We're not in for another "season of transition" are we?

[Scotty Leither]

I'm slightly underwhelmed at the sound of this, the manager's post-match comments:

Hibernian head coach Paul Heckingbottom: "We're a work in progress and will be for a long, long time, but you can't question the commitment and desire to keep going."

[Onceinawhile]

All football teams should be a work in progress. Because you should never settle.

[Torto7]

Managers in general tend to slaver a lot.

[#2 Double Tap]

what a terrible statement. did we lose our opening game or something?

Hecky better get a move on cause there is no way the hibs support will wait a very very long time to see a team that aint a work in progress. It is hard not to be negative about those words, frustrating!!!!

How long was steve clarkes killie a work in progress?

[DavidDavidGray]

what a terrible statement. did we lose our opening game or something?

Hecky better get a move on cause there is no way the hibs support will wait a very very long time to see a team that aint a work in progress. It is hard not to be negative about those words, frustrating!!!!

How long was steve clarkes killie a work in progress?

Is he meant to come out and say ‘we are the finished article despite me only having one transfer window.’ Of course we are a work in progress, if he says we are the finished article it piles a lot of unnecessary pressure on players. He has a very good record as Hibs manager, can we stop looking for any slight thing to criticise him on?

[Inconsequential]

Interestingly the starting line-up contained only one player from the team that beat The Rangers in the Cup Final in 2016 (Paul Hanlon). So I suppose we are in transition... again. Much the same as the start of last season when we had to replace some of our top men and had to contend with a few injuries. We're still affected by injuries and none of the new signings have made an outstanding start to their Hibs careers. It would be nice to sign a couple of players who would make an immediate impact but then we probably couldn't afford them. Just saying like.

[monktonharp]

my problem is...……..we/he brought in half a dizen players from English lower leagues. sometimes there could be a real gem in there, but to bring as many at one time, puzzles me. I was not impressed by yesterday's performance and our new striker made the miss of the season. early , I know but it must be there as the miss of the season later too.

[#2 Double Tap]

Is he meant to come out and say ‘we are the finished article despite me only having one transfer window.’ Of course we are a work in progress, if he says we are the finished article it piles a lot of unnecessary pressure on players. He has a very good record as Hibs manager, can we stop looking for any slight thing to criticise him on?

its not the work in progress part, it was the "long long time" part!

long long time is a poor choice of words. I hate being negative about hibs, I actually thought we played better today than a lot on here have given us credit for, i am not a Hecky hater, or a Lennon lover, I just want to see some solid progress, it is possible, look what clarke achieved at killie in a season and a half, that was not a long long time.

[Hibeesmad]

After that great first season back from the Championship it was going to be difficult to maintain that level of consistency and quality without replacing the likes of McGinn, Allan, McGeough, Barker and Ambrose. We were also very unlucky with injuries last season including players missing due to international duty.

I believe we can achieve 4th with the current squad, and once the likes of Stevenson, Porteous and Gray return from injury, as well as replace Boyle, we should start to see a return of consistency and kick on from there.

[J-C]

We're always a work in progress but it would be nice to be 80% there instead of the usual 6-8 signings every summer.

[Allant1981]

its not the work in progress part, it was the "long long time" part!

long long time is a poor choice of words. I hate being negative about hibs, I actually thought we played better today than a lot on here have given us credit for, i am not a Hecky hater, or a Lennon lover, I just want to see some solid progress, it is possible, look what clarke achieved at killie in a season and a half, that was not a long long time.

And look at how they played in europe, so I bet they wished they were still progressing as a club and beating a welsh league team

[Crunchie]

its not the work in progress part, it was the "long long time" part!

long long time is a poor choice of words. I hate being negative about hibs, I actually thought we played better today than a lot on here have given us credit for, i am not a Hecky hater, or a Lennon lover, I just want to see some solid progress, it is possible, look what clarke achieved at killie in a season and a half, that was not a long long time.

