Well done Hibs and David Gray

[He's here!]

Yep thought we gave it our all as any neutral watching would agree. Gray got his tactics pretty much spot on. 0-0 at HT and an early second half lead. Had Kyogo not been passed fit we could well have won and nobody on here would give a **** about how we played.

It's hideous losing a final but while Kyogo was the key difference we're a long way off Celtic player for player as will be reflected in the final league table where they'll be a good 30-40 points clear of us.

The truth hurts, particularly in the wake of a disappointment like today, but unless Ron's got some serious cash to throw at the team we'll always be also-rans - just like any team outwith the big two.

[Mantis Toboggan]

Absolute nonsense, and the neutral watching with me certainly did not agree

[Magpie]

We were solid defensively except for the two goals which were really sloppy. If we hold onto that lead for at least 5/10 minutes it changes the dynamic of the game and we have the opportunity to kill the game on the counter.

Sir David will forever be a Hibs legend and I hope one day a future Hibs manager.

[DaveF]

Total crap. Against a shadow celtc team we hardly attacked until desperation set in.

It's a team with a timid mentality that needs changing.

[Sir David Gray]

Sorry can't agree with any well done comments after that.

That wasn't a performance I would expect in a cup final and if that's now the standards we expect at Hibs then we're in serious trouble.

The first half was absolutely dreadful and whilst the second half was better it really wasn't hard.

[Wakeyhibee]

Total crap. Against a shadow celtc team we hardly attacked until desperation set in.

It's a team with a timid mentality that needs changing.

I thought there was a lot of effort. Dont think the heads were down, capitulated or anything like that. The team isnt balanced and lacks quality in key areas mainly midfield. Tactics were dull but effective first half (not what I want to see mind).

Celtic are a shadow compared but so are we.

[Iain G]

Total crap. Against a shadow celtc team we hardly attacked until desperation set in.

It's a team with a timid mentality that needs changing.

We scored first though...

[He's here!]

I thought there was a lot of effort. Dont think the heads were down, capitulated or anything like that. The team isnt balanced and lacks quality in key areas mainly midfield. Tactics were dull but effective first half (not what I want to see mind).

Celtic are a shadow compared but so are we.

Agree with all of that. Seen far worse cup final displays by Hibs teams so I'm not sure what folk were expecting. I thought we did well enough for the most part.

[DaveF]

We scored first though...

We did (and conceded milliseconds later) but what's your point? We hardly had any attacking threat at all until the last 15. In fact, you could argue that if we did pose a threat we might have scored more.

[wookie70]

I think we were very lucky to go in at 0-0. We were dreadful imo and soaking up pressure but allowing Celtc to waltz into our final third completely unchallenged is highly unlikely to end well. We got lucky in the first half but we did pretty well in the second. We got the first goal, created chances and despite playing with 10 men due to Murphy being completely uninterested and against 12 because Beaton was ridiculously one sided we brought it to the opposition. SDG did fine for his short spell but we were pretty much the same as Jack Ross's side. Lacking midfielder who can both defend and attack, far too deep and nothing on the bench to change things. The love in with Murphy continued too and I think even Ross would have hooked him at Half Time. as it turned out SDG taking too long to make a sub actually contributed to Celtc's winner. Far too much dead wood in our side and pretty much all of them are midfielders

[Iain G]

We did (and conceded milliseconds later) but what's your point? We hardly had any attacking threat at all until the last 15. In fact, you could argue that if we did pose a threat we might have scored more.

You said we hardly attacked until desperation set in, but we took the lead, or were we desperate at that point?

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Yep thought we gave it our all as any neutral watching would agree. Gray got his tactics pretty much spot on. 0-0 at HT and an early second half lead. Had Kyogo not been passed fit we could well have won and nobody on here would give a **** about how we played.

It's hideous losing a final but while Kyogo was the key difference we're a long way off Celtic player for player as will be reflected in the final league table where they'll be a good 30-40 points clear of us.

The truth hurts, particularly in the wake of a disappointment like today, but unless Ron's got some serious cash to throw at the team we'll always be also-rans - just like any team outwith the big two.

Ffs, hardly touched the ball for the first 35 mins, magic game plan. As it progressed we were seriously unlucky, nobody planned the start to the game though.

[The Harp Awakes]

Yep thought we gave it our all as any neutral watching would agree. Gray got his tactics pretty much spot on. 0-0 at HT and an early second half lead. Had Kyogo not been passed fit we could well have won and nobody on here would give a **** about how we played.

It's hideous losing a final but while Kyogo was the key difference we're a long way off Celtic player for player as will be reflected in the final league table where they'll be a good 30-40 points clear of us.

The truth hurts, particularly in the wake of a disappointment like today, but unless Ron's got some serious cash to throw at the team we'll always be also-rans - just like any team outwith the big two.

