Saturday was bad, without doubt one of the worst performances I have ever seen from a Hibs team at home in the cup. We were out played, out fought, out thought and really should be out the cup.
I didn't Boo the players off the park, but I'll tell you this, I wanted to, but I did stand and applaud Ross County as they played very well and were everything we were not.
I don't just blame the players either for this performance, Yogi and his assistants have to take their share of the blame.
It was obvious from about 15 minutes into the game that even they had spotted David Wotherspoon was the week link in the team and the laddie got a torrid time of it all afternoon. D.W. got roasted right throughout the game and it embarrassing watching it happen. IMO, he should have been replaced by Thicot, or at the very least moved in to midfield with Thicot going to R.B.
Problem there is, who do you replace?
Three in midfield doesn't seem to be working, especially when you are in a battle, like we will be in the derby. It means Yogi has to sacrifice one of his front three, and yes I do include Deeks in there despite his obvious wide left role.
Part of the frustration at the end was our managers lack of willingness to change the tactics. Fine, he replaced the personnel but again, IMO, Yogi didn't exactly get it right.
Our defence was under so much pressure that even when they did get the ball, it was just a big aimless boot up the park in the hope that somebody might chase it and give them a break.
Our front three were bullied all over the place, as were our midfield, and NONE of them showed any desire to be up for the battle.
The frustration was not just about how the lads played on Saturday for me, it was about the previous weeks where this type of performance is becoming more and more the norm. Some quite rightly blame the state of the pitch, however, the 'County' guys didn't have any problems with displaying their abilities on it and maybe it is now as much a problem in our minds as it is in the pitch itself, which is without doubt in a shocking condition.
One of the very few successes on Saturday was Paul Hanlon, and although he far from being faultless, I would suggest he merits his place. When Bamba is back fit, it should allow us to beef up the midfield, which is a necessity IMO. As mentioned, I think it is time to give Thicot his chance at right back as D.W. is struggling there.
Hopefully, Yogi will sit down with EVERYBODY and give them all their say and discuss what is going wrong and LISTEN.
The attendance on Saturday shows that the fans are now starting to vote with their feet as they are fed up watching poor stuff on a poor surface.
We still have everything to play for but the players have got to show both desire and bottle from now until the end of the season or they will quickly find their season is finished a damn sight sooner than they and us would like.
Do they have that desire and bottle?
On Saturday's evidence the answer, at the moment is a resounding NO.
I would also suggest we need a change of team captain as to me, Hogg has neither the personality or even possibly the respect from the others to do the job required.
Get this all sorted Yogi or this season will come to an abrupt end sooner rather than later.
Results 1 to 28 of 28
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15-03-2010 09:05 AM #1
Saturday can't be glossed over if we are to make progress
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15-03-2010 12:29 PM #2
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Good post
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15-03-2010 12:53 PM #3
in total agreement, but a big part of saturday for me was a goalie glued to his line.
We need a physical presence or will win nothing.
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15-03-2010 01:21 PM #4This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
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15-03-2010 01:26 PM #5
One of the worst performances.
You have got to be joking! You must have lead a sheltered life.
Howe many home cup ties have you been to at Easter Road. I can think of a number off the top of my head in the last 15 years without really trying.
The draw with Second Division Stirling must go down with them. The home defeat by First Division Raith is another. The shocker against a pub team a year back comes to mind.
There is far too much of this negative rubbish.
It was actually a very good match. Look at the reports and they are all glowing. OK most of that was down to a really good performance by Ross County
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15-03-2010 01:26 PM #6
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Bamba into midfield for McBride is my solution to Dingwall. McBride was ganten on Saturday, we need more in that area, a lot more! Rankin GTF also! We also need width, so Zouma BACK please!
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15-03-2010 01:43 PM #8
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Do you think hughes isn't aware of the negatives from Saturday and indeed the whole season?
He kept his feet on the ground when we were doing well because he knew we were still well capable of that kind of performance.
We are a work in progress, Hughes knows it and we should be remembering how far we've come in just a few months.
We have limited options to do much else with this team right now but we will address the areas that need addressed as time goes on.
Hughes has already said he seen a few things to address from Saturday that will stand him in good stead for the rest of the season. I've no idea why anyone would think it will be glossed over by anyone at the club?
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15-03-2010 02:17 PM #9
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15-03-2010 02:52 PM #10This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
Three in midfield is not working, neither is Stokes being isolated up front on his own most of the time, especially if we are just thumping high balls up to him to chase or win in the air.
