This is how it feels (Hearts 03 03 20)

[Jonnyboy]

Despite all the grand statements on the messageboards, proclaiming we’d cuff a very poor Hearts side and push them closer to relegation, those of us that are a little longer in the tooth just knew Hibs were set up for a fall; and what a fall it was as we were toothless whilst Hearts were ruthless when it came to the art of goal scoring.

For some unknown reason, Jack Ross moved away from the 3-5-2 formation that has served us so well in recent weeks, reverting to a 4-4-2 and replacing Whittaker in midfield with the more dynamic Stephane Omeonga. It didn’t work as Hearts controlled that area of the park for the most part.

I had hoped we would come out of the traps but it was Hearts that threatened an early goal with Marciano making a fine early save. In a dire first 45 minutes Hibs’ best chance came when Boyle delivered a fantastic cross to the front post where Doidge beat his marker in the jump but steered his header over the bar with Zlamal rooted to the spot. For their part, Hearts spurned two good chances when Halkett and Boyce were given free headers only to see those efforts clear the bar.

As is the norm with referee Clancy he seemed unwilling or perhaps unable to resist the temptation to let more than ten seconds elapse before blowing his whistle. As a result the game did not flow in that first half and given the recent form of the two teams it was Hibs that suffered the most. Having said that, Hibs were just not at it enough although Halkett had to take a yellow card for stopping what looked like a promising move.

Inside the opening ten minutes of the second half Hearts took the lead from the spot. Sean Clare beat Marciano after Scott Allan had inexplicably handled in the box. It was a hammer blow to Hibs who now had to chase the game, allowing Hearts more freedom when attacking. Our midfield was lacklustre with Allan once again not at the races; Omeonga getting continually caught in possession; Docherty strangely hesitant with only Boyle looking like he might cause Hearts some problems.

On the hour mark, Allan gave way to Horgan as Jack Ross tried to put more pressure on the visiting defence but it didn’t work. In fact within five minutes of the change being made, Hearts doubled their lead. A botched short free kick saw Docherty dispossessed and Hearts broke down the left before Bozanic was picked out, totally unmarked, on the edge of the box and he thumped the ball past a helpless Marciano.

Jack Ross promptly replaced McNulty with Jamie Gullan who tried hard to get involved but ten minutes from the end, Washington who looked at least a yard offside bore down on Rocky before rifling home a third for his team. When Docherty took a knock, Hallberg came on to replace him and grabbed a goal at the death when a shot by Horgan was deflected in to his path and he stroked the ball past Zlamal.

A dismal showing bringing Hibs down to earth with a bump.

The players

Marciano – Rocky made a couple of decent saves but had no real chance at any of the three goals.

McGinn – For my money he was the best of a bad bunch as far as the back four goes.

Jackson – From looking reasonably assured in the first half his second half performance was poor.

Hanlon – Paul has returned to form recently but tonight he was really very poor.

Stevenson – See my ‘poor’ comments on Jackson and Hanlon above.

Boyle – Martin took a few knocks again tonight but in a game where we were poor from start to finish, he was the only one that looked capable of causing Hearts problems and so he wins my man of the match award.

Omeonga – I like the wee guy but he was very poor tonight, continually caught in possession and pretty much bullied by Bozanic and co.

Docherty – Not Greg’s best by a long way although that may be in part due to the fact that he was surrounded by Hearts players every time he got the ball.

Allan – I’ve no idea why he handled and I’ve no idea where his form has disappeared to. I’d have hooked him at half time.

McNulty – Sparky has lost his sparkle.

Doidge – Tried manfully to cause the Hearts back four problems with pretty much zero support from McNulty.

Horgan – Buzzed around as usual and offered up a couple of decent crosses.

Gullan – Jamie came on with Hibs trailing and although he made a couple of decent runs, Hibs were already looking like a beaten side.

Hallberg – Scored the late consolation but had no time to do anything else of note.

Jack Ross – I hope he is hurting as much as me and I hope to hell he has them up for the fight at Hampden.

The fans – Tried hard to lift the team but when Hibs are playing so badly it’s a big ask.

Kevin Clancy – The man is a clown. End of.

I never talk about opposition players but I’m going to break that tradition here and say that the best player on the park was the lad Dikamona – you know, the guy referred to on here as an absolute donkey.

[Hibbyradge]

I agree about Dikamona, John. He absolutely strolled it.

[ancient hibee]

Very poor midfield and they were the better team.However all the goals were presents,a needless handball,giving the ball away from our free kick and an offside not given by the linesman.

[hfc rd]

I agree about Dikamona, John. He absolutely strolled it.

So do I. Reminded me a lot like Efe Ambrose.

[CMurdoch]

I think you have it all covered accurately other than the 3rd goal where Hanlon appeared to play the guy on before doing that incredibly annoying hand up guff instead of trying his best to stop the guy baring down on goal first. A pet hate of mine.

I agree Boyle was the only guy that caused them problems. Did well especially given his teammates were offering so little.
Allan was appalling throughout and the handball for the penalty was the icing on the cake.
McNulty as an attacking threat was again non existent. He might be under real threat now from Gullan for the 2nd striker berth.

After the 1st goal we went into heidless chicken mode which is never the required response.

They say you learn more when you lose and if that is true Jack Ross will have learned an awful lot from tonight.

Looks like Hearts have eventually given up the suicide defending following the Hamilton game and replaced it with a more conventional back 4. They closed down and stopped our guys playing as Livingston did recently and we had no answers.

We need to find a plan B before the Semi Final.
1st step could be replacing the play maker with the more robust Newell.

