Jonnyboy
30-08-2020, 08:48 PM
There’s something deeply unsatisfying about watching a game live on TV rather than attending it in person. When you’re in the ground you enjoy a wider perspective in terms of the flow of play and movement of players whereas with TV coverage you’re restricted to the camera following the ball. For example, Hallberg’s movement seemed poor in my view whereas others felt he got about the park quite well. In his case I learned that he is not the answer to our need for a defensive midfielder either alongside or in place of Gogic, depending on the circumstances/opponents. Of course the lack of meaningful input from Allan and Newall in that central area made Hallberg’s job all the more difficult, although Gogic seems not to suffer as much in similar circumstances.
A false positive Covid test on Gogic meant he was not available and his place in the starting eleven was taken by Melker Hallberg whilst we learned before the game that Daryl Horgan is close to leaving and that put the Jamie Murphy signing into context, Murphy taking a place on the bench. Drey Wright took Horgan’s starting place and together with his team mates contributed to a decent opening fifteen minutes for Hibs. Indeed as early as the opening minute Boyle had the chance to put Hibs ahead after a Joe Lewis fumble allowed Allan to roll the ball to Squirrel but the Hibs man tamely lifted his effort into the grateful hands of the Aberdeen keeper.
Further chances for Hibs saw a rocket shot from Josh Doig pushed over the bar and Lewis came out on top again when a fabulous crossfield pass from Wright saw Boyle take a touch before sending a powerful drive towards goal with Lewis again on hand to save.
It wasn’t all one way however and two fabulous saves from Marciano prevented the Dons from opening the scoring. The first saw Hedges and Wright exchanging passes on the edge of the Hibs box but the effort from the former named was saved by the legs of Marciano. Then Scott Wright really should have done better but his drive was pushed around the post when it looked as though the ball was heading for the far corner of the net.
Slowly, Aberdeen began to dominate possession and our midfield trio of Allan, Hallberg and Newall were pretty much bossed by McCrorie, Ferguson and Wright. The physicality of the Dons trio was nowhere near met by the Hibs three who were constantly harried when on the ball and constantly bypassed when not.
Around five minutes from the break the Dons took a deserved lead when Martin Boyle, back helping the defence, took the poor decision to try and play his way out of trouble which led to him bringing down Marley Watkins for a stick on penalty. I felt sorry for Boyle as he was where he should be in helping McGinn but in all honesty he should have been booting the ball into the stand rather than trying to pick out a team mate. Lewis Ferguson gave Marciano no chance from the spot and his side went in at the interval leading 1-0.
I had hoped we might see an improvement in the second half but for the bulk of it we were wasteful in possession and created very little. Drey Wright probably had the best chance for an equaliser after a sublime through ball found him bearing down on Lewis. He should have had a shot but instead he passed it into an area devoid of green jerseys. At the other end, Marciano again kept the Dons at bay with decent saves from Main and McGeouch.
Jack Ross tried to mix things up a bit by replacing Allan, Doig and Hallberg with Murphy, Mallan and Gullan but the pattern of play didn’t really change much and Hibs went on to lose their first league game of the season.
A few observations from me; Aberdeen didn’t foul their way through the game which is their norm but to me the reason for that is they didn’t have to as we were offering little threat throughout in terms of free flowing play. Also, and it seems odd to say this but I thought our back four and keeper all had good games – a view perhaps supported by the fact that we still haven’t lost a goal from open play and we simply must bring in another defensive midfielder as Hallberg was like a fish out of water with Gogic likely to miss games at some point in the future. Lastly, disappointed as I am with the performance and defeat I take some solace from the fact that from our first six games we’ve had four wins, one draw and one defeat which, had I been offered that from day one, I’d have bitten off the hand of the person offering it.
The players
Marciano – Rocky was the busier of the two keepers and had three or maybe even four top drawer saves over the ninety minutes. He is my man of the match.