D.W. got tore apart on Saturday but Yogi didn't address that during the game. It was an obvious area that needed altered but nothing changed.
Why was Thicot on the bench if he was not going to be used?
IMO of course, he could have strengthened either the right back or midfield position.
I would love to be positive about Saturday but can find very little to be positive about. Paul Hanlon had a good game again, Ian Murray gave his all as usual, Deeks scored a good goal and our keeper kept us in the game with some very good saves.
Every team is entitled to a bad game but to show an almost complete lack of desire at home in the quarter final of the Scottish Cup was totally disheartening for me.
I think a few cups and kettles etc need to be thrown around our dressing room and get some air cleared then move on.
The lads have another huge game on Saturday and a chance to show what they are made of mentally as much as anything else.
And Yes, I did think it was one of the poorest performances I have seen by a Hibs team at ER in the cup, and there are plenty others to choose from too.
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15-03-2010 02:56 PM #11This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
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15-03-2010 02:59 PM #12This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
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15-03-2010 03:02 PM #13
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In saying that, we have been poor too often lately and some of the complaining, questioning of tactics, etc is justified to an extent. I do think teams are now identifying Wotherspoon as a weak link at the back - not his fault as the boy isn't a defender/full back.
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15-03-2010 03:05 PM #14This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
WIP or not it's clear to all that our performances are going in the wrong direction. I would also say that it is clear to all that Hughes is making the same mistake as Mixu and to a degree Collins. He thinks that because we have a slightly higher calliber of player that we can play 4-3-3. Fact is that the 3 in midfield are not that good to compensate enough for being a man or even two men short against the opposition.
I have a firm belief that we have good players and better players than most. Therefore we should set out 4-4-2 and simply let our players win the individual battles. There is little point in having 3 up front when we can't win the midfield, the quality of service just isn't there for the 3 to be fully effective.
Also playing Mcbride as a holding player deeper than the 'rest' of the midfield effectively leaves us with only 2 in the most important area of the pitch....this is far too big a handicap for the players there and I sympathise with the likes of Rankin and co who have to try and do the work and the milage of two men, no wonder some of their performances look a bit ropey, they are not being given a chance.
IMHO this is pretty obvious and Hughes needs to sit down and think long and hard as to how he is going to set us up for the rest of the season and I seriously hope that he admits that our 3 in midfield has been found out and that his best option is to sacrifice one of the front 3 to give us a chance of winning the midfield back!!
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15-03-2010 03:06 PM #15
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I didn't boo Hibs, and I most certainly didn't applaud Ross County off the park.
We're still in the tie, remember??? Why go out of your way to give a team we still have to beat another confidence boost by applauding them?
If we had got beat, yeah, applaud them, but wait until the tie has been decided, FFS! Would you have applauded Ross County off the field at half time if they'd been beating us? Nah, didn't think so.
No wonder Murray lost it.
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15-03-2010 03:09 PM #16
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The right sort of players were obviously not available in January and I think when you look at 8 months or whatever it's been we have done well to bring in the players we have.
We won't get all our chosen targets or areas to fill in the order we might like so it does take a while toc hange things.
Levein said it took him 3 to 4 yrs at United to get the right blend. And we probably deserved to give them a skelping tha last time we played them at ER.
The manager can only talk to players so much, after that it's up to them and we are stuck with the ones we have now until we can do something about it.
I don't see any of the players not currently playing or any of the many alternative formations that everyone has an opinion on doing all that much to change things.
Over a 2 to 3 yr period it will come though, trying to look for a complete transformation before that it is pointless.
I think Hughes is now paying for having an incredible start that he has always maintained we were not equipped yet to keep going for a whole season.
I don't beleive for a second he is blind to any of the problems though.
I think we'd all love to get back to flat green pitches, a fit Zemmama ripping people to shreds and a settled, consistent and confident defence but we are where we are and we're not best tooled up to deal with it right now.
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15-03-2010 03:25 PM #17This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
I take your point that as a 'footballing' side better pitches would be good for us but as you say we are where we are and the sooner Yogi admits that and stengthens the midfield to allow us to compete better with this amazing industrial strength others seem to have that we don't the better.
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15-03-2010 03:30 PM #18This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
We are at the business end of the season and need to start digging out results whilst playing on dodgy surfaces. It is all well and good thinking we would be playing better if the pitches were in good condition, but the simple fact is they are cabbage field at present and we need to adapt accordingly. I do not believe this can be done by playing 3 in midfield and 3 up front. Our midfield needs bolstering and we need to sacrifice one of the 3 up front to do that.