[snedzuk]

Marciano - needs to strap his legs on the correct way round -his kicking gives me the fear and Id play Bogdan next time out. If not now then when?

And I'd give Halberg the MoM as well!

[Max_Shah]

Always appreciate the reports Jonny:

But I feel as though someone has booted me squarely in the bollocks.

[BoomtownHibees]

Pretty spot on summary JB but I thought we still played a 352 tonight?

[Kojock]

We were pathetic from start to finish and got exactly what we deserved from the game.

[Unseen work]

We played 352 for an hour until Horgan came on, at which point we changed to a 442.

Couple of things for me:

The whole thing seemed a bit flat for me, I don’t know what it was. Stadium was slow filling up where as hearts fans seemed to be in early and very vocal. It seemed like they were a lot more excited and confident going into it than us. The performance was flat and lacked any real quality.

Playing a 352 with Stevenson severely hampers the balance of the team. He doesn’t get forward enough, with enough urgency and when he does he cuts back or has poor delivery. Numerous times today we came out from the right and there was nothing on the left.

It makes it easy for the opposition as Clare could cheat knowing Stevenson wouldn’t go forward. They could then shape there whole team to cut off Allan and Boyle knowing that if anyone is the out ball it’s Stevenson which is not an issue.

There were several poor performances, we never liked people being right in our face and struggled to place with any sharpness or pace.

It really hurts as I just knew we would lose this one, no matter how good we are going into it and how poor hearts are I never fancy us. The first half was poor with no team doing much, we had a 15 minute spell I thought we were starting to show a bit of control. The second half as baffling, the players looked stunned and couldn’t react.

The goals were so so poor

1 - Handball and penalty
2 - Jackson takes a quick free kick to Docherty who is not expecting it and surrounded by 3 players, losing possession which they thereafter score from
3 - Poor defensive line at a point when out heads had gone

We need to now take this out on Aberdeen on Saturday. We still have good players and can go there and get a result. For me Newell in for Stevenson , Gullan for McNulty and Hallberg fot Allan, pushing Docherty forward.

[Hillsidehibby]

I was out with a Jambo on Sunday and we were discussing the Souter injury.

He said it might not be a bad thing as it will mean Dikimona will get a chance.

I laughed

[Frankhfc]

Spot on report Jonny. Must have been a difficult one to write up while being probably numb and scratching your head as to just how disappointing a performance and result it was tonight.

Your comment on the manager is a wise one as it must surely to goodness hit home to Jack that he has to both change the system and supercharge the players for the semi final if we're to progress to the final. Hopefully a more competent referee is appointed for it also as Clancy is mediocre at best.

I've seen some poor hibs performances in derbies over many moons but that ranks as one of the worst. It can only get better (hopefully).

[Deansy]

Despite all the grand statements on the messageboards, proclaiming we’d cuff a very poor Hearts side and push them closer to relegation, those of us that are a little longer in the tooth just knew Hibs were set up for a fall; and what a fall it was as we were toothless whilst Hearts were ruthless when it came to the art of goal scoring.

For some unknown reason, Jack Ross moved away from the 3-5-2 formation that has served us so well in recent weeks, reverting to a 4-4-2 and replacing Whittaker in midfield with the more dynamic Stephane Omeonga. It didn’t work as Hearts controlled that area of the park for the most part.

I had hoped we would come out of the traps but it was Hearts that threatened an early goal with Marciano making a fine early save. In a dire first 45 minutes Hibs’ best chance came when Boyle delivered a fantastic cross to the front post where Doidge beat his marker in the jump but steered his header over the bar with Zlamal rooted to the spot. For their part, Hearts spurned two good chances when Halkett and Boyce were given free headers only to see those efforts clear the bar.

As is the norm with referee Clancy he seemed unwilling or perhaps unable to resist the temptation to let more than ten seconds elapse before blowing his whistle. As a result the game did not flow in that first half and given the recent form of the two teams it was Hibs that suffered the most. Having said that, Hibs were just not at it enough although Halkett had to take a yellow card for stopping what looked like a promising move.

Inside the opening ten minutes of the second half Hearts took the lead from the spot. Sean Clare beat Marciano after Scott Allan had inexplicably handled in the box. It was a hammer blow to Hibs who now had to chase the game, allowing Hearts more freedom when attacking. Our midfield was lacklustre with Allan once again not at the races; Omeonga getting continually caught in possession; Docherty strangely hesitant with only Boyle looking like he might cause Hearts some problems.

On the hour mark, Allan gave way to Horgan as Jack Ross tried to put more pressure on the visiting defence but it didn’t work. In fact within five minutes of the change being made, Hearts doubled their lead. A botched short free kick saw Docherty dispossessed and Hearts broke down the left before Bozanic was picked out, totally unmarked, on the edge of the box and he thumped the ball past a helpless Marciano.

Jack Ross promptly replaced McNulty with Jamie Gullan who tried hard to get involved but ten minutes from the end, Washington who looked at least a yard offside bore down on Rocky before rifling home a third for his team. When Docherty took a knock, Hallberg came on to replace him and grabbed a goal at the death when a shot by Horgan was deflected in to his path and he stroked the ball past Zlamal.

A dismal showing bringing Hibs down to earth with a bump.

The players

Marciano – Rocky made a couple of decent saves but had no real chance at any of the three goals.

McGinn – For my money he was the best of a bad bunch as far as the back four goes.

Jackson – From looking reasonably assured in the first half his second half performance was poor.

Hanlon – Paul has returned to form recently but tonight he was really very poor.