We saw solid progress the minute he walked in the door, no way we were making top 6 before he came in.

I hope he we have him for a very, very long time, I rate the guy very highly and he reminds me of Mowbray in so many ways.

Here's hoping he churns out as an exciting team, and can go one better and win us a trophy.

[lyonhibs]

Those looking for chest thumping, rousing post match press conferences from Heckingbottom may be in for quite a wait.

I'll take a 1-0 win every week followed by a misery guts press conference all day long.

[BILLYHIBS]

I'm slightly underwhelmed at the sound of this, the manager's post-match comments:

Hibernian head coach Paul Heckingbottom: "We're a work in progress and will be for a long, long time, but you can't question the commitment and desire to keep going."




:wtf:

I hope they keep going almost 13000 of us have bought STs

I expect more tbh

[Scouse Hibee]

my problem is...……..we/he brought in half a dizen players from English lower leagues. sometimes there could be a real gem in there, but to bring as many at one time, puzzles me. I was not impressed by yesterday's performance and our new striker made the miss of the season. early , I know but it must be there as the miss of the season later too.

That’s the market we deal in, we were hardly going to sign players from the EPL. The manager has experience of that market so deals in it, makes perfect sense to me. Looks like he has signed some quality too yet some folk can’t seem to get over where we signed that quality from.

[jacomo]

That’s the market we deal in, we were hardly going to sign players from the EPL. The manager has experience of that market so deals in it, makes perfect sense to me. Looks like he has signed some quality too yet some folk can’t seem to get over where we signed that quality from.


I think the argument is that we are signing players with no experience of Scottish football, which is a risk.

But I think there is more to come from them as they adapt to the rhythm of the game. Maybe Hecky is just a perfectionist and sees huge potential for improvement?

To be honest, I prefer this to the defeatist chat coming from Lenny at this stage last season.

[weecounty hibby]

We're always a work in progress but it would be nice to be 80% there instead of the usual 6-8 signings every summer.

Probably the reason for very few loan signings and 3 year deals. **** me people want to moan about absolutely everything. Not necessarily aimed at you just using your post to point out that we have made real signings on decent lengths of contract. Maybe when he means work in progress that he's not finished with his signings. Or that we have players who are getting on a bit and that will need to be replaced. Or that he is looking for continual improvement. Or any number of things, but no it's because we are going to be rubbish for a few seasons to come and we need to sit tight and hope for the best!!!

[Onceinawhile]

I hope we're a work in progress every season.

Should always be striving to do better. Suspect he's just expectation setting so folk don't think we'll win the league this year post takeover.

[Sammy7nil]

The negative is "long long".I

I know you can only pee with the appendage you have and no doubt Boyle was key to a lot of our plans but yesterday was just so slow that somehow needs to change.

If we can't move the ball quicker teams will sit in at ER and we will struggle.

[J-C]

Probably the reason for very few loan signings and 3 year deals. **** me people want to moan about absolutely everything. Not necessarily aimed at you just using your post to point out that we have made real signings on decent lengths of contract. Maybe when he means work in progress that he's not finished with his signings. Or that we have players who are getting on a bit and that will need to be replaced. Or that he is looking for continual improvement. Or any number of things, but no it's because we are going to be rubbish for a few seasons to come and we need to sit tight and hope for the best!!!

I'm not moaning, actually pointing what has happened nearly every season, let's hope it's coming to an end.

[Eyrie]

The negative is "long long".I

I know you can only pee with the appendage you have and no doubt Boyle was key to a lot of our plans but yesterday was just so slow that somehow needs to change.

If we can't move the ball quicker teams will sit in at ER and we will struggle.

If Boyle is that important then you've just highlighted the failure to bring in a second player with pace (which I agree with).

However a player's pace is less effective in a game like yesterday where the opposition are sitting deep to deny us any room. Instead the pace needs to be in the passing if we are to open up a defence.

