Are you confident that we'll have a good season? (Part 2)

[theonlywayisup]

In early August, I asked the question "What's your confidence levels at the moment that Hibs will have a good season?"

I did not define what a 'good' or 'miserable' season is, as we'll all have different views of what a 'good' season is.

Around 16% were less than positive, meaning a whopping 84% were more confident us having a good season rather than a 'miserable' season.

https://www.hibs.net/showthread.php?340903-Are-you-confident-that-we-ll-have-a-good-season&highlight=confident

Well, since then we've had the less than impressive win against St. Mirren, a thumping defeat away to The Rangers, requiring extra time against Championship Morton (a team who were thumped 5-0 last night away to ICT) and today a 3-0 loss away to Motherwell. We've players out injured. We've players out of form. Things are not going to plan.

So how would you re-assess your score. So from a score of 9 (supremely confident that the feel-good factor will be with us and we'll have a good season) to 1 (supremely confident that we're going to have a miserable season watching depressing football). There's no middle ground, for those who like to sit on the fence.

[theonlywayisup]

I've gone from a 7 to a 2.

Based on what I've seen so far, it's going to be a grim miserable season.

[makaveli1875]

It's going to be grim, we're going to have to sit through a good few more pumpings from ***** teams before the board fire him

[we are hibs]

Unless we change the manager sharpish it will be utter garbage with the odd 1 goal win chucked in to keep us midway in the bottom 6.

[theonlywayisup]

Well, the early result is that 100% of voters believe that we are more likely to have a 'miserable' season rather than a 'good' season.

Not surprised really.

[Aim Here]

I take it the one vote for 'Supremely confident of a good season' is either Leeann Dempster or a jambo infiltrator!

[Sir David Gray]

I think it's fairly obvious that we won't be having a good season unless some drastic changes are made.

[H18S NX]

I have said on previous post we would finish about eighth,and i have not changed my mind since.

[JohnM1875]

Not with Hecky in charge.

I never like to see a manager go. But the guys done. I don't doubt for a second he's clued up and smart about the game. He just can't translate that into performances. And that's all we care about.

He seems like a really likeable guy. And so many players have confirmed that (McNulty etc) but some guys just don't understand what's needed in this league.

Pace and directness and you have every chance of finishing 3rd. We lack that in abundance. His fault.

[hibsquaker]

Not with Hecky in charge.

I never like to see a manager go. But the guys done. I don't doubt for a second he's clued up and smart about the game. He just can't translate that into performances. And that's all we care about.

He seems like a really likeable guy. And so many players have confirmed that (McNulty etc) but some guys just don't understand what's needed in this league.

Pace and directness and you have every chance of finishing 3rd. We lack that in abundance. His fault.

Almost right - Pace, physicality and directness.

[Centre Hawf]

I'm confident of a miserable season, where that means we finish I have no idea. But I fear for a repeat of those absolutely miserable seasons pre relegation of just constant bottom 6 and derby defeats.

I don't believe we're relegation candidates... yet. But the squad isn't good enough to compete for Europe as it stands for me. There's a whole host of players I'd get rid of tomorrow morning if I could snap my fingers and then go out and get replacements before the deadline.

Someone like Mallan was our POTY and as an actual out and out footballer he's hopeless except from the odd raking pass or long range effort/set piece. But he's not even shooting now, he's a waste of a jersey at the moment and he's a liability in a midfield that's already soft as anything I've seen in years.

Slivka, I've wanted it to work for him but the fact of the matter is he's not up to it either. If he was putting in the performances he does for us at a St Johnstone or Motherwell I can guarantee no one would be arsed signing him and most would be against it.

Newall is looking like a complete dud, I don't know what has happened to the player we thought we were getting that actually has a good record and reputation in the Championship but he seems like he thought this was going to be an easier career choice than it is.

I was all for signing Gray and Daz again because they're legends, they get the club and I think it is important to have these guys around but Gray's injury record now is becoming an absolute joke and I weep at the thought of how much money he costs us to be out for 50 percent of a season now.

Doidge I don't think is a bad player but it's getting concerning now that our main summer signing is looking more like James Collins every week that goes by now. We've seen this before, if a big striker doesn't grab the goals early it can be tough for them to ever get amongst them consistently.

The team all round is soft. And I have zero faith that the manager can sort it out. I'd have him gone by tomorrow morning if I could. But I just can't see him going until at least December time.

