What's up with Boyle?

[Greenio]

How can a player go from brilliant performances, aus national team, celebrations n new contract... to sub standard week in week out?

Has the servic dropped that much? Has he lost confidence? Bad management

It has to be something, but I've no idea why it's turned this way.

[04Sauzee]

No idea, he's been very frustrating, wish he would learn to use his left foot, you know once he starts coming in-field how it's going to end.

[MWHIBBIES]

He's always been like this. This shouldn't come as a surprise imo. I've said this is his level for a while now. Brilliant on his day but an inconsistent player. Overall he's been decent this season. Good return of goals and assists overall.

[B.H.F.C]

I don’t think Boyle has been that bad. Chipped in with a pretty decent number of goals and assists.

For me, the biggest issue with Boyle is that we’re far too reliant on him. Our midfield offer little to nothing in the final third of the pitch. Our other wide options are Wright (enough said) and Murphy who has been missing far too often.

In the last two disasters, he’s had three men round him as soon as he gets the ball. Stop him and you stop Hibs going forward.

[Blaster]

I don’t think Boyle has been that bad. Chipped in with a pretty decent number of goals and assists.

For me, the biggest issue with Boyle is that we’re far too reliant on him. Our midfield offer little to nothing in the final third of the pitch. Our other wide options are Wright (enough said) and Murphy who has been missing far too often.

In the last two disasters, he’s had three men round him as soon as he gets the ball. Stop him and you stop Hibs going forward.

Spot on. Boyle is the least of our worries

[superfurryhibby]

He's always been like this. This shouldn't come as a surprise imo. I've said this is his level for a while now. Brilliant on his day but an inconsistent player. Overall he's been decent this season. Good return of goals and assists overall.

Agree with this. Boyle is capable of looking outstanding, but never consistently. His recent form isn’t really all that different from his overall form at Hibs. Most Hibs fans understand this and recognise that is why he still plays for us.

Next.

[J-C]

He's double/triple marked most games because we have zero options elsewhere on the pitch, it's no coincidence that when Murphy was wide left and the midfield did their jobs, Boyle was creative and doing well. If you have no threat from midfield and no one on the left they can gang up on Boyle and nullify him.

[Dr Jimmy]

He is clearly targeted by the opposition. They rotate kicking, tripping him in the same way teams would with SJM as soon as he broke away.

[Alfred E Newman]

He looked good at Ibrox when he played up front with Nisbet. When we play 4-4-2 our painfully slow play from the back makes it easy for opposing teams to double up and snuff out the wide players.

[basehibby]

How can a player go from brilliant performances, aus national team, celebrations n new contract... to sub standard week in week out?

Has the servic dropped that much? Has he lost confidence? Bad management

It has to be something, but I've no idea why it's turned this way.

He's not though - it's a figment of your imagination.
Like most good players Boyle is capable of moments of brilliance but is neither physically capable nor permitted by opposing players of turning that on for 90 mins every game.
The last couple of games he has also been playing in an underperforming team and therefore has had less opportunity still to turn it on.

[Booked4Being-Ugly]

I don’t think Boyle has been that bad. Chipped in with a pretty decent number of goals and assists.

For me, the biggest issue with Boyle is that we’re far too reliant on him. Our midfield offer little to nothing in the final third of the pitch. Our other wide options are Wright (enough said) and Murphy who has been missing far too often.

In the last two disasters, he’s had three men round him as soon as he gets the ball. Stop him and you stop Hibs going forward.

Correct, it’s the only tangible threat we have. There’s nothing down the left with the exception of cameos from Doig and even less from McGennis, Murphy, Wright or Gullan.

In fact we need a left winger in this transfer window as we can’t rely on Murphy as he’s been extremely poor value for money!

There’s nothing coming through the middle now either.

[Numptie]

Theoretically, with Gogic on the pitch the full backs bomb forward and Boyle can go up the wing or in the park, giving options. Not sure we have the full backs to do this- that's modern footie for you.