Nope.

You've got to take your opportunity in a Cup Final. We only had a go with 20 minutes remaining. Apart from Kyogo, Celtic were nothiing startling.

Doidge only given 10 minutes. Why?

Massive missed opportunity.

[JimBHibees]

Thought the game plan was fine in first half not exciting but organised and was working a treat when went one up. Horrific defending for both goals which is hugely frustrating. Unlucky near the end but Paul should be scoring at the end Penalty or not. Misssed opportunity imo

[flash]

Total crap. Against a shadow celtc team we hardly attacked until desperation set in.

It's a team with a timid mentality that needs changing.

Hardly a shadow Celtic team. Other than Jota and Jullien, who has been out for months, that's their best team.

[He's here!]

Sorry can't agree with any well done comments after that.

That wasn't a performance I would expect in a cup final and if that's now the standards we expect at Hibs then we're in serious trouble.

The first half was absolutely dreadful and whilst the second half was better it really wasn't hard.

Apart from the major cups we've actually won (4 in 50 years) how often have we performed to the standards you'd expect in finals? I recall us running Rangers close in a 2-1 1993 League Cup final defeat plus the marathon 1979 Scottish Cup final but apart from that we've rarely lived up to any sort of standard. Losing 2-0 to Livi, 5-1 to Hearts and 1-0 to St Johnstone are among the lowlights but Celtic have brushed us off with ease in both this century's Scottish Cup final meetings while even the Tornadoes got humiliated 6-1 by them. This is a pretty poor Hibs team but at least we were in the game today right up until the final whistle. Not a vintage Celtic side, granted, but still far stronger and far more expensively assembled than Hibs. We got ourselves into a winning position and had we held on to that nobody would be bemoaning how low our standards were.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Thought the game plan was fine in first half not exciting but organised and was working a treat when went one up. Horrific defending for both goals which is hugely frustrating. Unlucky near the end but Paul should be scoring at the end Penalty or not. Misssed opportunity imo

What was the first half game plan?

[john rossi]

Only in the last 10 min when we were 2-1 down did we take the game to Celtic not good enoughIMO. Pit midfield was second best expected better from Campbell,Newal,JDH.

[Liberal Hibby]

What was the first half game plan?

Soak up the pressure, don't allow them any close in scoring opportunities and hit them on the break.

We did the first two perfectly but didn't get many opportunities on the break (Murphy's poos performance didn't help). Second half we hit them early with a sucker punch - and a couple of dodgy refereeing decisions didn't allow us to keep hold of the lead. If we had we would have had lots of opportunities to hit them on the break.

As it was we nearly got it back to 2-2 and had a blatant penalty disallowed...

[allmodcons]

What was the first half game plan?

If you don't know yourself that's concerning.

It was clearly to frustrate them and stay in the game and (as I said on another thread), as I recall, we went in 0v0 at half time.

Second half, I thought we were good against a team who we all know have better players than us.

You have to laugh at the master tacticians on these boards who think stretching the game from the get go against a team like Celtic is some sort of game plan.

Last time we played them, the game was over after 30 minutes. Would you have preferred that today?

[WeeRussell]

If you don't know yourself that's concerning.

It was clearly to frustrate them and stay in the game and (as I said on another thread), as I recall, we went 0v0 at half time.

Second half, I thought we were good against a team who we all know have better players than us.

You have to laugh at the master tacticians on these boards who think stretching the game from the get go against a team like Celtic is some sort of game plan.

Last time we played them, the game was over after 30 minutes. Would you have preferred that today?

Correct. In the instances where the game did get stretched it was very easy to see how quickly we could be hurt. It doesn’t really matter how many more times they touch the ball if we’re not giving up glaring chances in a game like that.

[Callum_62]

If you don't know yourself that's concerning.

It was clearly to frustrate them and stay in the game and (as I said on another thread), as I recall, we went 0v0 at half time.

Second half, I thought we were good against a team who we all know have better players than us.

You have to laugh at the master tacticians on these boards who think stretching the game from the get go against a team like Celtic is some sort of game plan.

Last time we played them, the game was over after 30 minutes. Would you have preferred that today?Spot on

We sat in and still were left a bit exposed on occassions as celtic actually have good players

You could say that when Hanlon headed us 1 up that the game plan was running perfectly

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[Nakedmanoncrack]

If you don't know yourself that's concerning.

It was clearly to frustrate them and stay in the game and (as I said on another thread), as I recall, we went 0v0 at half time.

Second half, I thought we were good against a team who we all know have better players than us.

You have to laugh at the master tacticians on these boards who think stretching the game from the get go against a team like Celtic is some sort of game plan.

Last time we played them, the game was over after 30 minutes. Would you have preferred that today?