[basehibby]

I can't remember what I put before but would guess about 5 or 6. Sad to say my confidence in Hibs under Hecky has gone backwards since then. He does not seem to know what's required in this league and has underestimated what's required to succeed. Allied to that his instinctive style is anything but expansive and that means he needs to win twice as many games to keep the Hibees faithful on board. He ain't doing that and I have not seen him learning fast enough - so down to a 3 for me. We might (hopefully) rally a bit as we have some good players but our current form has bottom 6 written all over it in huge 6 foot high letters.

[The Harp Awakes]

Not with Hecky in charge.

I never like to see a manager go. But the guys done. I don't doubt for a second he's clued up and smart about the game. He just can't translate that into performances. And that's all we care about.

He seems like a really likeable guy. And so many players have confirmed that (McNulty etc) but some guys just don't understand what's needed in this league.

Pace and directness and you have every chance of finishing 3rd. We lack that in abundance. His fault.

Agreed. The players have gone from being managed by a bull dog terrier to a poodle and they probably think they're still on their Summer holidays.

Add in disastrous recruitment and we are looking like relegation material.

[theonlywayisup]

That's a pretty damming statistic - we've gone from 84% at the start of the season more confident of us having a good season to now 97% more confident that we're going to have a 'miserable' season.

As Hibs football fans, it's the hope that we'll have good times that keeps us going. We don't demand success, but we're happy when it comes.

Something is going to have to change down at Easter Road.

[Smartie]

I was very optimistic - possibly a 7 or 8 and I am now a 1.

One of the main reasons I was optimistic was that I thought our deficiencies were glaringly obvious and would be the next to be addressed. They've not been, and it sounds like they won't be.

I don't think there's a team in the league that would expect to play Stevie Mallan in a deep midfield role and expect to be doing anything other than fight relegation. I watched the game back and for all there's the odd nice touch and decent pass there are countless abysmal pieces of midfield play - the type of play you never saw from our very recent good midfield and what you'd rarely see from an average player.

You will never win enough football matches in this league with a midfield as lacking in bite as ours.

It's a shame because I think we have great talent in other places who won't be able to show what they can do (attackers) or be so under the cosh they're forced into making inevitable blunders (defence and goalkeeper).

The most worrying thing is that the people who are in position to do something about it are disgustingly complacent about the mess we find ourselves in.

[theonlywayisup]

Well this is pretty disappointing!!

I'm really struggling to see any positives from this season coming. Maybe, lower crowds will aid the ticketing issues on entry and it should be easier to exit the ground at final whistle without having to long to wait.

:rolleyes:

[theonlywayisup]

Well it's looking like:
https://i.imgur.com/EbHpXKr.jpg

Though someone might be along to say:

https://s.france24.com/media/display/ec429b76-fceb-11e8-8fcd-005056a964fe/w:1024/p:16x9/dads_army_corporal_jones.jpg

[Beefster]

I was a 4. 3 now. For us to be 9th after four games against St Mirren, St Johnstone, Motherwell and Rangers is woeful and worse than I was expecting, even with low expectations.

I think we’ll bumble along, getting pumped by the better teams and drawing/beating the rest, finishing between 6th and 8th. Heckingbottom will be away by the end of the season at the very latest.

[Ellahappyhibee]

I am a 4. I have yet to see anything that suggests these players have a big performance in them. We have the aging Scottish Cup defence who are frequently injured and should have been broken up last season. We lose goals easily. We have a manager who does not know his best team. Why should we be confident that this will be a good season?

[jacomo]

It’s not looking good.

The squad does not look in good shape.

[BoomtownHibees]

Yep.
Confident we will get the results and play decent football getting them.

What makes you confident of this happening?

[The 90+2]

What makes you confident of this happening?

Needs glasses hence the username??

[Chefki Kuqi]

Probably pretty crap, but I do wonder whether patience is required? Im not entirely sure we have a genius in charge (people who use the word philosophy when talking about football are often talking out of their arse) but perhaps he’s trying to get something good across and its just not clicking, but maybe if we give him time it will and we’ll be a solid force? Im just really not sure how well we’d do in recruiting a new manager at this stage, and I think less than a year is too short a time to judge on, certainly it would inhibit any future transfer budget. Having said that Im expecting 7th.

[Hibernia&Alba]

Right now a three out ten. Worried.

[Chefki Kuqi]

Probably pretty crap, but I do wonder whether patience is required? Im not entirely sure we have a genius in charge (people who use the word philosophy when talking about football are often talking out of their arse) but perhaps he’s trying to get something good across and its just not clicking, but maybe if we give him time it will and we’ll be a solid force? Im just really not sure how well we’d do in recruiting a new manager at this stage, and I think less than a year is too short a time to judge on, certainly it would inhibit any future transfer budget. Having said that Im expecting 7th.