[#2 Double Tap]

And look at how they played in europe, so I bet they wished they were still progressing as a club and beating a welsh league team

your point would be relevant if Clarke was still in charge for those games.




We saw solid progress the minute he walked in the door, no way we were making top 6 before he came in.

I hope he we have him for a very, very long time, I rate the guy very highly and he reminds me of Mowbray in so many ways.

Here's hoping he churns out as an exciting team, and can go one better and win us a trophy.

True he did get the new manager bounce, but we have been pretty flat since that wore off, two good signings in Mcnulty and Omeonga for me had the bigger impact. It is good some people rate him highly, I hope he turns out to be our best ever boss! Not signing 2 CM starters is reminiscent of TM's failure to sign a GK and CB, I will give you that! Apart from that though the only similarity Hecky has to TM is the accent, and to be honest that is a positive because TM was over rated. Then again maybe it was just his disrespectful actions upon his return to ER with celtic that create the negative feelings I have of him.

[FilipinoHibs]

I'm slightly underwhelmed at the sound of this, the manager's post-match comments:

Hibernian head coach Paul Heckingbottom: "We're a work in progress and will be for a long, long time, but you can't question the commitment and desire to keep going."




Got the excuses in early as he realises most of his signings not going to cut it in SPL

[Nicho87]

I just worry that hecky said at the start he wants fast attacking high pressing football.

if yesterday is anything to go by, what the hell they working on in training. High pressing to me means Liverpool style going on packs. One half hearted jog towards the ball doesn’t wash for me

[Greenworld]

We're always a work in progress but it would be nice to be 80% there instead of the usual 6-8 signings every summer.Would also be nice to sign someone we know!
Someone good enough to make an immediate impact .
We still need players, the kid from rangers is a joke in my opinion .


Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

[Hibernia&Alba]

We're always a work in progress but it would be nice to be 80% there instead of the usual 6-8 signings every summer.

That's the reality of Scottish football now. We don't have the money to bring in established players, only journeymen, and any half decent player we discover is soon bought by clubs with much deeper pockets. The player turnover at most SPL clubs will be high and most are in permanent transition.

[hibsbollah]

Got the excuses in early as he realises most of his signings not going to cut it in SPL

He's got 3 points out of 3 and proceeded to the next round of the league Cup. There's no need to get any excuses in and he wasnt.

[Weegreenman]

Who in our team will score 15+ or 20+ goals? Kamberi? Doidge ? Shaw? I wouldn’t bet on it. We need a goal scorer and quick if we have any kind of ambitions for this season.

[hibsbollah]

Who in our team will score 15+ or 20+ goals? Kamberi? Doidge ? Shaw? I wouldn’t bet on it. We need a goal scorer and quick if we have any kind of ambitions for this season.

Doidge has a record in League 2 (which is the level of player we're competing for these days, like it or not) to suggest this is within his capabilities. A goal every two games at that level is more than decent. Hes clearly able to score plenty with his head and both feet. I'm liking what I'm seeing from him so far.

[Borderhibbie76]

Managers in the main tend to slaver a lot. I do feel Hecky is becoming abit of a slaver, half a season + full pre season should atleast a good amount of time to see some evidence of this high pressing game he promised?

In fact what we are seeing is the complete opposite , slow, laboured football a team that looks low on energy. Constantly needing to sort it out and play better in the second half to get the job done. It’s been a pattern ever since he got the job, a few games we were battered and should have been dead and buried by half time. That’s what worries me the most.

All very well being a power point presentation manager and talking a good game all the time but it’s really time to show and stop slavering.

I’m glad we won yesterday, maybe I just want to be spoilt too much but I wouldn’t want to watch laboured victories at home to lesser sides all the time, leave that to hearts who don’t care if they win 1.0 every week while being woeful to watch. I want to have a team I enjoy going to watch, it’s not just Hecky it’s whats wrong with a lot of modern day football, too many chess players managing the game and like seeing their team going 2.0 and settling.

