This is how it feels (Motherwell 01 04 23)

[Jonnyboy]

Hibs were made to look absolute April Fool’s today by a Motherwell side that dictated play from start to finish and the home side was not helped by some shocking goalkeeping from David Marshall who, in my view, should have done a whole lot better at the three goals we conceded, but more on each of those later. None of the keepers’ outfield colleagues got pass marks with only Chris Cadden the best of a very poor bunch. I must emphasise that this defeat was totally self inflicted but I just have to mention a stunningly bad performance from referee Graham Grainger. It’s the first time I’ve seen him and pray it is the last after a display littered with baffling decisions.

Lee Johnson selected his starting eleven to operate in a 3-5-2 formation but from the off it was clear that the visitors had anticipated that and immediately set about putting the Hibs man in possession, under extreme pressure. Essentially, they were hunting in packs and forcing Hibs into errors resulting in them losing/giving away the ball. Any time Marshall played the ball short to a defender, obviously in the hope that Hibs could build from the back, the defender with the ball was quickly under pressure and invariably the lack of movement in front of them meant there was no safe out ball.

Inside the first five minutes, Van Veen had a chance from around fifteen yards but shot straight at Marshall and very soon after that the home defence was struggling to clear the ball and as it fell just outside the box, Doyle-Hayes swung his boot at it but caught Dean Cornelius in the face. Grainger, rightly, awarded a free kick and booked Doyle-Hayes. Marshall lined up his wall but was rooted to the spot when Goss hit his shot into the net off the underside of the crossbar. Now, you could be charitable and say the wall never jumped but from my angle they looked badly placed to cover the side of the goal left open by Marshall.

Still enjoying the bulk of possession, Motherwell continually found space down the flanks, exposing the use of a back three against a side that used its wide men wisely and it was painful to watch as the home side consistently gave up possession through poor use of the ball, slack passing and an inability on occasion to control a ball passed to them. The first glimmer of a chance for Hibs came around the fifteenth minute mark when Josh Campbell flighted in a cross that Kevin Nisbet reached but could only head the ball straight at keeper Kelly.

Van Veen was causing all sorts of problems, cleverly playing on the shoulder of the last man and when a low cross reached him ten yards out he should have done a whole lot better than smashing a shot high over the bar. At the other end, Campbell fed Chris Cadden who cut in from the right and hit a left foot shot but it was just too high and cleared the bar with Kelly watching on anxiously. A succession of fouls by both sides meant there was little by way of flow in the game until the half hour mark when a low driven ball from Casey found Van Veen racing away from his marker. I was stunned when Marshall decided not to come for that ball as he looked to have been favourite if he did but instead, he let Van Veen get a low shot away and watched anxiously with the rest of us as the effort trickled past Marshall’s far post. It was around this point that Hibs changed to a 4-4-2 but the effect of doing so was negligible. To be fair to Marshall, he was soon in the right place to deny Van Veen another effort on goal.

Next, we witnessed the bizarre sight of Paul McGinn trying to hit the target from about fifty yards as he’d noticed Marshall off his line, but the effort lacked power and the keeper was able to react and collect the ball safely. With half time approaching, Stevenson picked out Hoppe on the edge of the Motherwell box but the striker dallied fractionally and as a result his shot was blocked. Then, a Spittal cross was flicked on at the near post by Mandron, but the ball cleared the bar, and the sides went in at 1-0 to Motherwell although to be brutally honest they might have had two or three of a lead.

With Doyle-Hayes having been booked and in all honestly having a pretty poor game he was replaced for the second half by Harry McKirdy but the first action after the start arrived when Van Veen set up Spittal but the latter steered his shot wide of the target. It was Van Veen himself that had the next attempt on goal and only a last ditch challenge from Cadden stopped the striker from hitting the ball more sweetly.

There was little change in the pattern of the game, regardless of what had been discussed in the home dressing room at half time and before the hour mark, Hibs made a hash of clearing the ball which found its way to Spittal who was in acres of room inside the area. Marshall charged out but never looked favourite to reach the ball first and instead crashed into Spittal to concede a stone wall penalty. Referee Grainger booked the keeper and I thought at the time that Marshall was lucky it was not a red. After a few moments while Spittal was receiving treatment, Van Veen stepped forward and hit a pathetically weak penalty which Marshall should have saved but instead allowed the ball to squirm underneath him and into the net. Moments later, Goss hit a speculative effort from around thirty five yards but this time the keeper was equal to it.