[loanheadhibby]

Theoretically, with Gogic on the pitch the full backs bomb forward and Boyle can go up the wing or in the park, giving options. Not sure we have the full backs to do this- that's modern footie for you.

I’ve got a bit of sympathy with Boyle. When is someone on the left going to create chances? What about some of our midfielders chipping in with goals and assists. If others got there finger out, we’d not be so reliant on Boyle.

I agree that Boyle is at his level however, I dare say if he was playing with better players, he might produce a bit more.

[Steve88]

Boyle needs a playmaker to play that midflield/defence splitting ball ball as he straddles the offside line - this is what Stubs nailed with him by utilising McGinn/Allan..

But even with Allan/Mallan (newell perhaps) JR still doesn't seem to be able to achieve this.. he tends to sit deeper allowing opp players to double team him, or for boyle to run from one side of the pitch to the other...

[ekhibee]

He's always been like this. This shouldn't come as a surprise imo. I've said this is his level for a while now. Brilliant on his day but an inconsistent player. Overall he's been decent this season. Good return of goals and assists overall.

I think that's a pretty accurate assessment TBH. He's alright at this level, sometimes his speed makes him look a bit better than he actually is, but he's not a bad player. We do get a decent return in terms of goals from him, but I wouldn't want to rely on him as much as we sometimes do, he's not good enough to carry the team, he's not a Griffiths for example. But he's still a decent player.

[Since452]

It's not really a surprise. He's been hit and miss most of his time here. He was toiling badly at Hibs round about his first Australia call up. He's capable of good performances and poor ones equally.

[Since452]

He's always been like this. This shouldn't come as a surprise imo. I've said this is his level for a while now. Brilliant on his day but an inconsistent player. Overall he's been decent this season. Good return of goals and assists overall.

Yup

[Hermit Crab]

He's one of the fastest players in the league but he can barely beat a man with the ball at his feet.

[Peevemor]

He's one of the fastest players in the league but he can barely beat a man with the ball at his feet.Sometimes he does it fine.

These past couple of results seem to suit you down to the ground. I don't think I've ever seen you so present across so many threads.

[Onion]

Too much pressure on Boyler. Yesterday he had 3 Livi players swarming him every time the ball went near him, usually resulting in them taking turns in hacking him down. It should have freed up other Hibs players to do some damage, but nope they were in hiding.

He's the only Hibs player with any spark and drive at the moment. If he's not playing well, there no one else in the Hibs team capable of stepping up. We've got NO threat on the left hand side, unless Murphy is playing. Nisbet and Doidge have been terrible, midfield AWOL and defence full of quivering snowflakes.

No surprise the slackers have dragged down the better players ?

[Key West]

He's double/triple marked most games because we have zero options elsewhere on the pitch, it's no coincidence that when Murphy was wide left and the midfield did their jobs, Boyle was creative and doing well. If you have no threat from midfield and no one on the left they can gang up on Boyle and nullify him.

Exactly.

[The Harp Awakes]

I'd be surprised if the stats don't show Boyle is the most fouled against player in the SPFL by some distance.

Can't be easy getting kicked up and down the park all game and getting very little protection from the refs. With Murphy so injury prone, take Boyle out of the team and our ability to create chances drops to around zero, which is the biggest concern we have right now IMO.

[silverhibee]

He's always been like this. This shouldn't come as a surprise imo. I've said this is his level for a while now. Brilliant on his day but an inconsistent player. Overall he's been decent this season. Good return of goals and assists overall.

How I see it as well.

He could do with practicing his shooting as well through the week, it does pay off.

[Percy Vere]

No idea, he's been very frustrating, wish he would learn to use his left foot, you know once he starts coming in-field how it's going to end.

He’s being identified as Hibs main threat so often being matched up with two against him. Nullifying his threat. As the rest of the team seem incapable of raising their game it means we are toothless at times.
I agree he’s frustrating but he’s not getting the support he needs.