Stevenson – See my ‘poor’ comments on Jackson and Hanlon above.

Boyle – Martin took a few knocks again tonight but in a game where we were poor from start to finish, he was the only one that looked capable of causing Hearts problems and so he wins my man of the match award.

Omeonga – I like the wee guy but he was very poor tonight, continually caught in possession and pretty much bullied by Bozanic and co.

Docherty – Not Greg’s best by a long way although that may be in part due to the fact that he was surrounded by Hearts players every time he got the ball.

Allan – I’ve no idea why he handled and I’ve no idea where his form has disappeared to. I’d have hooked him at half time.

McNulty – Sparky has lost his sparkle.

Doidge – Tried manfully to cause the Hearts back four problems with pretty much zero support from McNulty.

Horgan – Buzzed around as usual and offered up a couple of decent crosses.

Gullan – Jamie came on with Hibs trailing and although he made a couple of decent runs, Hibs were already looking like a beaten side.

Hallberg – Scored the late consolation but had no time to do anything else of note.

Jack Ross – I hope he is hurting as much as me and I hope to hell he has them up for the fight at Hampden.

The fans – Tried hard to lift the team but when Hibs are playing so badly it’s a big ask.

Kevin Clancy – The man is a clown. End of.

I never talk about opposition players but I’m going to break that tradition here and say that the best player on the park was the lad Dikamona – you know, the guy referred to on here as an absolute donkey.


Going by his post-match comments I don't think he is -



'It hurts and it stings, but in terms of the bigger picture it's very easy to get caught up in the extremes of the emotion in football. That's what we've got to make sure we don't do'


Yeah, let's all be cool, calm and collected - the last thing we need is a reaction from our players ..............................

[Mixu1875]

Good summary however Washington was not offside and I feel McNulty was very very silly with his stamp on Clare, should have been off the park. Other than that, can’t argue with anything you’ve said.

[NAE NOOKIE]

Cant disagree with any of that ...... Though for the 11 minutes I spent outside the ground waiting to get in after 8:45 I'd like to think we played like Barcelona :fuming: .... Never mind big screens, get the f'ing entry system sorted FFS, that's the 4th or 5th time this season I've gotten in well after kick off.

Marciano .... 6 .... A great save early on and little he could do at either goal, short of pulling off a couple of world class saves.

McGinn .... 5 .... A lot of what Hearts did seemed to come down his side and they got into the box countless times on our right.

Hanlon .... 4 .... As poor as he has been all season and he didn't help by falling on his backside twice at vital times.

Jackson .... 6 .... He looked ok in the first half and at least tried to bring the ball down when he could, poor as everybody else after half time.

Stevenson ... 4 .... Beaten to the ball far too often, can't beat a man and couldn't put a cross on a coupon ... sorry wee man, you are a legend, but it's getting near the end for you.

Allan .... 3 .... Contributed absolutely nothing.

Docherty ... 5 .... Tried to get into the game, but it almost seemed as if the pace of it was too much for him, which was a surprise given the energy he usually plays with. Just an off night .... I hope.

Omeonga ... 5 ... He buzzed about and at least tried to make the Hearts midfield work for it, but won few challenges ... and in possession he was poor.

Boyle .... 7 .... Tried to get behind their defence and put in a few super balls that deserved better, we just didn't get him on the ball enough.

Doidge ... 7 ... He battled away as best he could, but overwhelmed by a defence his strike partner did sod all to occupy.

McNulty .... 3 .... McMissing in action.

Subs.

Horgan .... 5 .... Didn't make a huge difference, but at least he looked like he wanted to claw the game back, which is more than you can say for some of his team mates.

Gullan ... 4 ... 1 For coming on and 3 for how happy he must be that McNulty is doing his best to get him a starting place.

Hallberg ... 10 ... I never leave early, no matter what the score, but my lift insisted so I wasn't even in the stadium when he came on .. 10 for scoring.

Clancy .... An absolute twat of a ref, the free kick he gave Hearts near half time after the Hibs player had won a perfectly fair 50/50 challenge was a disgrace. He allowed Hearts players to make an idiot out of him all night, even I was laughing when the Hearts trainer tried to take the guy she had just treated all the way across the pitch to come off and they both ignored him when he tried to get them to change direction ... it was blatant time wasting and he should have booked both of them ..... he was NOT responsible for Hibs inept performance.

Jack Ross. Wow, he has some hard work in front of him to ensure that shambles never happens again and he has to take his share of the blame for it. I hope he looks on that semi final as an opportunity to pay back the fans for such a shocking effort, not just him but the players too ... That tonight was totally unacceptable.

[BILLYHIBS]

Good summary however Washington was not offside and I feel McNulty was very very silly with his stamp on Clare, should have been off the park. Other than that, can’t argue with anything you’ve said.
Agree with this

Said on another thread to expect the worst

Hearts wanted it more closed us down right away with their high giggenpress never giving us time to settle or get into our rythmn and had our reliance on Boyle sussed

As others have said a wake up call for Jack Ross he needs to sort out that defence it is too soft so far he has only papered over the cracks and as for the midfield........

Needs to get all the players tied together wearing the goggles at East Mains

Brilliant report Jonnyboy

The better team won

[Mixu1875]

Cant disagree with any of that ...... Though for the 11 minutes I spent outside the ground waiting to get in after 8:45 I'd like to think we played like Barcelona :fuming: .... Never mind big screens, get the f'ing entry system sorted FFS, that's the 4th or 5th time this season I've gotten in well after kick off.

Marciano .... 6 .... A great save early on and little he could do at either goal, short of pulling off a couple of world class saves.