A Kevin Nisbet header flew over the bar after which Nisbet chased down the referee to complain that he had been clearly impeded by a jersey pull but Grainger wasn’t interested. Just after the hour mark, Chris Cadden sent in an inviting cross and Kevin Nisbet accepted the invitation by bulleting a header past Kelly to make it 2-1. Substitutes Cabraja, Newell and Kuharevich joined the fray with Stevenson, Egan-Riley and Campbell departing and suddenly, Motherwell started to look a bit nervous as Hibs, lifted by the positive crowd reaction, began a chase for the equaliser. McKirdy was unlucky to see a low right footed drive fly just outside Kelly’s far post and Motherwell set about committing a series of unpunished fouls to disrupt any rhythm Hibs were trying to create. One foul, when McKirdy was scythed down by Casey failed to result in a booking by the referee, just another bizarre decision by the man in the middle.

With ten minutes left, Ewan Henderson came on to replace Hoppe on the left and Hibs were attacking but lost possession and in trying to arrest the forward movement, Fish bundled Paton over, around twenty or so yards from goal. Marshall set up his wall and then inexplicably took up position to cover the half of the goal his wall had been set to cover. Kevin Van Veen must have thought it was his birthday as he stepped up and struck the ball into the space left vacant by the keeper. It was a shocker from Marshall and in my view indefensible.

With their two goal cushion re-established, Motherwell set about running down the clock as Hibs, for reasons I cannot explain, decided that despite having scored from a cross and despite loading the box with their tallest players, they’d fail miserably to deliver any crosses of note. Referee Grainger finally found his yellow card when Furlong hacked down McKirdy but in truth the same player had fouled repeatedly without earlier punishment. Joe Newell, who had at least tried to push his side on, saw two pretty tame efforts easily saved as the game moved in to six additional minutes. Nisbet and Kuharevich (twice) also had efforts, but Kelly was never truly troubled.

Full credit to Motherwell who deserved the three points but with Hearts losing, Aberdeen and St Mirren winning we not only failed to reduce the points gap on the Tynecastle side but allowed both the Dons and St Mirren to overtake us, meaning we ended the day in sixth place, only one point ahead of Livingston.

No words on the players after such a shocking performance.

Lee Johnson was sitting in the stand and had as good a view as most of what was unfolding in front of him and it wasn’t pretty.

Referee – Graham Grainger was horrific.

[DaveF]

Can't disagree with any of that.

A pub team performance.

[Real Emerald]

Hibs were made to look absolute April Fool’s today by a Motherwell side that dictated play from start to finish and the home side was not helped by some shocking goalkeeping from David Marshall who, in my view, should have done a whole lot better at the three goals we conceded, but more on each of those later. None of the keepers’ outfield colleagues got pass marks with only Chris Cadden the best of a very poor bunch. I must emphasise that this defeat was totally self inflicted but I just have to mention a stunningly bad performance from referee Graham Grainger. It’s the first time I’ve seen him and pray it is the last after a display littered with baffling decisions.

Lee Johnson selected his starting eleven to operate in a 3-5-2 formation but from the off it was clear that the visitors had anticipated that and immediately set about putting the Hibs man in possession, under extreme pressure. Essentially, they were hunting in packs and forcing Hibs into errors resulting in them losing/giving away the ball. Any time Marshall played the ball short to a defender, obviously in the hope that Hibs could build from the back, the defender with the ball was quickly under pressure and invariably the lack of movement in front of them meant there was no safe out ball.

Inside the first five minutes, Van Veen had a chance from around fifteen yards but shot straight at Marshall and very soon after that the home defence was struggling to clear the ball and as it fell just outside the box, Doyle-Hayes swung his boot at it but caught Dean Cornelius in the face. Grainger, rightly, awarded a free kick and booked Doyle-Hayes. Marshall lined up his wall but was rooted to the spot when Goss hit his shot into the net off the underside of the crossbar. Now, you could be charitable and say the wall never jumped but from my angle they looked badly placed to cover the side of the goal left open by Marshall.