[Percy Vere]

Too much pressure on Boyler. Yesterday he had 3 Livi players swarming him every time the ball went near him, usually resulting in them taking turns in hacking him down. It should have freed up other Hibs players to do some damage, but nope they were in hiding.

He's the only Hibs player with any spark and drive at the moment. If he's not playing well, there no one else in the Hibs team capable of stepping up. We've got NO threat on the left hand side, unless Murphy is playing. Nisbet and Doidge have been terrible, midfield AWOL and defence full of quivering snowflakes.

No surprise the slackers have dragged down the better players ?

Bang on. Stop Boyle you stop Hibs as things stand.
We need a midfield that can take advantage of the space marking Boyle should be affording Hibs. But we aren’t. We need Murphy, Magennis and Alan to be fit and playing. Could be quite a different team.

[Percy Vere]

No idea, he's been very frustrating, wish he would learn to use his left foot, you know once he starts coming in-field how it's going to end.

He’s being identified as Hibs main threat so often being matched up with two against him. Nullifying his threat. As the rest of the team seem incapable of raising their game it means we are toothless at times.
I agree he’s frustrating but he’s not getting the support he needs.

[Shrekko]

Bang on. Stop Boyle you stop Hibs as things stand.
We need a midfield that can take advantage of the space marking Boyle should be affording Hibs. But we aren’t. We need Murphy, Magennis and Alan to be fit and playing. Could be quite a different team.

Exactly - Boyles form isn’t the problem and I’d totally dispute that he hasn’t done very well for us this season in any case.

I dread to think what we’d be like without him!

[1620]

Too much pressure on Boyler. Yesterday he had 3 Livi players swarming him every time the ball went near him, usually resulting in them taking turns in hacking him down. It should have freed up other Hibs players to do some damage, but nope they were in hiding.

He's the only Hibs player with any spark and drive at the moment. If he's not playing well, there no one else in the Hibs team capable of stepping up. We've got NO threat on the left hand side, unless Murphy is playing. Nisbet and Doidge have been terrible, midfield AWOL and defence full of quivering snowflakes.

No surprise the slackers have dragged down the better players ?

A good assessment of the last two games. However just a week ago I was sitting here pleased with the team’s performance at Ibrox (if disappointed with the result). In that game we did have a threat down the left hand side in young Doig in his role as a wing back and Boyle was a threat playing alongside Nisbet. Our manager then decides for the next two games to change the team shape and personnel. Why?

[Pretty Boy]

I think he may be struggling for confidence a bit. Not something I imagined writing about him.

There was a point yesterday that saw him beat his man and rather than drive into the box and cut it back in a similar way to the RC player in midweek for Shaw's goal, he stopped and hit a weak cross from a couple of yards in from the touchline that was easily defended.

It can't be easy for him as teams double op on him every week. The sooner Murphy is back to add a bit of threat down the left and balance us out a bit the better.

[Coco Bryce]

He's just not as good as he thinks he is.

Probably why even a good spell last season, still nobody came in for him in the transfer window.

[The 90+2]

Lack of confidence/motivation? At the start of the season he started off games well than faded (as did the rest of the side). As I said yesterday with a WC year next year and maybe a new contract to play for he might get back to his old self. Maybe he was after pastures new abroad before the whole covid thing hit?

[CMurdoch]

The poor wee guy has played in all 22 league games missing only 11 minutes.
That's 5th highest minutes in the league and the highest for any forward player in the league. Ryan Kent is next in 23rd. In essence Martin has been overplayed so no wonder he is struggling a bit at the moment.
Other than the games against the old firm he has found himself tightly marked and kicked up in the air.
It's a tough role winning loads of free kicks every week by getting kicked.

He has scored goals and has had some good assists.
He does what he can which is good enough for me and delighted he has had no more issues with his knee.
Get Murphy doing his thing on the other side and teams will have more to think about than Martin which will give him a bit of wriggle room..
He's at the right team and playing his level.

[wookie70]

Exactly - Boyles form isn’t the problem and I’d totally dispute that he hasn’t done very well for us this season in any case.