McGinn .... 5 .... A lot of what Hearts did seemed to come down his side and they got into the box countless times on our right.

Hanlon .... 4 .... As poor as he has been all season and he didn't help by falling on his backside twice at vital times.

Jackson .... 6 .... He looked ok in the first half and at least tried to bring the ball down when he could, poor as everybody else after half time.

Stevenson ... 4 .... Beaten to the ball far too often, can't beat a man and couldn't put a cross on a coupon ... sorry wee man, you are a legend, but it's getting near the end for you.

Allan .... 3 .... Contributed absolutely nothing.

Docherty ... 5 .... Tried to get into the game, but it almost seemed as if the pace of it was too much for him, which was a surprise given the energy he usually plays with. Just an off night .... I hope.

Omeonga ... 5 ... He buzzed about and at least tried to make the Hearts midfield work for it, but won few challenges ... and in possession he was poor.

Boyle .... 7 .... Tried to get behind their defence and put in a few super balls that deserved better, we just didn't get him on the ball enough.

Doidge ... 7 ... He battled away as best he could, but overwhelmed by a defence his strike partner did sod all to occupy.

McNulty .... 3 .... McMissing in action.

Subs.

Horgan .... 5 .... Didn't make a huge difference, but at least he looked like he wanted to claw the game back, which is more than you can say for some of his team mates.

Gullan ... 4 ... 1 For coming on and 3 for how happy he must be that McNulty is doing his best to get him a starting place.

Hallberg ... 10 ... I never leave early, no matter what the score, but my lift insisted so I wasn't even in the stadium when he came on .. 10 for scoring.

Clancy .... An absolute twat of a ref, the free kick he gave Hearts near half time after the Hibs player had won a perfectly fair 50/50 challenge was a disgrace. He allowed Hearts players to make an idiot out of him all night, even I was laughing when the Hearts trainer tried to take the guy she had just treated all the way across the pitch to come off and they both ignored him when he tried to get them to change direction ... it was blatant time wasting and he should have booked both of them ..... he was NOT responsible for Hibs inept performance.

Jack Ross. Wow, he has some hard work in front of him to ensure that shambles never happens again and he has to take his share of the blame for it. I hope he looks on that semi final as an opportunity to pay back the fans for such a shocking effort, not just him but the players too ... That tonight was totally unacceptable.

In fairness, Clancy done is a favour by not sending off McNulty. I don’t think he had that bad a game.

[NAE NOOKIE]

In fairness, Clancy done is a favour by not sending off McNulty. I don’t think he had that bad a game.

I didn't see the McNulty incident, but other fans who did said he was lucky not to get a red .... pointing out yet another of Clancy's errors hardly makes a case for his ability as a ref though does it.

[Jdawg]

We played 352 for an hour until Horgan came on, at which point we changed to a 442.

Couple of things for me:

The whole thing seemed a bit flat for me, I don’t know what it was. Stadium was slow filling up where as hearts fans seemed to be in early and very vocal. It seemed like they were a lot more excited and confident going into it than us. The performance was flat and lacked any real quality.

Playing a 352 with Stevenson severely hampers the balance of the team. He doesn’t get forward enough, with enough urgency and when he does he cuts back or has poor delivery. Numerous times today we came out from the right and there was nothing on the left.

It makes it easy for the opposition as Clare could cheat knowing Stevenson wouldn’t go forward. They could then shape there whole team to cut off Allan and Boyle knowing that if anyone is the out ball it’s Stevenson which is not an issue.

There were several poor performances, we never liked people being right in our face and struggled to place with any sharpness or pace.

It really hurts as I just knew we would lose this one, no matter how good we are going into it and how poor hearts are I never fancy us. The first half was poor with no team doing much, we had a 15 minute spell I thought we were starting to show a bit of control. The second half as baffling, the players looked stunned and couldn’t react.

The goals were so so poor

1 - Handball and penalty
2 - Jackson takes a quick free kick to Docherty who is not expecting it and surrounded by 3 players, losing possession which they thereafter score from
3 - Poor defensive line at a point when out heads had gone

We need to now take this out on Aberdeen on Saturday. We still have good players and can go there and get a result. For me Newell in for Stevenson , Gullan for McNulty and Hallberg fot Allan, pushing Docherty forward.

Agree with Stevenson. Going forward, chicken hearted. Against the cosh, good full back. Other than that, pish going forward and a waste of a jersey. Absolutely zero. Belief in himself and al opponents know it .

[Hermit Crab]

Cant disagree with any of that ...... Though for the 11 minutes I spent outside the ground waiting to get in after 8:45 I'd like to think we played like Barcelona :fuming: .... Never mind big screens, get the f'ing entry system sorted FFS, that's the 4th or 5th time this season I've gotten in well after kick off.

Marciano .... 6 .... A great save early on and little he could do at either goal, short of pulling off a couple of world class saves.

McGinn .... 5 .... A lot of what Hearts did seemed to come down his side and they got into the box countless times on our right.

Hanlon .... 4 .... As poor as he has been all season and he didn't help by falling on his backside twice at vital times.

Jackson .... 6 .... He looked ok in the first half and at least tried to bring the ball down when he could, poor as everybody else after half time.

Stevenson ... 4 .... Beaten to the ball far too often, can't beat a man and couldn't put a cross on a coupon ... sorry wee man, you are a legend, but it's getting near the end for you.

Allan .... 3 .... Contributed absolutely nothing.

Docherty ... 5 .... Tried to get into the game, but it almost seemed as if the pace of it was too much for him, which was a surprise given the energy he usually plays with. Just an off night .... I hope.