:agree:

[He's here!]

If you don't know yourself that's concerning.

It was clearly to frustrate them and stay in the game and (as I said on another thread), as I recall, we went in 0v0 at half time.

Second half, I thought we were good against a team who we all know have better players than us.

You have to laugh at the master tacticians on these boards who think stretching the game from the get go against a team like Celtic is some sort of game plan.

Last time we played them, the game was over after 30 minutes. Would you have preferred that today?

Spot on. It's almost always been thus against Celtic because we don't have the quality to do it. If we'd tried that today they would have had us dead and buried by half time.

[JimBHibees]

What was the first half game plan?

To stop them scoring like the game at ER.

[Smartie]

I’ve not really been on Hibs.net today so I was surprised to log on tonight and see so much negativity about the final.

It’s not that long ago that we cheered the team off the park after a 3-0 defeat in a cup final to Celtic - and the fans in the ground appeared to have responded well to the players today.

It wasn’t a vintage Hibs performance but it wasn’t horrific either - and as I see it we’re ruing having switched off a couple of times otherwise we’d have dug out a famous victory with a team that is far from our best ever.

A “well done” is merited imo.

[Scooter]

I've got a feeling sir David will be gone. I really hope I'm wrong

[Bobby's Cinema]

I’ve not really been on Hibs.net today so I was surprised to log on tonight and see so much negativity about the final.

It’s not that long ago that we cheered the team off the park after a 3-0 defeat in a cup final to Celtic - and the fans in the ground appeared to have responded well to the players today.

It wasn’t a vintage Hibs performance but it wasn’t horrific either - and as I see it we’re ruing having switched off a couple of times otherwise we’d have dug out a famous victory with a team that is far from our best ever.

A “well done” is merited imo.

Tend to agree with that. The first half we failed to engage and offered nothing really, but as SDG said in interview celtic have been flying out the traps in games (see our previous meeting) so HT wasn't the worst outcome.

Second half thought we were the better side until they made it 2-1, kept the ball alot better and created a few good chances of our own. On another day could have won the cup.

It certainly didn't feel to me like one of those disappointing performances where we just didn't turn up. It was far from that.

[Callum_62]

I've got a feeling sir David will be gone. I really hope I'm wrongThought the same hearing him talk actually

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[The 90+2]

To stop them scoring like the game at ER.

Instead of our first half game plan last time at Hampden against a better team?

Little bit negative in comparison to Jack Ross, no? I thought boring was ****?

[hibsbollah]

I’ve not really been on Hibs.net today so I was surprised to log on tonight and see so much negativity about the final.

It’s not that long ago that we cheered the team off the park after a 3-0 defeat in a cup final to Celtic - and the fans in the ground appeared to have responded well to the players today.

It wasn’t a vintage Hibs performance but it wasn’t horrific either - and as I see it we’re ruing having switched off a couple of times otherwise we’d have dug out a famous victory with a team that is far from our best ever.

A “well done” is merited imo.

Agree. I was getting peed off with the high balls myself but it was working, Macey was untroubled and a deep back line was working. Then we get a goal out of nothing, and both teams started to play and Beaton joined in. The tactics were a bit jamboid first half but broadly I’d say SDG had us set up well.

[Scooter]

Thought the same hearing him talk actually

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Yeah it was his hibs tv interview that made me think that way

[Mantis Toboggan]

Gray will move on I think, and maybe it's for the best. If Maloney is to succeed he needs to do it his way. A bit sad but Gray will easily get a job elsewhere.

[Liberal Hibby]

Agree. I was getting peed off with the high balls myself but it was working, Macey was untroubled and a deep back line was working. Then we get a goal out of nothing, and both teams started to play and Beaton joined in. The tactics were a bit jamboid first half but broadly I’d say SDG had us set up well.

Yup that's how I saw it too.

[Blaster]

Whilst I was disappointed in our first half performance, I understood it after what happened in the league game at Easter Road. When Hanlon scored the plan had worked.

Unfortunately we didn’t allow the pressure to build for them due to the quick equaliser. That frustrated me the most. But we kept going and created a few chances and should have had a penalty

The obvious thing for me today was that both Murphy and Allan are finished at this level and we need to spend their wages on better. That’s difficult for me as a big fan of Allan but he simply can’t compete fitness wise

[Keyser Sauzee]

Yeah it was his hibs tv interview that made me think that way

I don’t think he’ll be away, I think he’ll go back to being a coach.

[NAE NOOKIE]

Total crap. Against a shadow celtc team we hardly attacked until desperation set in.

It's a team with a timid mentality that needs changing..

Correct. I can't find it in me to heap praise on a first half performance that was non existent in an attacking sense and a second half that only saw any real urgency effort or will to take the game to them when it was too bloody late.