Which of the teams above us would you say we'll eventually finish ahead of?

A month ago we were sitting second, two points off top spot and being lauded by many in the media as the best footballing team in the league and being touted as genuine title contenders.

Today we're eighth, yet despite a run of just one point from 12 there are only eight points separating the top eight teams and as Aberdeen and St Johnstone have shown, a couple of wins can propel you up the table.

Based on what we've seen so far, are we simply part of an extremely tight league with everyone, bar Celtic and a couple of teams at the bottom, of a similar standard. Or do you think we will ultimately prove better than most and secure another top four finish?

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Originally Posted by G B Young

A month ago we were sitting second, two points off top spot and being lauded by many in the media as the best footballing team in the league and being touted as genuine title contenders.

Today we're eighth, yet despite a run of just one point from 12 there are only eight points separating the top eight teams and as Aberdeen and St Johnstone have shown, a couple of wins can propel you up the table.

Based on what we've seen so far, are we simply part of an extremely tight league with everyone, bar Celtic and a couple of teams at the bottom, of a similar standard. Or do you think we will ultimately prove better than most and secure another top four finish?

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With this squad I think realistically we’ll finish 6th. Killie look very good again and Hearts are clearly a decent side. My biggest hope for finishing higher would probably be finishing above Aberdeen who don’t look anything exciting or another outstanding January window.

I would be disappointed if we didn't reel St.Johnstone and Livingston in, that would make 6th place the lowest I would expect.

Not sure about the others to be honest.

McGeouch, McGinn and Allan makes a helluva hole in any midfield and it was always going to take a bit of time to get back from losing them.

Livingston and St. Johnstone.

Anywhere between 3rd and 5th should be our finishing position based on Celtic and Rangers finishing in the top 2 and our direct rivals being Hearts and Aberdeen. We should never be finishing behind any other team in the country.

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Originally Posted by scoopyboy

I would be disappointed if we didn't reel St.Johnstone and Livingston in, that would make 6th place the lowest I would expect.

Not sure about the others to be honest.

McGeouch, McGinn and Allan makes a helluva hole in any midfield and it was always going to take a bit of time to get back from losing them.

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:agree:

I think Rangers will pull away in 2nd, and then it'll just be about who can piece a bit of form together/sign well in January between the rest.

Barring some kind of unexpected disaster - managerial change, long term injuries to key players etc - we should finish in the top four. We'll be ahead of Hearts.

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Originally Posted by danhibees1875

:agree:

I think Rangers will pull away in 2nd, and then it'll just be about who can piece a bit of form together/sign well in January between the rest.

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That's where I'm at. I think we'll finish fourth just behind the sheep. We will finish ahead of Hearts. The longer Naismith is out the longer they will go without scoring goals.

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Originally Posted by Crab apple

That's where I'm at. I think we'll finish fourth just behind the sheep. We will finish ahead of Hearts. The longer Naismith is out the longer they will go without scoring goals.

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If we click I expect us to be ahead of Aberdeen. They're gash but physical and well drilled - poorer than last season I think.

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Originally Posted by One Day Soon

If we click I expect us to be ahead of Aberdeen. They're gash but physical and well drilled - poorer than last season I think.

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Let's hope so. I agree they're nothing special. We just need to start beating them! A big physical striker to shake things up and Scott Allan might go some way to achieving this.

Our absolute minimum is only finishing behind teams with a superior budget (i.e. Celtic, Rangers, Hearts, Aberdeen), i.e. 5th. Finishing below anyone else is a failure, and by extension so is 6th.

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Originally Posted by Diclonius

Our absolute minimum is only finishing behind teams with a superior budget (i.e. Celtic, Rangers, Hearts, Aberdeen), i.e. 5th. Finishing below anyone else is a failure, and by extension so is 6th.

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Yeah, we should always finish ahead of Kilmarnock, St Johnstone and Livingston due to our far higher player budget.
Injuries to vital players will hit these teams and their small squads before the end of the season.
The scrap for 3rd-5th will eventually be between Hibs, Hearts & Aberdeen.

Celtic and Aberdeen will finish ahead of us.

Sevco will implode at some point, we'll be a nudge ahead of Killie and eventually pull a mile ahead of Livi and St Johnstone.

We'll just about hang in there until January and Neil Lennon will produce some more rabbits from his hat who will fire us on to a very strong second half of the season.

We're not far away from being a very good side.

All bar Celtic.