I dread to think what we’d be like without him!

I agree with that. Boyle has scored 5 and assisted with 5 goals in the league already mostly from wide positions. He has also put great balls into the box lots of time to be squandered. He is a typical winger so has good games and bad and now teams realise he is our main threat they have started doubling up. We should see that as a plus and use that spare man elsewhere but our passing and movement is so slow and predictable we can't. I still think the biggest difference between Ross and Heck is Martin Boyle being fit and that the upturn in our form when Heck went was more to do with Boyle playing than him leaving.

[Itsnoteasy]

He is clearly targeted by the opposition. They rotate kicking, tripping him in the same way teams would with SJM as soon as he broke away.

Hit him hard early & he's not interested. The problem is we don't do that to the oppositions danger men. On the other hand it didn't faze SJM he just got up & got on with it.

[Stuart93]

Hit him hard early & he's not interested. The problem is we don't do that to the oppositions danger men. On the other hand it didn't faze SJM he just got up & got on with it.

Correct. We’re far too nice a team.

[Itsnoteasy]

How can a player go from brilliant performances, aus national team, celebrations n new contract... to sub standard week in week out?

Has the servic dropped that much? Has he lost confidence? Bad management

It has to be something, but I've no idea why it's turned this way.

His problem was his mouth. He thought he was getting a big payday when his contract run out, then no takers. He then signs again for Hibs. One of the 1st things he said after signing was its great to be given another contract, but no disrespect to Hibs I am ambitious & believe I can play at a a higher level.

Everyone in all aspects of life should look to better themselves, but don't come out & tell everyone this.

[MrRobot]

We rely on Boyle too much and have basically nobody to replace him with so even when he isn’t playing well, he stays on. He’s played almost every minute so far. I get he one of our main attacking threats so it’s difficult to take him off but we need backup in that position.

It also doesn’t add for motivation that his place is safe regardless of his performance as we don’t have many options in that area.

[The 90+2]

We rely on Boyle too much and have basically nobody to replace him with so even when he isn’t playing well, he stays on. He’s played almost every minute so far. I get he one of our main attacking threats so it’s difficult to take him off but we need backup in that position.

It also doesn’t add for motivation that his place is safe regardless of his performance as we don’t have many options in that area.


Was Drey Wright not signed as a player to play on the wide right with Murphy signed for the left? Another poor signing who has failed to show anything really.

It shows the confidence the manager has of the player when Boyle, out of form totally plays every single game.

[h1bs4life]

The poor wee guy has played in all 22 league games missing only 11 minutes.
That's 5th highest minutes in the league and the highest for any forward player in the league. Ryan Kent is next in 23rd. In essence Martin has been overplayed so no wonder he is struggling a bit at the moment.
Other than the games against the old firm he has found himself tightly marked and kicked up in the air.
It's a tough role winning loads of free kicks every week by getting kicked.

He has scored goals and has had some good assists.
He does what he can which is good enough for me and delighted he has had no more issues with his knee.
Get Murphy doing his thing on the other side and teams will have more to think about than Martin which will give him a bit of wriggle room..
He's at the right team and playing his level.


Agree probably noticed it more now watching on line but the amount of punishment he takes is unbelievable with little protection from refs.
Every team apart from the Old Firm target him just about every tackle on him is trying to get his ankles ,back of the legs , pull of the jersey players taking turns each doing anything to stop him.
They double / treble up on him aware we have little threat elsewhere and if you stop Boyle you have a good chance of stopping Hibs.
Boyle has done alright this season , we need threats from other parts of the team as well , we need to be targeting opponents players and stop being so soft.

[MrRobot]

Was Drey Wright not signed as a player to play on the wide right with Murphy signed for the left? Another poor signing who has failed to show anything really.

It shows the confidence the manager has of the player when Boyle, out of form totally plays every single game.

You would think he was but Drey seems to have played mostly on the left or central.

I agree though Drey hasn’t shown much so far, maybe it’s due to not playing in the position he was signed for but i think we’d be up in arms if Boyle was dropped for him :greengrin

[Zambernardi1875]

Sometimes he does it fine.