Still enjoying the bulk of possession, Motherwell continually found space down the flanks, exposing the use of a back three against a side that used its wide men wisely and it was painful to watch as the home side consistently gave up possession through poor use of the ball, slack passing and an inability on occasion to control a ball passed to them. The first glimmer of a chance for Hibs came around the fifteenth minute mark when Josh Campbell flighted in a cross that Kevin Nisbet reached but could only head the ball straight at keeper Kelly.

Van Veen was causing all sorts of problems, cleverly playing on the shoulder of the last man and when a low cross reached him ten yards out he should have done a whole lot better than smashing a shot high over the bar. At the other end, Campbell fed Chris Cadden who cut in from the right and hit a left foot shot but it was just too high and cleared the bar with Kelly watching on anxiously. A succession of fouls by both sides meant there was little by way of flow in the game until the half hour mark when a low driven ball from Casey found Van Veen racing away from his marker. I was stunned when Marshall decided not to come for that ball as he looked to have been favourite if he did but instead, he let Van Veen get a low shot away and watched anxiously with the rest of us as the effort trickled past Marshall’s far post. It was around this point that Hibs changed to a 4-4-2 but the effect of doing so was negligible. To be fair to Marshall, he was soon in the right place to deny Van Veen another effort on goal.

Next, we witnessed the bizarre sight of Paul McGinn trying to hit the target from about fifty yards as he’d noticed Marshall off his line, but the effort lacked power and the keeper was able to react and collect the ball safely. With half time approaching, Stevenson picked out Hoppe on the edge of the Motherwell box but the striker dallied fractionally and as a result his shot was blocked. Then, a Spittal cross was flicked on at the near post by Mandron, but the ball cleared the bar, and the sides went in at 1-0 to Motherwell although to be brutally honest they might have had two or three of a lead.

With Doyle-Hayes having been booked and in all honestly having a pretty poor game he was replaced for the second half by Harry McKirdy but the first action after the start arrived when Van Veen set up Spittal but the latter steered his shot wide of the target. It was Van Veen himself that had the next attempt on goal and only a last ditch challenge from Cadden stopped the striker from hitting the ball more sweetly.

There was little change in the pattern of the game, regardless of what had been discussed in the home dressing room at half time and before the hour mark, Hibs made a hash of clearing the ball which found its way to Spittal who was in acres of room inside the area. Marshall charged out but never looked favourite to reach the ball first and instead crashed into Spittal to concede a stone wall penalty. Referee Grainger booked the keeper and I thought at the time that Marshall was lucky it was not a red. After a few moments while Spittal was receiving treatment, Van Veen stepped forward and hit a pathetically weak penalty which Marshall should have saved but instead allowed the ball to squirm underneath him and into the net. Moments later, Goss hit a speculative effort from around thirty five yards but this time the keeper was equal to it.

A Kevin Nisbet header flew over the bar after which Nisbet chased down the referee to complain that he had been clearly impeded by a jersey pull but Grainger wasn’t interested. Just after the hour mark, Chris Cadden sent in an inviting cross and Kevin Nisbet accepted the invitation by bulleting a header past Kelly to make it 2-1. Substitutes Cabraja, Newell and Kuharevich joined the fray with Stevenson, Egan-Riley and Campbell departing and suddenly, Motherwell started to look a bit nervous as Hibs, lifted by the positive crowd reaction, began a chase for the equaliser. McKirdy was unlucky to see a low right footed drive fly just outside Kelly’s far post and Motherwell set about committing a series of unpunished fouls to disrupt any rhythm Hibs were trying to create. One foul, when McKirdy was scythed down by Casey failed to result in a booking by the referee, just another bizarre decision by the man in the middle.

With ten minutes left, Ewan Henderson came on to replace Hoppe on the left and Hibs were attacking but lost possession and in trying to arrest the forward movement, Fish bundled Paton over, around twenty or so yards from goal. Marshall set up his wall and then inexplicably took up position to cover the half of the goal his wall had been set to cover. Kevin Van Veen must have thought it was his birthday as he stepped up and struck the ball into the space left vacant by the keeper. It was a shocker from Marshall and in my view indefensible.