I would expect us to finish no worse than 4th, a few bad results doesn’t make us a bad team, things will turn around there is quality in this team and it will shine thru

It's still early in the season but we don't currently look like a top four side.

Whether that's down to us being poorer or the opposition improving, I'll leave that for others to decide.

Currently I can see us struggling to make top six, but would love for Hibs to prove me wrong.

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Originally Posted by calumhibee1

With this squad I think realistically we’ll finish 6th. Killie look very good again and Hearts are clearly a decent side. My biggest hope for finishing higher would probably be finishing above Aberdeen who don’t look anything exciting or another outstanding January window.

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I'd say that based on the games I've seen, Hearts and Aberdeen have probably impressed me least of the sides above us. Granted Naismith's injury has robbed them of their goal threat, but yams are on a similar run to us at present and I suspect the novelty value of launching a whole new squad at the start of the season has started to wear off.

League doesnt lie and we are where we are. League will be very tight. We should finish higher than livi and st j but on evidence at this current time we wont. I expect us to finish higher than 7th. I feel the league is so tight a couple of wins will see us back up the league again

Ask again come new year.

For me, we'll finish 5th.

1. Celtic
2. Rangers
3. Hearts
4. Aberdeen
5. Hibs

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Originally Posted by 90+2

Ask again come new year.

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But that changes the original question!

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Originally Posted by 90+2

Ask again come new year.

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That's no how it works. You need to submit a prediction in writing right now :greengrin

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Originally Posted by MackTheKnife

But that changes the original question!

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True in that case I’ll take all your teams and add in Killie.

Celtic
Huns
Hearts
Killie
Sheep
Us (or saints tough call)
Livi
Motherwell
.
.
.
****fest battle to the end.

We need to pick up points in our next 4 games otherwise it could be bottom 6. Win 3 out of 4 at least and we go into the next set of games with confidence and you never know. Then a good proportion of the first team go away for about a month (covered partly by the winter break).

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Originally Posted by calumhibee1

That's no how it works. You need to submit a prediction in writing right now :greengrin

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Done chief 😆 👍

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Originally Posted by calumhibee1

That's no how it works. You need to submit a prediction in writing right now :greengrin

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:greengrin

Folk trying to move the goalposts eh?? :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by MackTheKnife

For me, we'll finish 5th.

1. Celtic
2. Rangers
3. Hearts
4. Aberdeen
5. Hibs

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I'd tend to agree. Killie could well be above us aswell though.

All bar Celtic and The rangers

Hard to say but I don’t think the last four games are going to shape our season to be honest. Celtic park was half expected. A point at Tyne isn’t the worst based on recent history. The defeat at Home to St Johnstone was the worst of the four but they are now 5 wins on the bounce and no mugs. Friday night the weather was the biggest factor as there was nothing except a defensive blunder between the two teams at a place we haven’t exactly got a great recent record either. Time to get back to winning ways for sure but I’m not suicudal quite yet.

We’ll get above Livi and St Johnstone and finish 6th. Don’t see us finishing higher than the other five.

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Originally Posted by Keekaboo

It's still early in the season but we aren't looking like a better side than the majority of teams, like we did last season.

Whether that's down to us being poorer or the opposition improving, I'll leave that for others to decide.

Currently I can see us struggling to make top six, but would love for Hibs to prove me wrong.

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I’m not sure we were looking so hot at this stage last season tbh.

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Originally Posted by Smartie

Celtic and Aberdeen will finish ahead of us.

Sevco will implode at some point, we'll be a nudge ahead of Killie and eventually pull a mile ahead of Livi and St Johnstone.

We'll just about hang in there until January and Neil Lennon will produce some more rabbits from his hat who will fire us on to a very strong second half of the season.



We're not far away from being a very good side.

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I’m with you on that
GGTTH

If we finish outside the top 4 it's a shocking season. We always seem to be just behind the big boys rather than infront. Even last season was an anti climax and a shocker that we never finished higher than 4th. Shows how good a job Levein and Clarke have done/are doing considering the foundations we had in place when stubbs walked out the door. Should have been enough to create a gap between us and hearts for a couple of years at least. Lennon's responsibility for me and questioning his signings now tbh, and tactically the last few games. Maybe we just got lucky in January..

