball. The fact that we dawdled and were ponderous played into their hands. I bet St Johnstone played pretty deep and tight but Celtic probably played a quick passing attacking game to score 7 goals. It's not a problem playing against 11 deep men, it's how you go about it.
It was hardly a high press they never came near a Hibs player until we got close to half way. What they did was compress the game into about 2/3ds of the pitch, flooding the midfield area and making it difficult to pass through them. Boyle with his pace wide is a big miss in games like that

[Brightside]

They were in our faces all game, defence and midfield little time on the ball, Vela, Mallan, Allan, Horgan all making mistakes due to being too slow with their passes and their players snapping at our heels, they certainly never sat back and allowed us to just play.they were stubborn and well organised and the slow laborious football will struggle against these teams. Quick passing and good quick movement will create space against teams like this.

I didn’t see that at all JC. The st mirren manager was constantly telling his players to sit in and create flat line. Hence why our defence had so much of the ball. The problem was our lack of movement from all of our midfield.

[J-C]

Jackson and hanlon had loads of time on the ball in the second half, hence hanlon playing almost as an extra midfielder at times, they packed the defence and midfield making it difficult, that's very different to playing a high pressing game

Yes in the 2nd half when they started to tire and we brought on fresh legs, the last 20 mins were a lot better, game was a better tempo and we created a lot more chances.

[SChibs]

The 2 centre backs and full backs passing the ball between them is an instruction from the manager to be patient. Unfortunately it end ups being pointless possession. Would you rather have 70% poession with 6 attempts on goal OR 50% possession with 12 attempts? I reckon all would rather the latter

It depends. If our 6 shots on goal and 70% possession meant the opponents only had 1 effort rather than 8 if the possession was 50% I'd take that

[Allant1981]

Yes in the 2nd half when they started to tire and we brought on fresh legs, the last 20 mins were a lot better, game was a better tempo and we created a lot more chances.

Sorry we were definitely watching a different game yesterday, they were like this almost the whole game not just when we made substitutions

[weecounty hibby]

Hanlon and Jackson probably passed the ball to each other more than any other passes in the entire game. That was because the St Mirren players didn't come any where near Hibs until we were at the half way line. They matched up in the midfield and with the addition of the attacking players also dripping onto that area it made it difficult for our midfield to get any time on the ball, essentially when we had the ball they had a midfield of 6. **** to watch but effective unless you have real pace out wide which we don't at the moment

[J-C]

Sorry we were definitely watching a different game yesterday, they were like this almost the whole game not just when we made substitutions

I thought their midfield and forwards worked very hard to give us little space and time on the ball, they were well disciplined and organised. Hence why our slow build up play didn't work.

[Allant1981]

Hanlon and Jackson probably passed the ball to each other more than any other passes in the entire game. That was because the St Mirren players didn't come any where near Hibs until we were at the half way line. They matched up in the midfield and with the addition of the attacking players also dripping onto that area it made it difficult for our midfield to get any time on the ball, essentially when we had the ball they had a midfield of 6. **** to watch but effective unless you have real pace out wide which we don't at the moment

Yip they had a game plan and for them almost worked a treat until we got the goal, it's now up to the manager to learn from that and be better next time around

[Wee Effen Bee]

4 Cup games, 1 league game, 1 goal conceded 4 wins and 1 draw. A lot of new players bedding in and many still out injured. A good start to the season I would argue! As for yesterday’s game, a win and a clean sheet against a team sitting in and hitting on the break. Only one team was pushing for the win and one was stuffing their defence hoping for a draw! Bad challenges going unpunished and yet another goal wrongly chalked off - we must be near the top of the league for experiencing poor decisions by the officials. I’m told they even themselves out over the season though!

[J-C]

Yip they had a game plan and for them almost worked a treat until we got the goal, it's now up to the manager to learn from that and be better next time around

Possibly high press was wrong to an extent,but it was organised, no space or time.

[Allant1981]

Possibly high press was wrong to an extent,but it was organised, no space or time.

That's pretty much what I said!!

[wookie70]

To me they had a very solid 2 banks of 4 who shuffled left and right with the play and stayed about 15-20 yards apart meaning there was hardly any space when you got to that first line of 4. The two forward players dropped to where our DM was to challenge the first point of attack. It isn't pretty but they were pretty much perfect in playing it and we didn't seem to have a clue how to break it down. Slivka and the change in formation made a massive difference but Hanlon starting to come out with teh ball and move their players about was very important to. Early days and we won and showed quite a few glimpses of what we could be like. What I did like yesterday is the players stuck to their task. We kept our shape pretty well. Under Stubbs and Lennon these were the games we lost 1-0 while being frustrating to watch. We were frustrating to watch for 70 minutes yesterday but we managed a 1-0 win. That to me is an improvement in many ways

[BoomtownHibees]

Allan and Mallan were playing too deep for my liking generally - probably because they've been told to or are trying to because we've used 3 of our outfield players on forwards.
That completely wastes their talents.

Agree re Mallan but Allan wasn’t deep at all yesterday, he was almost playing as a 2nd striker at times which is also a waste of his talents

[wookie70]

Agree re Mallan but Allan wasn’t deep at all yesterday, he was almost playing as a 2nd striker at times which is also a waste of his talents
Allan has played almost an advanced no 10 position since the start of the season. I agree he is too far forward so more easily marked and doesn't get involved as much as he should. I'd give him a go as you please role.

[ekhibee]

St mirren did not play a high press game yesterday, they sat in and defended when we had the ball and tried to play on the counter, it was very clear from about 30 minutes in they were going to do that, not sure what you seen if you thought they were pressing high up the park

Not quite sure what you mean either, they had faster players than us in quite a few positions, particularly the guy on the left wing. For large parts of the game their tactics were spot on, and equally for large parts of the game we were lethargic, slow and pedestrian. 1 or 2 people on here have mentioned how they are still gelling. Well if they're still gelling next week at Ibrox we'll get well and truly pumped.

[random sub]

I like Hecky, I think we have a tactically astute manager that players respect but think he will sink or swim with these new signings.....

[JimboHibs]

I like Hecky, I think we have a tactically astute manager that players respect but think he will sink or swim with these new signings.....

So your 50/50 then ?

[random sub]

So your 50/50 then ?

100% want it all to come together of course. Think Hecky is showing he has great management skills, perhaps the only question mark for me is around the signings and him putting to many eggs in lower league English baskets, hence the comment/ question.

[Allant1981]

Not quite sure what you mean either, they had faster players than us in quite a few positions, particularly the guy on the left wing. For large parts of the game their tactics were spot on, and equally for large parts of the game we were lethargic, slow and pedestrian. 1 or 2 people on here have mentioned how they are still gelling. Well if they're still gelling next week at Ibrox we'll get well and truly pumped.

Why does it matter if they have faster players? They still sat in and defended most of the game and hit on the break when they did have a chance, that was their tactic and it almost worked for them,not really sure how else I can explain it?