With their two goal cushion re-established, Motherwell set about running down the clock as Hibs, for reasons I cannot explain, decided that despite having scored from a cross and despite loading the box with their tallest players, they’d fail miserably to deliver any crosses of note. Referee Grainger finally found his yellow card when Furlong hacked down McKirdy but in truth the same player had fouled repeatedly without earlier punishment. Joe Newell, who had at least tried to push his side on, saw two pretty tame efforts easily saved as the game moved in to six additional minutes. Nisbet and Kuharevich (twice) also had efforts, but Kelly was never truly troubled.

Full credit to Motherwell who deserved the three points but with Hearts losing, Aberdeen and St Mirren winning we not only failed to reduce the points gap on the Tynecastle side but allowed both the Dons and St Mirren to overtake us, meaning we ended the day in sixth place, only one point ahead of Livingston.

No words on the players after such a shocking performance.

Lee Johnson was sitting in the stand and had as good a view as most of what was unfolding in front of him and it wasn’t pretty.

Referee – Graham Grainger was horrific.

Agree with all of that except I would add the ref was horrific to Hibs, he seemed to be on a one way mission to give Hibs nothing and let Motherwell do as they pleased. It was so one sided it was quite unbelievable although I can’t lay the defeat on him, our whole team and management failed spectacularly today.

[familyman]

Oh dear we seem to be going backwards to the pub league
shocker




Hibs were made to look absolute April Fool’s today by a Motherwell side that dictated play from start to finish and the home side was not helped by some shocking goalkeeping from David Marshall who, in my view, should have done a whole lot better at the three goals we conceded, but more on each of those later. None of the keepers’ outfield colleagues got pass marks with only Chris Cadden the best of a very poor bunch. I must emphasise that this defeat was totally self inflicted but I just have to mention a stunningly bad performance from referee Graham Grainger. It’s the first time I’ve seen him and pray it is the last after a display littered with baffling decisions.

Lee Johnson selected his starting eleven to operate in a 3-5-2 formation but from the off it was clear that the visitors had anticipated that and immediately set about putting the Hibs man in possession, under extreme pressure. Essentially, they were hunting in packs and forcing Hibs into errors resulting in them losing/giving away the ball. Any time Marshall played the ball short to a defender, obviously in the hope that Hibs could build from the back, the defender with the ball was quickly under pressure and invariably the lack of movement in front of them meant there was no safe out ball.

Inside the first five minutes, Van Veen had a chance from around fifteen yards but shot straight at Marshall and very soon after that the home defence was struggling to clear the ball and as it fell just outside the box, Doyle-Hayes swung his boot at it but caught Dean Cornelius in the face. Grainger, rightly, awarded a free kick and booked Doyle-Hayes. Marshall lined up his wall but was rooted to the spot when Goss hit his shot into the net off the underside of the crossbar. Now, you could be charitable and say the wall never jumped but from my angle they looked badly placed to cover the side of the goal left open by Marshall.

Still enjoying the bulk of possession, Motherwell continually found space down the flanks, exposing the use of a back three against a side that used its wide men wisely and it was painful to watch as the home side consistently gave up possession through poor use of the ball, slack passing and an inability on occasion to control a ball passed to them. The first glimmer of a chance for Hibs came around the fifteenth minute mark when Josh Campbell flighted in a cross that Kevin Nisbet reached but could only head the ball straight at keeper Kelly.

Van Veen was causing all sorts of problems, cleverly playing on the shoulder of the last man and when a low cross reached him ten yards out he should have done a whole lot better than smashing a shot high over the bar. At the other end, Campbell fed Chris Cadden who cut in from the right and hit a left foot shot but it was just too high and cleared the bar with Kelly watching on anxiously. A succession of fouls by both sides meant there was little by way of flow in the game until the half hour mark when a low driven ball from Casey found Van Veen racing away from his marker. I was stunned when Marshall decided not to come for that ball as he looked to have been favourite if he did but instead, he let Van Veen get a low shot away and watched anxiously with the rest of us as the effort trickled past Marshall’s far post. It was around this point that Hibs changed to a 4-4-2 but the effect of doing so was negligible. To be fair to Marshall, he was soon in the right place to deny Van Veen another effort on goal.