McGinn – Another steady display from Paul who had his hands full at times when up against Kennedy but it’s significant to me that the best work from Kennedy was when he was defending.
Porteous – Solid for the most part, barring one or two risky passes, Ryan looked to be back to near his best today.
Hanlon - Like Ryan, Paul was solid and had a number of key interceptions made to look easy by his excellent positional play.
Boyle – A silly decision cost us dear and I’d wager that Boyler is gutted about it but to be fair to him he did have a couple of spells when he troubled the Dons defence.
Hallberg – Until today I was in the ‘give him a chance’ camp but today he was just really poor. I accept defensive mid is not his best position but I expected a lot more from him today as he struggled in a static midfield three.
Newall – Yet another game where Joe just seemed to float about without doing very much of anything and it’s alarming to me to see how easily he seems to get brushed aside in challenges.
Allan – I love Scotty and think he’s our most creative player but today and in the last couple of games that creativity has been absent. Aberdeen sussed him out and crowded him when he got the ball, which he then lost possession of.
Doig – That rocket shot deserved a better outcome. I have to say I was mystified at his substitution because although it meant the introduction of a more attack minded player it pretty much diluted our threat when going forward down the left.
Wright – Drey started the game really well and showed both pace and a good touch but he seemed to disappear for periods of the game. Perhaps the lack of service just isolated him.
Doidge – Like Wright, got little or no service and it’s telling that my most memorable Doidge involvement today was watching him match McCrorie stride for stride as the Aberdeen man raced down their left, only to be stopped in his tracks by our striker. I’m seeing that memory as a positive as Doidge puts so much effort into his game other than providing a goal threat.
Murphy – Making your debut from the bench is not going to be easy but he contributed positively on a couple of occasions and will, I’m sure, turn out to be a solid signing.
Mallan – Like the man he replaced, he’s in the team to create but he has to do the dirty stuff too and I was pleased to see him do just that on a number of occasions as he fought for possession of the ball in our own half.
Gullan – Jamie was on the park for close on to twenty minutes but he spent the majority of that time dropping deep to try and get involved. He, like his fellow forwards, got little or no service from our ineffective midfield.
Jack Ross – Whilst he would have enjoyed our opening play it must have concerned him how easily we gave them the midfield to treat as their own.
Nick Walsh – Low key performance as there was hardly a tackle worth shouting about for the whole ninety minutes.
A false positive Covid test on Gogic meant he was not available and his place in the starting eleven was taken by Melker Hallberg whilst we learned before the game that Daryl Horgan is close to leaving and that put the Jamie Murphy signing into context, Murphy taking a place on the bench. Drey Wright took Horgan’s starting place and together with his team mates contributed to a decent opening fifteen minutes for Hibs. Indeed as early as the opening minute Boyle had the chance to put Hibs ahead after a Joe Lewis fumble allowed Allan to roll the ball to Squirrel but the Hibs man tamely lifted his effort into the grateful hands of the Aberdeen keeper.
Further chances for Hibs saw a rocket shot from Josh Doig pushed over the bar and Lewis came out on top again when a fabulous crossfield pass from Wright saw Boyle take a touch before sending a powerful drive towards goal with Lewis again on hand to save.
It wasn’t all one way however and two fabulous saves from Marciano prevented the Dons from opening the scoring. The first saw Hedges and Wright exchanging passes on the edge of the Hibs box but the effort from the former named was saved by the legs of Marciano. Then Scott Wright really should have done better but his drive was pushed around the post when it looked as though the ball was heading for the far corner of the net.
Slowly, Aberdeen began to dominate possession and our midfield trio of Allan, Hallberg and Newall were pretty much bossed by McCrorie, Ferguson and Wright. The physicality of the Dons trio was nowhere near met by the Hibs three who were constantly harried when on the ball and constantly bypassed when not.