[PH91]

Ooooft.

My name is blurry face and I care what you think.

Don't get stressed out mate

[rcarter1]

Probably pretty crap, but I do wonder whether patience is required? Im not entirely sure we have a genius in charge (people who use the word philosophy when talking about football are often talking out of their arse) but perhaps he’s trying to get something good across and its just not clicking, but maybe if we give him time it will and we’ll be a solid force? Im just really not sure how well we’d do in recruiting a new manager at this stage, and I think less than a year is too short a time to judge on, certainly it would inhibit any future transfer budget. Having said that Im expecting 7th.

Pretty similar view, problems are there and work will need done, but changing manager won’t guarantee improvement. Couple new players have joined that may make a difference to the team. Some really good players in there so if they get the back up they need, could do OK. Top 6 looks a tough prospect, but would say we are 50/50. Europe however seems a minor miracle so not expecting a great season.

[ian cruise]

I have confidence in the selection of the manager, some will say Heckingbottom wasn’t first choice but As I understand it, Hibs were talking to candidates when Appleton put himself out of the running.
I now have confidence in the manager with what I have seen him do last season.
We have 10 new players, people have scoffed at the needing to gel as a team but quite a few professional footballers mention it so I’m not going to argue.
New group of players who have been scouted to add to players who have been pretty good for us, so yeah, going in with confidence.

I suspect you're going to get a lot disagreeing with you, and I fully understand why, but I'm going to side with you. For some reason I've taken a positive turn the last few days, maybe it's because I don't have to watch Hibs actually play for ten days but more likely to do with the aforementioned articles from Stewart, Mickey Weir, etc calling for cool heads and pointing out it takes time to settle as a squad.

When we recruited Naismith (good player) and it was our 9th or 10th addition it hit home to me just how big a turn around we'd had squad wise. I knew the numbers but for some reason only really started thinking of it in line with our results after seeing that. I think in the main our recruitment team since Stubbs has been good so to sign an unprecedented number of duds would be surprising. Similarly though he's not showing it just now Heckingbottom was hired by the people who got our last two appointments very right, so I'm going to be a bit more patient.

Think I was an 8 before, my response was "Think we'll be top 4 abd at least one good cup run. Think we'll also have a good few performances that really get people talking (in a good way). Feeling very positive about the new season. Hope the academy players who are being given a chance step up and are good enough for first team places". Am I still an 8? No, definitely not but I'm going to say 6 with a lean towards 7 thsts based on wishful thinking more then fact. I've still got a feeling things will click and we'll be a good team, we'll finish top 6 but poor start will cost us any chance of 3rd or 4th and 5th is best we can hope for. Still believe there's a cup run in the team.

Feel free to bookmark and admonish me at the end of the season folks.

[theonlywayisup]

I suspect you're going to get a lot disagreeing with you, and I fully understand why, but I'm going to side with you. For some reason I've taken a positive turn the last few days, maybe it's because I don't have to watch Hibs actually play for ten days but more likely to do with the aforementioned articles from Stewart, Mickey Weir, etc calling for cool heads and pointing out it takes time to settle as a squad.

When we recruited Naismith (good player) and it was our 9th or 10th addition it hit home to me just how big a turn around we'd had squad wise. I knew the numbers but for some reason only really started thinking of it in line with our results after seeing that. I think in the main our recruitment team since Stubbs has been good so to sign an unprecedented number of duds would be surprising. Similarly though he's not showing it just now Heckingbottom was hired by the people who got our last two appointments very right, so I'm going to be a bit more patient.

Think I was an 8 before, my response was "Think we'll be top 4 abd at least one good cup run. Think we'll also have a good few performances that really get people talking (in a good way). Feeling very positive about the new season. Hope the academy players who are being given a chance step up and are good enough for first team places". Am I still an 8? No, definitely not but I'm going to say 6 with a lean towards 7 thsts based on wishful thinking more then fact. I've still got a feeling things will click and we'll be a good team, we'll finish top 6 but poor start will cost us any chance of 3rd or 4th and 5th is best we can hope for. Still believe there's a cup run in the team.

Feel free to bookmark and admonish me at the end of the season folks.

I really hope that you are correct in your view. It's now up to Hecky and the players to prove the rest of us are all wrong.

I imagine that Hecky will have them all in working hard on their fitness and team set-up. Hope so anyway.