A tale of two midfields

[GlesgaeHibby]

Midfield is the key to winning football games, and that is why Utd have been so successful this year.

Comparing the two midfields tonight:

Hibs: 4 small players lacking in pace and the ability to pass (Miller perhaps the exception). All players very similar.

Utd: Two big strong central midfielders that can pass the ball, work hard and are fearless in the tackle. Two wingers with a decent amount of pace and skill.

I know we don't really have a right winger, but surely Galbraith deserves a run on the left to give us something we've desperately lacked all season.

[hibsdaft]

we've needed murray or bamba in front of our back 4 for months now

[Cabbage1875]

Absolutely bang on the money.

And Mixu used to tell us the game is won in both boxes. Wrong.

The game is won and lost in the midfield. Ours is frankly embarrassing at the moment.

[Ants]

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we've needed murray or bamba in front of our back 4 for months now

You can see it, I can see it, Ive heard that even Stevie Wonder can fccccuking see it.... but guess who cannae see it?

[lugz]

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Midfield is the key to winning football games, and that is why Utd have been so successful this year.

Comparing the two midfields tonight:

Hibs: 4 small players lacking in pace and the ability to pass (Miller perhaps the exception). All players very similar.

Utd: Two big strong central midfielders that can pass the ball, work hard and are fearless in the tackle. Two wingers with a decent amount of pace and skill.

I know we don't really have a right winger, but surely Galbraith deserves a run on the left to give us something we've desperately lacked all season.

There tactics are nothing special a basic 4-4-2.

Two big centre halfs, 2 powerful wingbacks, 2 awesome midfielders who work really hard and are good on the ball, 2 pacey wingers and two strikers who work well off eachother.

Us on the other hand..........

[Long suffering]

Yep midfield is our weakest area. only currnet MF that should be ther week in week out is miller. rankin and cregg i quite like but one of them not both. need rankin bamba miller wotherspoon something like that or go and get to commanding authoratitive MFs in the summer

[hibbygraham]

That was the model midfield for SPL football. Gomis and Buaben ran the show, and the wingers linked well with their strikers, whipping great balls into the box. They were also very well organised. When defending, they got very narrow and squeezed us in; when attacking, they used the space and nearly always attacked our full-backs.

We, on the other hand, have neither that balance nor quality. Miller is a good player - we've already seen that - but he needs someone of similar quality beside him, much in the way that their two complemented each other. Rankin/Stevenson/Cregg are utterly dire - in all seriousness, none would get close to starting for that Ross County team which pumped us. They are very similar in both quality (crap) and style (also crap), resulting in a totally flat and limited midfield.

However, it's not their fault they're picked week-in-week-out. That's Hughes' fault, being an utterly clueless 'tactician'. Playing them results in such a narrow midfield that our full-backs are totally exposed - Murray was left alone with 2/3 of their players countless times. Further, it means that Murray is the one rampaging up the wing all night doing the non-existent winger's job (I am purposely not referring to Thicot because, like the aforementioned Rankin/Stevenson/Cregg, he is also crap). This is not due to lack of available players, either. Galbraith/Wotherspoon/Zemmama are all natural wingers in a 4-4-2 system (not the ridiculous, ever-changing systems Hughes prefers).

Yet Hughes does deserve some credit. For half a game - yes, half a game folks - he played Riordan up-front, where he happened to play very well. Heck, you'd think it was his natural position. True to form, though, he was soon back playing (ineffectually) at left-midfield to accomodate another striker. This weakens the midfield (even more than was thought possible).

A simple test to highlight our deficiencies is to compare the player/position balance of each team. They had good central midfielders who sat in the middle all game, controlling it from start to end; they also had proper wingers. Yet I genuinely struggled to pinpoint what any of our players were set out to do. Miller looked lost, Stevenson was utterly anonymous, Rankin was pinging his hopeless 50-yarders straight out the park from anywhere, and Cregg ran about like a headless chicken. Organisation is what's needed, not necessarily the 'fight' of which Hughes so often talks. If he can't see how bad his system is by now, I fear the worst.

[houston1875]

Gomis and Bauben were impressive!! as my pal said they scooped up everything!!

[Del Boy]

Gomis is the best midfielder in the league IMO, Buaben is not far behind. They p155ed all over hibs midfield today.

Stevenson

Miller may have some nice neat touches and be able to pass a ball, but he is a coward.

[Bookkeeper]

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Gomis is the best midfielder in the league IMO, Buaben is not far behind. They p155ed all over hibs midfield today.

Stevenson

Miller may have some nice neat touches and be able to pass a ball, but he is a coward.

Very harsh. He was on a booking from early on.