Strikers

[jiggerman]

I am a fan of all of our strikers - even Nish! (although the least talented of the quartet including Stokes, Deek and Benji - I will leave Byrne out just now).

That said, I feel we lack a proper Chris Killen style CF - something that was severely compounded after watching the St Mirren game. Make no mistake about it, if St Mirren has our finishers they would have wiped the floor with us. Mehmet and Higdon received the ball countless times in the 6 yard box and laid it off for the shot - something Hibs have not done all season.

Stokes is wasted trying to do the hold up role and would relish flick ons and knock downs provided by a big strike partner. Nish is unable to do this CONSISTENTLY.

I would argue such a striker is more of a priority than CH and RB given:

1. We have one of the best defences in the league.
2. Wotherspoon has been extremely good at RB.
3. Murray is very capable of slotting in at CH.
4. Hanlon/McCann/McCormack can all come in as short term cover in the event of reshuffle.

I would welcome the return of Killen (or someone in his mould) and see it as vital to ensuring we do actually break teams down.

GGTTH

J

[Pedantic_Hibee]

*cough* Kevin Kyle *cough*

[CRAZYHIBBY]

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*cough* Kevin Kyle *cough*

thats a bad cough you want to get some covonia for that

[Ritchie]

i just wish yogi would switch it about a bit....

he's not tried all options so we dont know whether or not another striker is needed.

why not try stokes & deek upfront, there are goals in the team, i just dont think we're playing the right team.

[Andy74]

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I am a fan of all of our strikers - even Nish! (although the least talented of the quartet including Stokes, Deek and Benji - I will leave Byrne out just now).

That said, I feel we lack a proper Chris Killen style CF - something that was severely compounded after watching the St Mirren game. Make no mistake about it, if St Mirren has our finishers they would have wiped the floor with us. Mehmet and Higdon received the ball countless times in the 6 yard box and laid it off for the shot - something Hibs have not done all season.

Stokes is wasted trying to do the hold up role and would relish flick ons and knock downs provided by a big strike partner. Nish is unable to do this CONSISTENTLY.

I would argue such a striker is more of a priority than CH and RB given:

1. We have one of the best defences in the league.
2. Wotherspoon has been extremely good at RB.
3. Murray is very capable of slotting in at CH.
4. Hanlon/McCann/McCormack can all come in as short term cover in the event of reshuffle.

I would welcome the return of Killen (or someone in his mould) and see it as vital to ensuring we do actually break teams down.

GGTTH

J

Yep, Killen (though never fit) or Kyle, someone who can hold the ball up and more importantly for me, attack headers in the box. We don't have a CF threat in the air for crosses. Nish might get the occassional one but we need much better.

[CheesyHibby]

I don't think its simply about a cf who can hold the ball up. I think we all saw on Saturday that Hibs need a greater fluency in attack, there appears to be a lack of an effective link between the front and midfield. Hopefully Zemamma coming back will enable this to be more effective.

[hibbie02]

Yes the strike force are misfiring at the moment and I agree with the OP that a big, consistent CF to hold the ball up would be great, but we also need more creativity in the midfield. I feel we have one attacking player too much. We need to play 4-4-1-1 with 2 of the midfield prepared to support the attack, but not necessarily in attack.

[Dinkydoo]

Yea, we need a striker than can ride a challenge, hold off defenders and stick the ball in the net.

At the moment I'd describe Benji, Deeks and Stokes as being more focussed on skill and finesse rather than the key elements of a strike force that the OP has rightly stated we are missing.

[jiggerman]

Yeah - I just think its all very well having silky skills and trying to play the game the right way, but that doesnt always win you games where what is called for is some physical, direct play.

I am not saying I want us to start playing this way - rather I would like to see us have this cutting edge when required, e.g. St Mirren last weekend. It is still possible to play good football with this type of player. The best for us over recent years in terms of balance between directness and skill is Garry O'Connor. He was able to link up and play very directly.

I am not naiive enough to believe we can get his calibre of player in, but its something we should be striving for - I am not a demanding fan whatsoever!

More of a priority than dfence for me at the moment.

J

[MacBean]

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i just wish yogi would switch it about a bit....

he's not tried all options so we dont know whether or not another striker is needed.

why not try stokes & deek upfront, there are goals in the team, i just dont think we're playing the right team.

well said Ritchie mate.

I think we need to mix things up a bit, im getting frustrated at hoe we cant seem to make our game flow from midfield to up front

Stokes rarely wins a header and nish just falls on his arse. We need to change the tactics about especially from goalkicks. Stop kicking it up to deeks on the left hanside!!! I think ive seen him win one header in his life!!!

[Seveno]

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I don't think its simply about a cf who can hold the ball up. I think we all saw on Saturday that Hibs need a greater fluency in attack, there appears to be a lack of an effective link between the front and midfield. Hopefully Zemamma coming back will enable this to be more effective.

I totally agree. Our forwards get very closely marked and we need midfielders that can burst through and create space.

Welcome back, Zouama

The current forwards also have to work harder to create their own space. Deek, Benji and Stokes just don't do the work rate required.