Around five minutes from the break the Dons took a deserved lead when Martin Boyle, back helping the defence, took the poor decision to try and play his way out of trouble which led to him bringing down Marley Watkins for a stick on penalty. I felt sorry for Boyle as he was where he should be in helping McGinn but in all honesty he should have been booting the ball into the stand rather than trying to pick out a team mate. Lewis Ferguson gave Marciano no chance from the spot and his side went in at the interval leading 1-0.
I had hoped we might see an improvement in the second half but for the bulk of it we were wasteful in possession and created very little. Drey Wright probably had the best chance for an equaliser after a sublime through ball found him bearing down on Lewis. He should have had a shot but instead he passed it into an area devoid of green jerseys. At the other end, Marciano again kept the Dons at bay with decent saves from Main and McGeouch.
Jack Ross tried to mix things up a bit by replacing Allan, Doig and Hallberg with Murphy, Mallan and Gullan but the pattern of play didn’t really change much and Hibs went on to lose their first league game of the season.
A few observations from me; Aberdeen didn’t foul their way through the game which is their norm but to me the reason for that is they didn’t have to as we were offering little threat throughout in terms of free flowing play. Also, and it seems odd to say this but I thought our back four and keeper all had good games – a view perhaps supported by the fact that we still haven’t lost a goal from open play and we simply must bring in another defensive midfielder as Hallberg was like a fish out of water with Gogic likely to miss games at some point in the future. Lastly, disappointed as I am with the performance and defeat I take some solace from the fact that from our first six games we’ve had four wins, one draw and one defeat which, had I been offered that from day one, I’d have bitten off the hand of the person offering it.
The players
Marciano – Rocky was the busier of the two keepers and had three or maybe even four top drawer saves over the ninety minutes. He is my man of the match.
McGinn – Another steady display from Paul who had his hands full at times when up against Kennedy but it’s significant to me that the best work from Kennedy was when he was defending.
Porteous – Solid for the most part, barring one or two risky passes, Ryan looked to be back to near his best today.
Hanlon - Like Ryan, Paul was solid and had a number of key interceptions made to look easy by his excellent positional play.
Boyle – A silly decision cost us dear and I’d wager that Boyler is gutted about it but to be fair to him he did have a couple of spells when he troubled the Dons defence.
Hallberg – Until today I was in the ‘give him a chance’ camp but today he was just really poor. I accept defensive mid is not his best position but I expected a lot more from him today as he struggled in a static midfield three.
Newall – Yet another game where Joe just seemed to float about without doing very much of anything and it’s alarming to me to see how easily he seems to get brushed aside in challenges.
Allan – I love Scotty and think he’s our most creative player but today and in the last couple of games that creativity has been absent. Aberdeen sussed him out and crowded him when he got the ball, which he then lost possession of.
Doig – That rocket shot deserved a better outcome. I have to say I was mystified at his substitution because although it meant the introduction of a more attack minded player it pretty much diluted our threat when going forward down the left.
Wright – Drey started the game really well and showed both pace and a good touch but he seemed to disappear for periods of the game. Perhaps the lack of service just isolated him.
Doidge – Like Wright, got little or no service and it’s telling that my most memorable Doidge involvement today was watching him match McCrorie stride for stride as the Aberdeen man raced down their left, only to be stopped in his tracks by our striker. I’m seeing that memory as a positive as Doidge puts so much effort into his game other than providing a goal threat.
Murphy – Making your debut from the bench is not going to be easy but he contributed positively on a couple of occasions and will, I’m sure, turn out to be a solid signing.
Mallan – Like the man he replaced, he’s in the team to create but he has to do the dirty stuff too and I was pleased to see him do just that on a number of occasions as he fought for possession of the ball in our own half.
Gullan – Jamie was on the park for close on to twenty minutes but he spent the majority of that time dropping deep to try and get involved. He, like his fellow forwards, got little or no service from our ineffective midfield.
Jack Ross – Whilst he would have enjoyed our opening play it must have concerned him how easily we gave them the midfield to treat as their own.
Nick Walsh – Low key performance as there was hardly a tackle worth shouting about for the whole ninety minutes.