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Originally Posted by EH54

If we finish outside the top 4 it's a shocking season. We always seem to be just behind the big boys rather than infront. Even last season was an anti climax and a shocker that we never finished higher than 4th. Shows how good a job Levein and Clarke have done/are doing considering the foundations we had in place when stubbs walked out the door. Should have been enough to create a gap between us and hearts for a couple of years at least. Lennon's responsibility for me and questioning his signings now tbh, and tactically the last few games. Maybe we just got lucky in January..

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Premature speculation

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Originally Posted by EH54

If we finish outside the top 4 it's a shocking season. We always seem to be just behind the big boys rather than infront. Even last season was an anti climax and a shocker that we never finished higher than 4th. Shows how good a job Levein and Clarke have done/are doing considering the foundations we had in place when stubbs walked out the door. Should have been enough to create a gap between us and hearts for a couple of years at least. Lennon's responsibility for me and questioning his signings now tbh, and tactically the last few games. Maybe we just got lucky in January..

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I’m really not sure you grasp this ‘competitive sport’ business.

Either that or you see what you want to see.

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Originally Posted by jacomo

I’m really not sure you grasp this ‘competitive sport’ business.

Either that or you see what you want to see.

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I just feel we were miles ahead on and off the park and had/have a better manager than the other sides. Really surprised with Clarke and what he's done at Killie though, but it shouldn't be enough for them to finish higher than hibs with the budget we have in comparison to theirs. Same goes for hearts to an extent they had to sign a full squad we needed to replace a midfield. Lennon should have it right by now imo. Frustrating that's all.

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Originally Posted by EH54

If we finish outside the top 4 it's a shocking season. We always seem to be just behind the big boys rather than infront. Even last season was an anti climax and a shocker that we never finished higher than 4th. Shows how good a job Levein and Clarke have done/are doing considering the foundations we had in place when stubbs walked out the door. Should have been enough to create a gap between us and hearts for a couple of years at least. Lennon's responsibility for me and questioning his signings now tbh, and tactically the last few games. Maybe we just got lucky in January..

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Nonsense. For our first season back up it was an outstanding effort to be in the running for second spot right up until the final week and I find it hard to believe any of us wouldn't have accepted that before the season started. As for Levein doing a good job, he was responsible for the Cathro fiasco and the yams wanted him sacked too after last season's dismal efforts. He's thrown an entire new squad at things this season so we'll see how that pans out. Clarke, I grant you, is doing a superb job at Killie.

It's a strange situation at Hibs right now. Due to our European run (how long ago does that seem??), the season seems both to have been going on for ages yet at the same time feels that it's never really got started. What underpinned our excellent run in the second half of last season was a largely settled side, something we have not had this time round. Hopefully we'll see some stability on that front and with it the return of some consistently good results.

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Originally Posted by Sir David Gray

Anywhere between 3rd and 5th should be our finishing position based on Celtic and Rangers finishing in the top 2 and our direct rivals being Hearts and Aberdeen. We should never be finishing behind any other team in the country.

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Spot on. Money talks and the 5 biggest clubs will be in the top 5 with Killie or the Saints in 6th

I think people are being a bit too hasty in writing off Livi. They are strong defensively and their home form will be good, mainly due to the pitch being a massive leveler.

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Originally Posted by G B Young

Nonsense. For our first season back up it was an outstanding effort to be in the running for second spot right up until the final week and I find it hard to believe any of us wouldn't have accepted that before the season started..

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:agree:


We only missed out on second in the last couple of games of the season. We finished 18 points ahead of Hearts, even though they'd already been back up for two seasons and have a much bigger budget than us.

We also gave Celtc the biggest challenge of any club in league games, with one win, two draws and one defeat, and received plaudits from many as the most entertaining side they'd watched.

Oh and we actually qualified for Europe, something we don't exactly do on a regular basis


But I suppose some people are just never happy.

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Originally Posted by EH54

I just feel we were miles ahead on and off the park and had/have a better manager than the other sides. Really surprised with Clarke and what he's done at Killie though, but it shouldn't be enough for them to finish higher than hibs with the budget we have in comparison to theirs. Same goes for hearts to an extent they had to sign a full squad we needed to replace a midfield. Lennon should have it right by now imo. Frustrating that's all.

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Imagine you have just inherited your first car a mercedes, you run it for a year or two and its running fantastically well. It then stops running well because the engine needs replaced, you do it but can only really afford a cheaper volkswagon engine.

Would you expect the same performance?