Almost feel it’s a return of John Collins football, tippy tappy without a purpose, he wanted players to be robots and positioned in certain areas all time. Need to express yourselves more, we lack bums off seats players and that to me always reflects the managers personalityWhat a terribly negative post...unbelievable the negativity on here. We could and should have easily won 3 or 4 nil yesterday I agree we weren't brilliant but we ground out the win and we were missing several key players. Let's give Hecky and the new boys a chance before we start slating everything and everyone

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[Allant1981]

Who in our team will score 15+ or 20+ goals? Kamberi? Doidge ? Shaw? I wouldn’t bet on it. We need a goal scorer and quick if we have any kind of ambitions for this season.

Kamberi got close to 15 last season despite being played out of position and having a very difficult time of it

[Tyler Durden]

Would also be nice to sign someone we know!
Someone good enough to make an immediate impact .
We still need players, the kid from rangers is a joke in my opinion .


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Like the player we knew who signed and made an immediate impact scoring the winner yesterday?

We have signed guys who played a lot of football at a higher level than Hibs last season but people aren’t happy cos they hadn’t heard of them, it’s laughable.

[Speedway]

There will come a time when the owners ambition and the manager’s output will not match.

[HFC93]

Who in our team will score 15+ or 20+ goals? Kamberi? Doidge ? Shaw? I wouldn’t bet on it. We need a goal scorer and quick if we have any kind of ambitions for this season.

No player in the Scottish Prem scored 20+ last season. The only two to score 15+ were Morelos and Cosgrove. Kamberi is looking sharp and more than cable of scoring 15+ if he stays injury free.

[B.H.F.C]

Who in our team will score 15+ or 20+ goals? Kamberi? Doidge ? Shaw? I wouldn’t bet on it. We need a goal scorer and quick if we have any kind of ambitions for this season.

We have players who will score goals.

Kamberi already has a couple, Allan already has three and others have chipped in.

It’s up to Heckingbottom to find a shape to get the best out of them and I’m not sure he’s done that yet.

[Not In The Know]

its not the work in progress part, it was the "long long time" part!

long long time is a poor choice of words. I hate being negative about hibs, I actually thought we played better today than a lot on here have given us credit for, i am not a Hecky hater, or a Lennon lover, I just want to see some solid progress, it is possible, look what clarke achieved at killie in a season and a half, that was not a long long time.

If we stop being a work in progress I will be delighted. Reality is unless we are winning the league 10 years on the trot we always will be.

[matty_f]

He's got 3 points out of 3 and proceeded to the next round of the league Cup. There's no need to get any excuses in and he wasnt.

:agree:

Heckingbottom’s big strength is his coaching, his while ethos is on improving his players and the team continually.

A long, long time needn’t mean that we won’t be a good side until then, he means he’ll constantly and continuously be looking to improve the side.

That’s a good thing, no?

[matty_f]

Is he meant to come out and say ‘we are the finished article despite me only having one transfer window.’ Of course we are a work in progress, if he says we are the finished article it piles a lot of unnecessary pressure on players. He has a very good record as Hibs manager, can we stop looking for any slight thing to criticise him on?
:agree:

[MWHIBBIES]

Would also be nice to sign someone we know!
Someone good enough to make an immediate impact .
We still need players, the kid from rangers is a joke in my opinion .


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Someone like Stokes, Swanson or Rowan Vine that we know?

We've signed plenty of well known players who have been average/absolutely pish

[MWHIBBIES]

We have players who will score goals.

Kamberi already has a couple, Allan already has three and others have chipped in.

It’s up to Heckingbottom to find a shape to get the best out of them and I’m not sure he’s done that yet.

Kamberi really should have 4 as well, shocking decisions to disallow them. He'll get 15 easy this season

[Onion]

Words designed to protect himself. He's trying to manage expectation and give himself time in the job, which is only reasonable. In saying that, managers usually last about 2-3 seasons if lucky, so clubs are always in transition.