Omeonga ... 5 ... He buzzed about and at least tried to make the Hearts midfield work for it, but won few challenges ... and in possession he was poor.

Boyle .... 7 .... Tried to get behind their defence and put in a few super balls that deserved better, we just didn't get him on the ball enough.

Doidge ... 7 ... He battled away as best he could, but overwhelmed by a defence his strike partner did sod all to occupy.

McNulty .... 3 .... McMissing in action.

Subs.

Horgan .... 5 .... Didn't make a huge difference, but at least he looked like he wanted to claw the game back, which is more than you can say for some of his team mates.

Gullan ... 4 ... 1 For coming on and 3 for how happy he must be that McNulty is doing his best to get him a starting place.

Hallberg ... 10 ... I never leave early, no matter what the score, but my lift insisted so I wasn't even in the stadium when he came on .. 10 for scoring.

Clancy .... An absolute twat of a ref, the free kick he gave Hearts near half time after the Hibs player had won a perfectly fair 50/50 challenge was a disgrace. He allowed Hearts players to make an idiot out of him all night, even I was laughing when the Hearts trainer tried to take the guy she had just treated all the way across the pitch to come off and they both ignored him when he tried to get them to change direction ... it was blatant time wasting and he should have booked both of them ..... he was NOT responsible for Hibs inept performance.

Jack Ross. Wow, he has some hard work in front of him to ensure that shambles never happens again and he has to take his share of the blame for it. I hope he looks on that semi final as an opportunity to pay back the fans for such a shocking effort, not just him but the players too ... That tonight was totally unacceptable.


Cant agree on a 7 for Doidge. Constantly gave the ball away with a poor pass or was easily dispossessed by a Hearts player. Rubbish

[Green_one]

Lewis was repeatedly free to make a cross and failed just about every time. He is NOT a wingback

I thought Omeonga was really poor at creating anything. Newall would have been a big plus. Hopefully for the semi

Let’s be clear. This was a particularly bad defeat against a poor side

Better pray for a win at Aberdeen or the season is probably crashing, even before Hampden. Not looking forward to the semi. Shades of that afternoon with Paul Hartley.
:worried:

[Hermit Crab]

Post xmas collapse commencing now albeit a little later than usual.

[PeeJay]

Your report JC is the first thing I read on here this morning after leaving the site right after the game last night - It's spot on, particularly the bit about us being set up for a fall, how true that proved to be!

Wouldn't single out any players myself, collectively we were very poor, right from the go. Boyle was our best weapon and we failed to give him enough of the ball and - when he had it - he failed to use it.

In terms of work rate, team spirit, physicality and mental strength, they were so far ahead it was embarrassing. Haven't heard Ross' analysis of the game - did he say anything of note, I wonder? McNulty should have been off for his crazy step on Clunie (?) and we didn't seem to me to be playing 3-5-2 as you rightly said - although what our tactical set-up was is also beyond me - did we have one?

My brother's a Hearts fan, he had a really nice evening last night, much to his surprise ...

[Since452]

No going through the whole gutless team but some special mentions.

Allan 0 - what the **** was that performance?

Hanlon 0 - needs to change his boots. Why does he constantly slip?

Stevenson 0 - slow and wasted chances to cross.

Omeonga - slow and sloppy. Totally bullied. People wondering why he hasn't been starting. That's why.

McNulty 0 - only thing of note he did was stamp on a player.

Ross 0 - Why he didn't change things at half time is a mystery.

I'm still ****ing livid. Worse than anything seen under Heckingbottom.

[MartinfaePorty]

Can only agree with this. Only thing I would add - and apologies if it's been mentioned elsewhere - was that I thought Naismith was very lucky not to get a 2nd yellow. He took out Gullan on the touchline, but ref gave Hibs advantage and didn't go back to him when the ball went out. I imagine the reaction from the Hibs crowd if the game had still been winnable would have been much more vociferous.

Sent from my EML-L29 using Tapatalk

[PaulSmith]

Very poor midfield and they were the better team.However all the goals were presents,a needless handball,giving the ball away from our free kick and an offside not given by the linesman.

3rd goal was well onside. 1st and 2nd I can’t argue with as two individual errors but if truth be told 3-1 probably still flattered us.

[Brightside]

Going by his post-match comments I don't think he is -



'It hurts and it stings, but in terms of the bigger picture it's very easy to get caught up in the extremes of the emotion in football. That's what we've got to make sure we don't do'


Yeah, let's all be cool, calm and collected - the last thing we need is a reaction from our players ..............................

He is spot on. Its a pish performance but they need to forget about it and focus on the next game. Its 3 points lost. Nothing more.

[Danderhall Hibs]

He is spot on. Its a pish performance but they need to forget about it and focus on the next game. Its 3 points lost. Nothing more.

:agree: it was a shocker of a performance made worse by it being against them.

What he said is correct, although I accept not what folk want to hear. Having said that no matter what he said wouldn’t have been what folk wanted to hear.

[BILLYHIBS]

3rd goal was well onside. 1st and 2nd I can’t argue with as two individual errors but if truth be told 3-1 probably still flattered us.
Looked at least a yard on on BT Sports played onside by Hanlon who vainly tried to stop the game with his hand held up Washington got a lucky break or two as he bore down on goal and with his execution but fair dos gave Hanlon a torrid time all night with his experience and 0-3 was a fair reflection of the play up until that point cue mass exit of HIBS fans

Learning curve for Jack Ross I hope

[Onceinawhile]

Dikamona has always been an average defender whose terrible with the ball. Tonight he was a good defender who was average with the ball.