1. Celtic
2. Rangers
3. Aberdeen
4. Hearts
5. Killie
6. Hibs

Based on the season so far I think we will be 5th or 6th. I think we struggle to field a team with a shape that works at the moment and we have a soft centre and a manager that likes playing good football which will see you losing games that shouldn't be lost. The big unknown is the January window as we might get a couple of players in, like last season, that makes the shape and style of the team obvious. At the moment though Hearts, Killie and Aberdeen all play pragmatic football and due to the way games are refereed that tends to lead to decent results. I won't be too disappointed with 6th if we are playing with good style and banging in a few goals. Unfortunately, the last 3 games has seen us play a horrible brand of football and pick up a single point from 9.

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Originally Posted by blackpoolhibs

Imagine you have just inherited your first car a mercedes, you run it for a year or two and its running fantastically well. It then stops running well because the engine needs replaced, you do it but can only really afford a cheaper volkswagon engine.

Would you expect the same performance?

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Funny way of putting it, for me if we finish below Kilmarnock and hearts then it's lennons fault and totally unacceptable. He had a better start going into the window than hearts and Killie really and they are coping just fine, hearts obviously have had some rotten luck getting their best players injured at the same time. Last season I say anti climax because we were actually better than 4th place for me. But blew it at the end against Aberdeen, hearts and rangers, I thought we were better than all 3. It's a funny game football, if he finishes above them but behind the rangers and the sheep it's acceptable considering what we lost. Finishes above them in 2nd or 3rd he's done a remarkable job.

I still (for some reason) think we will finish 3rd or 4th this year.

Celtic
Rangers
Aberdeen
Us
Hearts
Killie.

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Originally Posted by Keekaboo

:agree:


We only missed out on second in the last couple of games of the season. We finished 18 points ahead of Hearts, even though they'd already been back up for two seasons and have a much bigger budget than us.

We also gave Celtc the biggest challenge of any club in league games, with one win, two draws and one defeat, and received plaudits from many as the most entertaining side they'd watched.

Oh and we actually qualified for Europe, something we don't exactly do on a regular basis


But I suppose some people are just never happy.

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I never said I wasn't happy? Looking at it overall it was good. But I expected at least 4th with our squad even at the start of the season tbh. Hearts were mince. Killie were a surprise package. Having seen us from January onwards we were much better than 4th and it was looking likely we were going to finish higher, untill we blew it in the last 3 games.

At this moment in time we look top 6 but only just, players will have to up their games and a good January will be needed if we want 4th again.

I’m with the majority on here. We should have enough in our locker to finish above Livingston and St Johnstone.

Celtic and Sevco have far bigger budgets so will be out of reach. Meh.

Hearts are clearly a good side and will improve again once their injured players return. Sorry.

Aberdeen are physical and street wise and they know how to get a result.

Not much between us and Killie.

So 5th or 6th

Celtic
Huns
Sheep
Killie
Hearts
Hibs

A good January could see us get 4th but imo 2nd or 3rd are already as good as gone

If an 8 point lead can be built over 13 games why cant it be reduced over 25?

We can easily still finish 3rd. or 2nd. I think Celtic will of course be too strong. Everything else very much up for grabs.

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Originally Posted by hibbydog

I’m with the majority on here. We should have enough in our locker to finish above Livingston and St Johnstone.

Celtic and Sevco have far bigger budgets so will be out of reach. Meh.

Hearts are clearly a good side and will improve again once their injured players return. Sorry.

Aberdeen are physical and street wise and they know how to get a result.

Not much between us and Killie.

So 5th or 6th

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Will Hibs not improve when we get our injured players back?

At the start of the season I predicted that we would finish behind
Celtic
Rangers
Aberdeen
Hearts.

I think Kilmarnock are in danger of being added to that list.

Yes, we WILL improve, but no doubt other clubs around us will also.

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Originally Posted by EH54

If we finish outside the top 4 it's a shocking season. We always seem to be just behind the big boys rather than infront. Even last season was an anti climax and a shocker that we never finished higher than 4th. Shows how good a job Levein and Clarke have done/are doing considering the foundations we had in place when stubbs walked out the door. Should have been enough to create a gap between us and hearts for a couple of years at least. Lennon's responsibility for me and questioning his signings now tbh, and tactically the last few games. Maybe we just got lucky in January..

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Hahaha[emoji122]

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Originally Posted by MWHIBBIES

Will Hibs not improve when we get our injured players back?

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Hope so.

Noticed the local bookie had us 11/4 to finish above Hearts. Reasonable price for some that are confident we will.