These past couple of results seem to suit you down to the ground. I don't think I've ever seen you so present across so many threads.

Are people only allowed to post if they toe the line.what he said regarding Boyle is true

[Peevemor]

Are people only allowed to post if they toe the line.what he said regarding Boyle is trueSo he can post what he wants, so can you, but I can't ?

How does that work then?

And for what it's worth, I disagree with his point. We've all seen Boyle beating players with the ball at his feet. He even did so yesterday.

[blackpoolhibs]

He's just not as good as he thinks he is.

Probably why even a good spell last season, still nobody came in for him in the transfer window.

Does he have an opinion on himself, its not something I've seen or read about?:confused:

[Hiber-nation]

He's the least of our problems. Been poor the last 3 games but excellent in the previous 4 or 5. Would be far more appreciated if he had a decent no 9 in there for all his set ups.

[CentreLine]

I don’t know if it’s been said but I’m more than a little concerned that Boyle has gone back to spending too much of the game on his erse. Stay in yer feet and we get more out of you Boyler.

And he’s not the only one. Porteous would be much better employed attacking the ball in the box than toppling over at every opportunity

[The 90+2]

You would think he was but Drey seems to have played mostly on the left or central.

I agree though Drey hasn’t shown much so far, maybe it’s due to not playing in the position he was signed for but i think we’d be up in arms if Boyle was dropped for him :greengrin


While mainly true, if we sign the guy to be a right midfielder/winger at least give him the League Cup games otherwise it's a completely pointless signing wasting cash imo.

[MrRobot]

While mainly true, if we sign the guy to be a right midfielder/winger at least give him the League Cup games otherwise it's a completely pointless signing wasting cash imo.

I agree mate, a run in his natural position might get the best out of Drey and could add motivation for Boyle.

[HFC 0-7]

He's double/triple marked most games because we have zero options elsewhere on the pitch, it's no coincidence that when Murphy was wide left and the midfield did their jobs, Boyle was creative and doing well. If you have no threat from midfield and no one on the left they can gang up on Boyle and nullify him.

Exactly this, teams know that he is our biggest threat so mark him out the game. We should be using that as an advantage, if teams have to double up on him, there should be space elsewhere.

[The 90+2]

I agree mate, a run in his natural position might get the best out of Drey and could add motivation for Boyle.


:agree: :aok:

[Keith_M]

I'm a bit confused about the claim that Boyle is fast but can't get past opposition players, as I've seen him do just that multiple times this season.

I get that everyone's entitled to their point of view, but some people's views seems to have an awful lot of blind spots when it's something they quite clearly don't want to see.

[brog]

Too much pressure on Boyler. Yesterday he had 3 Livi players swarming him every time the ball went near him, usually resulting in them taking turns in hacking him down. It should have freed up other Hibs players to do some damage, but nope they were in hiding.

He's the only Hibs player with any spark and drive at the moment. If he's not playing well, there no one else in the Hibs team capable of stepping up. We've got NO threat on the left hand side, unless Murphy is playing. Nisbet and Doidge have been terrible, midfield AWOL and defence full of quivering snowflakes.

No surprise the slackers have dragged down the better players ?

Excellent summary. I would only add to it that we also don't have anyone capable of passing the ball inside the full back for Boyle to run on to. Scott Allan's pass against Dons and Martin's goal last season is a perfect example. Result is every ball is hit to Boyle's feet meaning he has to try & beat 2 or 3 opponents from a standing start. If every Hibs player had played to Boyle's level this season then this board would be a far happier place.

[basehibby]

Hit him hard early & he's not interested. The problem is we don't do that to the oppositions danger men. On the other hand it didn't faze SJM he just got up & got on with it.

The bit in bold is totally unfair on Boyle - he gets kicked up and down the park every week and I've never once seen him shirk but he continues to give his all.