He wasn't really tested tbh though.

As for us? Whole team were pish.

[Ronniekirk]

Why our Manager didn’t change things at half time It was clear it wasn’t working
The midfield just didn’t get to grips with being harried and harassed and that exposed our fragile defence even more than normal
Hanlon kept slipping and Stevenson showed how ineffective he can be ,always passing ball back , never really taking g on his man , and delivering nothing into the box that was quality
I thought Omenga would relish this game along with Docherty But both saved their poorest displays for this occasion
Allan just didn’t fancy it and should of been hooked at half time
McNulty on this form isn’t worth trying to keep
Boyle only player to look dangerous but had players buzzing about him all game and they contained him reasonably well
The high press game they have been criticised for playing worked a treat for them v Us
If Ross gave them a roasting at half time it didn’t show He needs to grow a pair Too mild mannered in his approach
How he thought that same team could change things is beyond me He should of changed things at half time
But biggest worry was the way we lost our discipline and heads went down after they scored You senses there was no way back for us
How he sorts this out for the Semi Final I have no idea , but but first things first a trip to Aberdeen who we have played well against this season to date
Real test of our mettle to see if we can bounce straight back
If we don’t it could derail our Season with 6 th Place best we can do
I really hope that s not the case


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[coldingham hibs]

Cant disagree with any of that ...... Though for the 11 minutes I spent outside the ground waiting to get in after 8:45 I'd like to think we played like Barcelona :fuming: .... Never mind big screens, get the f'ing entry system sorted FFS, that's the 4th or 5th time this season I've gotten in well after kick off.

Marciano .... 6 .... A great save early on and little he could do at either goal, short of pulling off a couple of world class saves.

McGinn .... 5 .... A lot of what Hearts did seemed to come down his side and they got into the box countless times on our right.

Hanlon .... 4 .... As poor as he has been all season and he didn't help by falling on his backside twice at vital times.

Jackson .... 6 .... He looked ok in the first half and at least tried to bring the ball down when he could, poor as everybody else after half time.

Stevenson ... 4 .... Beaten to the ball far too often, can't beat a man and couldn't put a cross on a coupon ... sorry wee man, you are a legend, but it's getting near the end for you.

Allan .... 3 .... Contributed absolutely nothing.

Docherty ... 5 .... Tried to get into the game, but it almost seemed as if the pace of it was too much for him, which was a surprise given the energy he usually plays with. Just an off night .... I hope.

Omeonga ... 5 ... He buzzed about and at least tried to make the Hearts midfield work for it, but won few challenges ... and in possession he was poor.

Boyle .... 7 .... Tried to get behind their defence and put in a few super balls that deserved better, we just didn't get him on the ball enough.

Doidge ... 7 ... He battled away as best he could, but overwhelmed by a defence his strike partner did sod all to occupy.

McNulty .... 3 .... McMissing in action.

Subs.

Horgan .... 5 .... Didn't make a huge difference, but at least he looked like he wanted to claw the game back, which is more than you can say for some of his team mates.

Gullan ... 4 ... 1 For coming on and 3 for how happy he must be that McNulty is doing his best to get him a starting place.

Hallberg ... 10 ... I never leave early, no matter what the score, but my lift insisted so I wasn't even in the stadium when he came on .. 10 for scoring.

Clancy .... An absolute twat of a ref, the free kick he gave Hearts near half time after the Hibs player had won a perfectly fair 50/50 challenge was a disgrace. He allowed Hearts players to make an idiot out of him all night, even I was laughing when the Hearts trainer tried to take the guy she had just treated all the way across the pitch to come off and they both ignored him when he tried to get them to change direction ... it was blatant time wasting and he should have booked both of them ..... he was NOT responsible for Hibs inept performance.

Jack Ross. Wow, he has some hard work in front of him to ensure that shambles never happens again and he has to take his share of the blame for it. I hope he looks on that semi final as an opportunity to pay back the fans for such a shocking effort, not just him but the players too ... That tonight was totally unacceptable.

McGinn was the best performer in Green & White, if he gets a 5 then everyone else is a 2 or 3 at best. Looked the only player with a bit fire in his belly.

[TheHarpy76]

Despite all the grand statements on the messageboards, proclaiming we’d cuff a very poor Hearts side and push them closer to relegation, those of us that are a little longer in the tooth just knew Hibs were set up for a fall; and what a fall it was as we were toothless whilst Hearts were ruthless when it came to the art of goal scoring.

For some unknown reason, Jack Ross moved away from the 3-5-2 formation that has served us so well in recent weeks, reverting to a 4-4-2 and replacing Whittaker in midfield with the more dynamic Stephane Omeonga. It didn’t work as Hearts controlled that area of the park for the most part.

I had hoped we would come out of the traps but it was Hearts that threatened an early goal with Marciano making a fine early save. In a dire first 45 minutes Hibs’ best chance came when Boyle delivered a fantastic cross to the front post where Doidge beat his marker in the jump but steered his header over the bar with Zlamal rooted to the spot. For their part, Hearts spurned two good chances when Halkett and Boyce were given free headers only to see those efforts clear the bar.

As is the norm with referee Clancy he seemed unwilling or perhaps unable to resist the temptation to let more than ten seconds elapse before blowing his whistle. As a result the game did not flow in that first half and given the recent form of the two teams it was Hibs that suffered the most. Having said that, Hibs were just not at it enough although Halkett had to take a yellow card for stopping what looked like a promising move.