Next, we witnessed the bizarre sight of Paul McGinn trying to hit the target from about fifty yards as he’d noticed Marshall off his line, but the effort lacked power and the keeper was able to react and collect the ball safely. With half time approaching, Stevenson picked out Hoppe on the edge of the Motherwell box but the striker dallied fractionally and as a result his shot was blocked. Then, a Spittal cross was flicked on at the near post by Mandron, but the ball cleared the bar, and the sides went in at 1-0 to Motherwell although to be brutally honest they might have had two or three of a lead.

With Doyle-Hayes having been booked and in all honestly having a pretty poor game he was replaced for the second half by Harry McKirdy but the first action after the start arrived when Van Veen set up Spittal but the latter steered his shot wide of the target. It was Van Veen himself that had the next attempt on goal and only a last ditch challenge from Cadden stopped the striker from hitting the ball more sweetly.

There was little change in the pattern of the game, regardless of what had been discussed in the home dressing room at half time and before the hour mark, Hibs made a hash of clearing the ball which found its way to Spittal who was in acres of room inside the area. Marshall charged out but never looked favourite to reach the ball first and instead crashed into Spittal to concede a stone wall penalty. Referee Grainger booked the keeper and I thought at the time that Marshall was lucky it was not a red. After a few moments while Spittal was receiving treatment, Van Veen stepped forward and hit a pathetically weak penalty which Marshall should have saved but instead allowed the ball to squirm underneath him and into the net. Moments later, Goss hit a speculative effort from around thirty five yards but this time the keeper was equal to it.

A Kevin Nisbet header flew over the bar after which Nisbet chased down the referee to complain that he had been clearly impeded by a jersey pull but Grainger wasn’t interested. Just after the hour mark, Chris Cadden sent in an inviting cross and Kevin Nisbet accepted the invitation by bulleting a header past Kelly to make it 2-1. Substitutes Cabraja, Newell and Kuharevich joined the fray with Stevenson, Egan-Riley and Campbell departing and suddenly, Motherwell started to look a bit nervous as Hibs, lifted by the positive crowd reaction, began a chase for the equaliser. McKirdy was unlucky to see a low right footed drive fly just outside Kelly’s far post and Motherwell set about committing a series of unpunished fouls to disrupt any rhythm Hibs were trying to create. One foul, when McKirdy was scythed down by Casey failed to result in a booking by the referee, just another bizarre decision by the man in the middle.

With ten minutes left, Ewan Henderson came on to replace Hoppe on the left and Hibs were attacking but lost possession and in trying to arrest the forward movement, Fish bundled Paton over, around twenty or so yards from goal. Marshall set up his wall and then inexplicably took up position to cover the half of the goal his wall had been set to cover. Kevin Van Veen must have thought it was his birthday as he stepped up and struck the ball into the space left vacant by the keeper. It was a shocker from Marshall and in my view indefensible.

With their two goal cushion re-established, Motherwell set about running down the clock as Hibs, for reasons I cannot explain, decided that despite having scored from a cross and despite loading the box with their tallest players, they’d fail miserably to deliver any crosses of note. Referee Grainger finally found his yellow card when Furlong hacked down McKirdy but in truth the same player had fouled repeatedly without earlier punishment. Joe Newell, who had at least tried to push his side on, saw two pretty tame efforts easily saved as the game moved in to six additional minutes. Nisbet and Kuharevich (twice) also had efforts, but Kelly was never truly troubled.

Full credit to Motherwell who deserved the three points but with Hearts losing, Aberdeen and St Mirren winning we not only failed to reduce the points gap on the Tynecastle side but allowed both the Dons and St Mirren to overtake us, meaning we ended the day in sixth place, only one point ahead of Livingston.

No words on the players after such a shocking performance.

Lee Johnson was sitting in the stand and had as good a view as most of what was unfolding in front of him and it wasn’t pretty.

Referee – Graham Grainger was horrific.

[3pm]

Thought Fish was passable (I know he gave away a free kick for the 3rd). That was it. Expect challenges.

[Iain G]

Thought Fish was passable (I know he gave away a free kick for the 3rd). That was it. Expect challenges.

Fish and Hanlon were fine today

[DaveF]

Fish and Hanlon were fine today

Apart from the chances they gifted to van veen, sure they were fine.