[lyonhibs]

Someone like Stokes, Swanson or Rowan Vine that we know?

We've signed plenty of well known players who have been average/absolutely pish

Quite. This clamour for a well known signing is based on what exactly I don't know. A new signing I've never heard of excites me more, especially if they've got a sexy Latin name.

Get to work Heckingbottom.

[BSEJVT]

I don't have any problem with the signings or where they came from and I think folk conveniently overlook the fact that the revolving door approach we have adopted in recent years, whilst it is far cheaper to operate on than signing players permanently and consequently enables you to sign better players for the short term also leaves you in a constant state of flux as the player turnover each year is huge.

If as happened last year some of those "flux" players such as McLaren & Agyepong don't make a huge impact then you are stuffed.

I am much happier that we are building for the medium term, there is no long term in football.

I can't make up my mind about Heckingbottom, he is clearly one of the more intelligent managers that we have had and the high press etc etc are wonderful soundbites, but we are in practice nothing like this and with the personnel we have I can't see us ever being like that.

I wonder if he is maybe being too clever for his own good and that this will be used as a stick to beat him with, or maybe he is happy painting himself as a target to take the pressure off the players.

I thought we were poor and pedestrian for much of Saturday, but that's a fairly typical Heckingbootom Hibs team, one that is hard to beat and occasionally sparks into life.

I have a fear that that is what we are going to have to get used to, but we will be reasonably successful.

IMO the question is can we get used to it, Mixu was unceremoniously booted out pdq for the same and as a Hibs hero, should have gotten far more latitude in more taxing financial times, although tbf I was one of those at the time who wasn't happy with our style of lack thereof.

[James Stephen]

I really do wonder what is wrong with people, and where this apparent doom and gloom attitude has come from.

And since when did people start analysing every single word used by a manager and taking it as gospel? How many times does it need said...MANAGERS TALK RUBBISH ALL THE TIME!

Whether it's through a post match adrenaline and anger, or a calculated lie to try and influence players, refs, agents etc, they use the media as a tool - it does not betray their true thoughts.

I think a lot of this is the inevitable down slope of the post cup final hysteria, but its grating.

In Stubbs first season, we were minutes from going 2nd bottom of the league after about five games. In his second season we lost to dumbarton and to the huns in our first 3 games.

Mowbray's first season saw us lose at home to Killie first game.

People need to calm down. St Mirren were well organised and carried a threat. They were not there to be steamrollered. It is almost impossible to play quick attacking football against a team with 9 sitting deep, behind the ball.

Saturday was not brilliant, but neither was it awful.

[James Stephen]

I don't have any problem with the signings or where they came from and I think folk conveniently overlook the fact that the revolving door approach we have adopted in recent years, whilst it is far cheaper to operate on than signing players permanently and consequently enables you to sign better players for the short term also leaves you in a constant state of flux as the player turnover each year is huge.

If as happened last year some of those "flux" players such as McLaren & Agyepong don't make a huge impact then you are stuffed.

I am much happier that we are building for the medium term, there is no long term in football.

I can't make up my mind about Heckingbottom, he is clearly one of the more intelligent managers that we have had and the high press etc etc are wonderful soundbites, but we are in practice nothing like this and with the personnel we have I can't see us ever being like that.

I wonder if he is maybe being too clever for his own good and that this will be used as a stick to beat him with, or maybe he is happy painting himself as a target to take the pressure off the players.

I thought we were poor and pedestrian for much of Saturday, but that's a fairly typical Heckingbootom Hibs team, one that is hard to beat and occasionally sparks into life.

I have a fear that that is what we are going to have to get used to, but we will be reasonably successful.

IMO the question is can we get used to it, Mixu was unceremoniously booted out pdq for the same and as a Hibs hero, should have gotten far more latitude in more taxing financial times, although tbf I was one of those at the time who wasn't happy with our style of lack thereof.