Inside the opening ten minutes of the second half Hearts took the lead from the spot. Sean Clare beat Marciano after Scott Allan had inexplicably handled in the box. It was a hammer blow to Hibs who now had to chase the game, allowing Hearts more freedom when attacking. Our midfield was lacklustre with Allan once again not at the races; Omeonga getting continually caught in possession; Docherty strangely hesitant with only Boyle looking like he might cause Hearts some problems.

On the hour mark, Allan gave way to Horgan as Jack Ross tried to put more pressure on the visiting defence but it didn’t work. In fact within five minutes of the change being made, Hearts doubled their lead. A botched short free kick saw Docherty dispossessed and Hearts broke down the left before Bozanic was picked out, totally unmarked, on the edge of the box and he thumped the ball past a helpless Marciano.

Jack Ross promptly replaced McNulty with Jamie Gullan who tried hard to get involved but ten minutes from the end, Washington who looked at least a yard offside bore down on Rocky before rifling home a third for his team. When Docherty took a knock, Hallberg came on to replace him and grabbed a goal at the death when a shot by Horgan was deflected in to his path and he stroked the ball past Zlamal.

A dismal showing bringing Hibs down to earth with a bump.

The players

Marciano – Rocky made a couple of decent saves but had no real chance at any of the three goals.

McGinn – For my money he was the best of a bad bunch as far as the back four goes.

Jackson – From looking reasonably assured in the first half his second half performance was poor.

Hanlon – Paul has returned to form recently but tonight he was really very poor.

Stevenson – See my ‘poor’ comments on Jackson and Hanlon above.

Boyle – Martin took a few knocks again tonight but in a game where we were poor from start to finish, he was the only one that looked capable of causing Hearts problems and so he wins my man of the match award.

Omeonga – I like the wee guy but he was very poor tonight, continually caught in possession and pretty much bullied by Bozanic and co.

Docherty – Not Greg’s best by a long way although that may be in part due to the fact that he was surrounded by Hearts players every time he got the ball.

Allan – I’ve no idea why he handled and I’ve no idea where his form has disappeared to. I’d have hooked him at half time.

McNulty – Sparky has lost his sparkle.

Doidge – Tried manfully to cause the Hearts back four problems with pretty much zero support from McNulty.

Horgan – Buzzed around as usual and offered up a couple of decent crosses.

Gullan – Jamie came on with Hibs trailing and although he made a couple of decent runs, Hibs were already looking like a beaten side.

Hallberg – Scored the late consolation but had no time to do anything else of note.

Jack Ross – I hope he is hurting as much as me and I hope to hell he has them up for the fight at Hampden.

The fans – Tried hard to lift the team but when Hibs are playing so badly it’s a big ask.

Kevin Clancy – The man is a clown. End of.

I never talk about opposition players but I’m going to break that tradition here and say that the best player on the park was the lad Dikamona – you know, the guy referred to on here as an absolute donkey.

Brilliant report. Washington was onside though.

[scoopyboy]

I hate it when the vast majority of Hibs fans predict an easy Hibs win, especially in a derby. It generally goes pear shaped.

That was a depressing game.

Hibs were like rabbits caught in the headlights, on several occasions we took quick free kicks with nothing on and all we succeeded in doing was giving possession away instantly.

Always taught to take positives out of defeat, hard on this occasion but here goes.

1. It was better happening last night than at Hampden.

2. Our owner saw first hand that investment is required on the playing front.

3. Jack Ross will now realise more than ever where strengthening is required

4. Sometimes it is a blessing when we don't buy a player and get him on a loan instead

[Danderhall Hibs]

I hate it when the vast majority of Hibs fans predict an easy Hibs win, especially in a derby. It generally goes pear shaped.

That was a depressing game.

Hibs were like rabbits caught in the headlights, on several occasions we took quick free kicks with nothing on and all we succeeded in doing was giving possession away instantly.

Always taught to take positives out of defeat, hard on this occasion but here goes.

1. It was better happening last night than at Hampden.

2. Our owner saw first hand that investment is required on the playing front.

3. Jack Ross will now realise more than ever where strengthening is required

4. Sometimes it is a blessing when we don't buy a player and get him on a loan instead

Spot on. Most of those thoughts have gone through my head since last night as well.

[number9dream]

Will we ever win back to back at Easter Road again?
Maddening inconsistency has been a Hibs hallmark for decades now but I really didn’t see an abysmal performance like that coming.
Poor attitude, poor application from just about everyone.

[SideBurns]

I hate it when the vast majority of Hibs fans predict an easy Hibs win, especially in a derby. It generally goes pear shaped.

That was a depressing game.

Hibs were like rabbits caught in the headlights, on several occasions we took quick free kicks with nothing on and all we succeeded in doing was giving possession away instantly.

Always taught to take positives out of defeat, hard on this occasion but here goes.

1. It was better happening last night than at Hampden.

2. Our owner saw first hand that investment is required on the playing front.

3. Jack Ross will now realise more than ever where strengthening is required

4. Sometimes it is a blessing when we don't buy a player and get him on a loan instead

Did the vast majority predict an easy Hibs win? Certainly not amongst our group - the views ranged between cautious optimism and some trepidation, as usual.

Other than that, I like your glass half-full approach. A decent perspective!

[BT58]

Was McNulty still in the huff coz he never got that penalty to take ?? If so Gullan should start for remainder of season.
B

[PeeJay]

I hate it when the vast majority of Hibs fans predict an easy Hibs win, especially in a derby. It generally goes pear shaped.

That was a depressing game.