[BoomtownHibees]

Fish and Hanlon were fine today

Hanlon gave the ball away nearly every time he tried to pass it today

[Ronniekirk]

Was a shocking display Why do you think Miller didn’t get game time given he was really good at Celtic Park Johnnyboy ?
One player wouldn’t of made that much difference given way we played , but the subs made no noticeable impact
Our goal was so simple and well executed but we just didn’t capitalise on that and never really looked like getting an equaliser
A depressing watch

[Broken Gnome]

Thought Fish was passable (I know he gave away a free kick for the 3rd). That was it. Expect challenges.

I thought he defended that really well, possibly bar the foul but we were still short on numbers. The free kick should've been dealt with easily, so he did his bit.

I'd give barely pass marks - like 5/10 at most - to maybe Cadden, Hanlon, Fish, Stevenson (did less glaringly wrong than most). The rest were comfortably 3s and 4s - that Nisbet is no better than a 4 even with his goal shows how crap he was.

[LaMotta]

Thought Fish was passable (I know he gave away a free kick for the 3rd). That was it. Expect challenges.

Thought Fish was our best player (maybe Newell when he came on).

Also dont think Fish's challenge was a free kick from my view. But then as pointed out by others the ref was utterly clueless. One of the worst refereering displays in years at ER.

[BILLYHIBS]

Thank you John

[AFKA5814_Hibs]

Yep, Motherwell were the better side, fair play to them. We were well and truly ****ed.

[Iain G]

Hanlon gave the ball away nearly every time he tried to pass it today

No he didn't 🤣

[3pm]

Do you sit in the east John? Section 40 or 41?

[Tyler Durden]

Fish was badly at fault for the first goal…. The build up anyway, as he got caught wrong side of Van Veen.

Doyle Hayes foul to concede the free kick for the first seemed innocuous at the time. But looking at replays it’s a really stupid challenge. The opponent is having to scramble to win a header 20 yards out. A little awareness would tell you not to volley him in the gut.

[JohnM1875]

Surprised there isn't a David Marshall thread. He's absolutely done. Nice guy but so done.

[JimBHibees]

Agree with all of that except I would add the ref was horrific to Hibs, he seemed to be on a one way mission to give Hibs nothing and let Motherwell do as they pleased. It was so one sided it was quite unbelievable although I can’t lay the defeat on him, our whole team and management failed spectacularly today.

Agree thought he was biased towards them. This is maybe what reaction we get when we complain about refs, Same ref that gave hat abomination of a goal at Dingwall.

[B.H.F.C]

Agree thought he was biased towards them. This is maybe what reaction we get when we complain about refs, Same ref that gave hat abomination of a goal at Dingwall.

Ref wasn’t biased he was just crap. Just constantly slowed the game down.

Real lack of awareness of what was going on. Refs have always been crap but with all the extra officials they need for VAR it means we are being lumbered with guys who are miles of the level they should be at.

[HIBS NUTS]

I don’t think HOPPE is getting the analysis he deserves.
He is absolutely dreadful and offers nothing .

[JohnM1875]

I don’t think HOPPE is getting the analysis he deserves.
He is absolutely dreadful and offers nothing .

Weird, thought he actually put himself about and offered so much more than Nisbet first half.

[Real Emerald]

Fish was badly at fault for the first goal…. The build up anyway, as he got caught wrong side of Van Veen.

Doyle Hayes foul to concede the free kick for the first seemed innocuous at the time. But looking at replays it’s a really stupid challenge. The opponent is having to scramble to win a header 20 yards out. A little awareness would tell you not to volley him in the gut.

Without having watched a replay I thought he started on the right side and then turned onto the wrong side leaving Van Veen on his goal side completely free. As I say, I’ll have to watch it again. He also done the same thing in the second half.

[JimBHibees]

Ref wasn’t biased he was just crap. Just constantly slowed the game down.

Real lack of awareness of what was going on. Refs have always been crap but with all the extra officials they need for VAR it means we are being lumbered with guys who are miles of the level they should be at.