The rest I agree with - we often seem guilty of forgetting teams below us in the league can play a bit as well and hence allowing them too much opportunity to do so.

[Bostonhibby]

Not much service, often having to backtrack and a victim of serial fouling.

A real match winner for us on his day.

Sent from my SM-A750FN using Tapatalk

[ancient hibee]

Excellent summary. I would only add to it that we also don't have anyone capable of passing the ball inside the full back for Boyle to run on to. Scott Allan's pass against Dons and Martin's goal last season is a perfect example. Result is every ball is hit to Boyle's feet meaning he has to try & beat 2 or 3 opponents from a standing start. If every Hibs player had played to Boyle's level this season then this board would be a far happier place.

Not only are the passes to his feet but the player usually runs to within 10 feet of Boyle and then passes it.

[allmodcons]

The poor wee guy has played in all 22 league games missing only 11 minutes.
That's 5th highest minutes in the league and the highest for any forward player in the league. Ryan Kent is next in 23rd. In essence Martin has been overplayed so no wonder he is struggling a bit at the moment.
Other than the games against the old firm he has found himself tightly marked and kicked up in the air.
It's a tough role winning loads of free kicks every week by getting kicked.

He has scored goals and has had some good assists.
He does what he can which is good enough for me and delighted he has had no more issues with his knee.
Get Murphy doing his thing on the other side and teams will have more to think about than Martin which will give him a bit of wriggle room..
He's at the right team and playing his level.

Thank Christ for some common sense.

[MWHIBBIES]

The bit in bold is totally unfair on Boyle - he gets kicked up and down the park every week and I've never once seen him shirk but he continues to give his all.

The rest I agree with - we often seem guilty of forgetting teams below us in the league can play a bit as well and hence allowing them too much opportunity to do so.

Its not just unfair, its nonsense, doesn't stand up at all. Boyle gets kicked and back up more than anyone I've seen at Hibs.

[allmodcons]

Its not just unfair, its nonsense, doesn't stand up at all. Boyle gets kicked and back up more than anyone I've seen at Hibs.

:agree:

[Inconsequential]

His loss of form has coincided with the mysterious disappearance of his bald patch. Just a thought. :wink:

[Itsnoteasy]

its not just unfair, its nonsense, doesn't stand up at all. Boyle gets kicked and back up more than anyone i've seen at hibs.

sjm

[hibee-boys]

Boyle is the least of our problems, has scored and created more from open play than the rest of the midfielders put together. Get Murphy fit offering a threat down the left and this will help stretch our opponents defence, our attack can be so one sided it’s a joke. Boyle is also having to come and collect the ball so deep it’s easy to defend against, I want him running at defenders in the last third not from the half way line.

[The 90+2]

Cadden in, play a diamond and interchange him and Doidge up top.

[whiskyhibby]

He's double/triple marked most games because we have zero options elsewhere on the pitch, it's no coincidence that when Murphy was wide left and the midfield did their jobs, Boyle was creative and doing well. If you have no threat from midfield and no one on the left they can gang up on Boyle and nullify him.

Completely agree

[jacomo]

Cadden in, play a diamond and interchange him and Doidge up top.


That could work.

[Itsnoteasy]

Exactly this, teams know that he is our biggest threat so mark him out the game. We should be using that as an advantage, if teams have to double up on him, there should be space elsewhere.

👍

[Smartie]

Excellent summary. I would only add to it that we also don't have anyone capable of passing the ball inside the full back for Boyle to run on to. Scott Allan's pass against Dons and Martin's goal last season is a perfect example. Result is every ball is hit to Boyle's feet meaning he has to try & beat 2 or 3 opponents from a standing start. If every Hibs player had played to Boyle's level this season then this board would be a far happier place.

Stephen McGinn put a peach of a pass inside the full back to set Stevenson free late in the Ross County match. Stevenson’s cut back was excellent too and that bit of football deserved much better than for Joe Newell to sclaff his shot.

Not saying McGinn is necessarily the answer here, but I don’t think it’s fair to say we have nobody who can play that pass.