Mixu's Hibs team were a disorganised shambles most of the time. The complete opposite to what I see in Hecky's team, who look well coached.

I agree with you we won't see gung go style football from him, but that's ok with me as long as we are up there challenging. His style is much more structured and controlled, but there is a lot of middle ground between good football and terrible football. Hibs tried to play football constantly yesterday, and I can't think of many (any?) Punts up field.

[matty_f]

I really do wonder what is wrong with people, and where this apparent doom and gloom attitude has come from.

And since when did people start analysing every single word used by a manager and taking it as gospel? How many times does it need said...MANAGERS TALK RUBBISH ALL THE TIME!

Whether it's through a post match adrenaline and anger, or a calculated lie to try and influence players, refs, agents etc, they use the media as a tool - it does not betray their true thoughts.

I think a lot of this is the inevitable down slope of the post cup final hysteria, but its grating.

In Stubbs first season, we were minutes from going 2nd bottom of the league after about five games. In his second season we lost to dumbarton and to the huns in our first 3 games.

Mowbray's first season saw us lose at home to Killie first game.

People need to calm down. St Mirren were well organised and carried a threat. They were not there to be steamrollered. It is almost impossible to play quick attacking football against a team with 9 sitting deep, behind the ball.

Saturday was not brilliant, but neither was it awful.

Great post :agree:

[Fanforlife]

Kamberi got close to 15 last season despite being played out of position and having a very difficult time of italso had 2 legitimate goals chalked of through incompetent officials in last 2 games.

[jacomo]

Mixu's Hibs team were a disorganised shambles most of the time. The complete opposite to what I see in Hecky's team, who look well coached.

I agree with you we won't see gung go style football from him, but that's ok with me as long as we are up there challenging. His style is much more structured and controlled, but there is a lot of middle ground between good football and terrible football. Hibs tried to play football constantly yesterday, and I can't think of many (any?) Punts up field.


:agree:

You are talking a lot of sense in this thread.

We’ve had a lot of players leave and a lot of newbies arrive, so bound to be a period of transition. But we are through to next stage of league cup and won our first league match of the season... we are on track.

I do think Hecky is quite cautious but there seems to be a real method behind what he is doing. Mixu just said he wanted Hibs to play like Barca and expected it to happen!

[matty_f]

also had 2 legitimate goals chalked of through incompetent officials in last 2 games.

It's 3 in 5 competitive games this season - 2 for Flo and one for Shaw.

[#2 Double Tap]

:agree:

You are talking a lot of sense in this thread.

We’ve had a lot of players leave and a lot of newbies arrive, so bound to be a period of transition. But we are through to next stage of league cup and won our first league match of the season... we are on track.

I do think Hecky is quite cautious but there seems to be a real method behind what he is doing. Mixu just said he wanted Hibs to play like Barca and expected it to happen!

he never lost to hearts though! HAIL MIXU!

the club moved to quickly to sack him imo. He woulda turned out good, once he signed up eremenko :P

he was another that was given the short end of the stick from the board room......

[James Stephen]

he never lost to hearts though! HAIL MIXU!

the club moved to quickly to sack him imo. He woulda turned out good, once he signed up eremenko :P

he was another that was given the short end of the stick from the board room......

Mixu did lose to Hearts, on more than one occasion

[Silky]

I think the argument is that we are signing players with no experience of Scottish football, which is a risk.

But I think there is more to come from them as they adapt to the rhythm of the game. Maybe Hecky is just a perfectionist and sees huge potential for improvement?

To be honest, I prefer this to the defeatist chat coming from Lenny at this stage last season.

Is that a bad thing, though? Is there not an argument to suggest signing players with no experience of Scottish football could be a good thing and improve it? Jackson looks a player, as does Vela. Marciano had no experience of the Scottish game and has turned out ok. Does the same apply to managers? Should we be appointing managers with no experience of the Scottish game? There's a big world out there, surely the game can't survive if we just remain insular?