Hibs were like rabbits caught in the headlights, on several occasions we took quick free kicks with nothing on and all we succeeded in doing was giving possession away instantly.

Always taught to take positives out of defeat, hard on this occasion but here goes.

1. It was better happening last night than at Hampden.

2. Our owner saw first hand that investment is required on the playing front.

3. Jack Ross will now realise more than ever where strengthening is required

4. Sometimes it is a blessing when we don't buy a player and get him on a loan instead

Would have welcomed him knowing what was required last night, he obviously had no answers ...

[Roxyhibee]

Even in the bad old derby displays of years gone by, they usually had much stronger teams (albeit mostly by financial doping) and we had one or two players that won their battles at least. Last night, NOT ONE of our players won their battles at our home ground against a mediocre set of Hearts players, but who were up for getting wired in - making it the worst derby performance I can recall.

Jack Ross should have seen the type of derby this was turning out to be by half time, taken off Allan and McNulty (who were beyond bad) and got them fired up for a man to man war in that second 45. He failed worringly as a manager and it is unbelievable that he still had players like Docherty and Omeonga pondering on the ball and losing it in that second half, putting our weak defence under so much pressure which clearly Hanlon and Stevenson (god when are we going to see how terrible Lewis is - what are people seeing in him.?!) can’t cope with at the best of times.

One by one they went off the radar as that game wore on and hid until it was all over. McGinn was the last one still trying to do his job but eventually he hadn’t a clue what the f was happening around him.

Some mirrors need looking into this morning, starting with our manager. Hampden may well be a new carnage all over again for us.

[Bostonhibby]

Cheers for that Jonnyboy, painful as it was it's a decent summary of what I watched on TV. Gutless and tactically inept performance, well summed up by our family yam who has resurfaced again!-

"Can't believe how slow and unfit most of your boys looked, we're no great shakes but even the cat knew we'd be in your faces and direct. Hopefully you continue to help us survive by scraping into the bottom six and gifting us 3 more points.

Sorry you won't be up for the cup final. Enjoy your day".



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[snedzuk]

Cheers for that Jonnyboy, painful as it was it's a decent summary of what I watched on TV. Gutless and tactically inept performance, well summed up by our family yam who has resurfaced again!-

"Can't believe how slow and unfit most of your boys looked, we're no great shakes but even the cat knew we'd be in your faces and direct. Hopefully you continue to help us survive by scraping into the bottom six and gifting us 3 more points.

Sorry you won't be up for the cup final. Enjoy your day".



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Does his cat want a coaching job.

[Cropley10]

Good summary, thanks.

I think I'd add that really Stendl's crazing pressing game actually worked brilliantly for them last night. By going two v two at the back they overload and dominate midfield, they're obviouly getting the message, maybe getting fitter, and were 100% up for the game last night. They'd done their homework - targetted Lewis, and double-teamed Boyle. But how, or why, Hibs players thought they could have 4, 5 or 6 touches while they worked out what they were going to do with the ball was beyond me.

I don't think it's an exaggeration they looked Top 6 and we looked like the 12th placed team. The low point for me was watching them press every Hibs player in possession immediately, while we stood off them and let them play.

[NAE NOOKIE]

Just to clarify. I was a bit down on McGinn because of the amount of times Hearts got the ball down his side, I wasn't particularly down on him individually for that, it wasn't all his fault for sure. Perhaps I was a bit over generous with Doidge, but only because I was so disappointed with McNulty who did nothing to support him.

Another poster was looking for positives and I suppose one is that Hearts didn't create their goals through good play. The first was by all accounts an inexplicable brain fart by Allan. At the second or third, I'm already subconsciously trying to forget, I'm sure we had been on the attack and the amount of lucky deflections it took for the ball to work its way out of their box to allow them to break was ridiculous ... I remember shouting 'lucky bstrds' at the time. And the other came from a screwed up free kick by us.

You cant fix bad luck ... but you can fix individual errors and how not to allow their style of play to work against you ... that's JR's task now, because as I said, why would Hearts change anything for the semi when what they did last night worked so well for them .. he knows what he'll be facing at Hampden.

[Greenbeard]

Marciano - needs to strap his legs on the correct way round -his kicking gives me the fear and Id play Bogdan next time out. If not now then when?

And I'd give Halberg the MoM as well!
Agree x2.
Rocky also gives me the fear at every opposition corner. Halberg our MoM 'cos he did least wrong.

[James70]

If I was a Hearts supporter I would be demanding to know why my team could only play at that level against Hibs and Rangers and be complete dross against other teams. Every time a Hibs player got the ball there were two or three Hearts players on top of them immediately and every loose ball seemed to be picked up by them also. They looked like the top six side and we looked like relegation material. It will be interesting to see how the two teams continue with results in the next few weeks.

[Greenbeard]

Going by his post-match comments I don't think he is -



'It hurts and it stings, but in terms of the bigger picture it's very easy to get caught up in the extremes of the emotion in football. That's what we've got to make sure we don't do'


Yeah, let's all be cool, calm and collected - the last thing we need is a reaction from our players ..............................

I'm with the manager. To a man we were anxious and tight last night and th emore the game went on the worse we got. Last thing we need is the team carrying that anxiety and hurried nervousness into Saturday. You can try 100% but still stay calm and collected. Or try 100% all thunder and bluster and f*** up as a result.

[BILLYHIBS]

Agree x2.
Rocky also gives me the fear at every opposition corner. Halberg our MoM 'cos he did least wrong.

What was he doing taking free kicks outside his box?

Just booted it to Zlamal in the Jambo goal giving away possession