Disagree thought he gave us absolutely nothing

[NAE NOOKIE]

Man, it was an abysmal performance all round .... but special mention to Marshall. The first free kick was a good one, but he was reckless giving away the penalty and absolutely should have saved it. As for the second free kick it was almost laughable how poorly positioned he was.

With Hearts losing it would have been all to play for, instead we have absolutely blown it and even 4th is starting to look a long shot, we would need to win our next 3 to even have a shot IMO and anything like today's effort could see us finish in the bottom 6 never mind 4th.

Massively disappointing :bitchy:

[The Harp Awakes]

Awful team set up at home. Where was the creativity ever going to come from?

Got to disagree about Cadden. He was as woeful as the rest.

Shambolic performance.

[B.H.F.C]

Awful team set up at home. Where was the creativity ever going to come from?

Got to disagree about Cadden. He was as woeful as the rest.

Shambolic performance.

There is just a real lack of creativity full stop. We just don’t have many creative players available. Been the case, particularly in the middle of the park, for a long time. Still can’t believe we’re having the same conversation.

[JimBHibees]

Man, it was an abysmal performance all round .... but special mention to Marshall. The first free kick was a good one, but he was reckless giving away the penalty and absolutely should have saved it. As for the second free kick it was almost laughable how poorly positioned he was.

With Hearts losing it would have been all to play for, instead we have absolutely blown it and even 4th is starting to look a long shot, we would need to win our next 3 to even have a shot IMO and anything like today's effort could see us finish in the bottom 6 never mind 4th.

Massively disappointing :bitchy:

Disappointingly accurate every word. Something should have been changed first half however the individual mistakes and lack of performance was ridiculous in such an important game. Suppose a number of players haven't really played that regularly recently though you do have to question the preparation and what we did last couple of weeks.

[JimBHibees]

There is just a real lack of creativity full stop. We just don’t have many creative players available. Been the case, particularly in the middle of the park, for a long time. Still can’t believe we’re having the same conversation.

I know he isn't particularly a fans favourite however Henderson does provide some creativity and should have started imo. He played well in our last home game bar one wide right in a front three.

[IFONLY]

[QUOTE=BoomtownHibeys;7317835]Hanlon gave the ball away nearly every time he tried to pass it
This was a problem for nearly all our players today, I don't think Paul should be singled out when he wasn't the worst, but I suppose it's easy to blame him rather than point out the real culprits.

[marinello59]

Can't disagree with any of that.

A pub team performance.

That’s incredibly unfair to pub teams.

[ChilliEater]

When everyone plays so badly you have to think the coach's instructions were unclear or poorly communicated - maybe because he was sitting in the stand? It did look like a strange lineup though, with very little pace or creativity, which is fine for sitting in at Parkhead or Ibrox, but a strange approach at home to a team lower in the table.
Maybe the wrong thread, and I'm in danger of really going on about what I perceive as clear bias, but Dundee United at Tynecastle, utd player clears ball and accidentally catches hearts player with his follow through - straight red. Exactly the same for Killie player against hearts on Saturday. Motherwell player does the same on Nisbet and it's play on? Now I think our ref got that one right and the 2 reds were ridiculous, but if that's the rule why isn't it applied to all teams equally?

[Greenbeard]

Hugely disappointing. Too many players looked like they were playing the first warm-up game of the season. Campbell especially disappointing after showing up so well this year. I was happier with Newell on the park but it didn't make much difference. Youan a huge miss.

[Dublin07]

Ref wasn’t biased he was just crap. Just constantly slowed the game down.

Real lack of awareness of what was going on. Refs have always been crap but with all the extra officials they need for VAR it means we are being lumbered with guys who are miles of the level they should be at.

If you don’t think this guy was biased against us go back a watch the free kick when mckirdy was hacked down near the end. Motherwell players were about 3 yards away and he was allowing it to go until hibs players complained. He then clearly counted out the steps until he got to 7 and put the spray down! The one where their player left the ground from behind on mckirdy and didn’t get a booking was also unbelievable. Constantly missed fouls for hibs but gave them fouls for the slightest touch.

[erin go bragh]

We didn’t really get going but after scoring and getting ourselves right back into the game, I felt making the three subs straight away affected us in a negative way.
Thought the subs should have happened at ht but we allowed Motherwell an easy day of it and thought the ref was pretty anti us.