Then again football is all about opinions!Last edited by Dr Jimmy; 15-03-2010 at 03:35 PM.
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15-03-2010 07:10 PM #19This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
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15-03-2010 09:34 PM #20
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First class post mate, everything you mentioned about the team is spot on. Spooney is a spent force, and the midfield is a joke which really surprises me in that Yogi's teams at Falkirk were strong in that department. IMHO i have given up on Hibs this season as i feel they will only finish top six and lose the replay to Ross county. What gives me more concern is next season as this present squad plus Manager may struggle.
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15-03-2010 09:56 PM #21
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In regards to what yogi sees every day at training, fair enough. the players may be amazing at training everyday, however, if they fail to perform when it matters, at the games, then he needs to base his selections and tactics on the games as well.
I dont think its a case that the players dont give a toss, but I think the pressure has got to some players, and it looks at times that they are resigned to not performing and hoping for the best.
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16-03-2010 08:12 AM #22This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
So are you suggesting then that, Yogi picks his team at the start of the season and barring injuries and suspensions, that is the team he keeps right through to the very end, just in case any changes he might make don't work?
John Hughes is making decisions based on his knowledge of what he see's day in day out at ER and the training centre.
The passing game has been altered as the playing surface is more likely to make a fool out of player than allow fluid football.
Tactical.
Why should Hibs beat a team from a lower division at every attempt? other teams have been beaten by lower league clubs in divisions all over the world, some, perhaps, could be described as better than Hibs.
No team has any divine right to beat any other team, it's what makes sport in general so interesting.
Suggestions have been made that the players didn't give a toss, I find that hard to believe.
Hopefully come Saturday, both Zouma and Bamba will be fit for the game and it will give us other options. We have probably over achieved to what we all expected this season and I think the frustration is showing all round now as we see it all possibly ending a bit sooner than we had dare hope.
It is certainly far from being over though, and as you and others have quite rightly said, we are STILL IN THE CUP, albeit with a very difficult tie or two or hopefully three still in front of us.
I would love to see Yogi change things around, at the very least playing a 4-4-2.
This is not even a reaction to Saturday but something I have felt for most of the season. Given the abilities of our strikers, who must be envied by most SPL teams, I don't think we have scored as many goals as we would have expected to score, that I believe is down to our formation.
Saturday will be interesting, not just because it is a derby game (I find these more nerve racking than interesting) but because of how our management and players will react to recent form.
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16-03-2010 09:52 AM #23
The poor performance aside we were through to the semis with 10 mins to go.
What really swung the game was the substitutions from the management team. By taking of rankin (who I dont rate btw, but does do more donkey work in the middle) and stokes then bringing on Benji (never seen a player do less work on a football pitch) we essentially went from 4-3-3 to 4-2-4. County flooded forward resulting in the bombarding of our goal for the last 10 mins. Don’t even get me started on our original formation with basically 3 in the middle.
Sat’s result was 90% managements fault and 10% the players.
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16-03-2010 10:53 AM #24This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
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16-03-2010 11:28 AM #25
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Finally got round to watching the highlights and although they are by their very nature partial, there's a lot of overreaction here.
We were about 4 inches away from the semi - either Riordan's offside or Nish's lob would have seen it 3-1 and we would have closed out for the win - we didn't and a spirited County got the goal back they needed.
I'm not convinced we'll go to Dingwall and lose - to some extent this was County's cup final - a visit to an SPL ground, good day out and a raised level of game. None of this applies at their home and the raised level of expectation may do them more harm than good. That said it's Hibs in the cup and a defeat is as possible as a win.
Even if we go out and finish fifth - it's an improvement on last season - not as much as we'd like or as much as it looked like the team was capable of earlier in the season, but progress. The fact is too many got carried away by the splitting the OF nonsense that still seems to be colouring people's comments on here.
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16-03-2010 11:49 AM #26This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
**** all to do with splitting the Old Firm and all to do with accepting our limitations, competing effectively and getting some proper regular service into the front line.
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16-03-2010 12:16 PM #27This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
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In recent weeks I have been to Tannadice, Perth and ER and there's been minimal decent play/application from us
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16-03-2010 12:22 PM #28
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The bottom line is we were scraping 2-1, 1-0 victories earlier in the season and had our fair share of luck. Now we're losing games by the same scoreline, sometimes worse, and we're scrambling around trying to understand it all. Start winning ugly again and we'll be back on track but time's running out.
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