Smith to start on Sunday

[Bob Box Fish]

Our master tactician has said in today's EEN Smith will start on Sunday.

IMO should never have started against Motherwell.

[K.Marx]

[Diclonius]

For ****'s sake, how ****ing stubborn is this man?!

[Toaods]

then quite simply, he isn't picking the best 11 available.

[H18sry]

Smith has something to play for/prove Makalamity doesn't as he is away at the end of next week.

[M11BMO]

Surely his confidence will be planted to the bottom of the water of Leith!?

[bod]

were any of the goals his fault ?

[Frazerbob]

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were any of the goals his fault ?

[dunfyhibby]

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then quite simply, he isn't picking the best 11 available.

Who is the best then??

[K.Marx]

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were any of the goals his fault ?

I can only hope you've been on an early summer vacation to Mars and are yet to see the highlights.

[H18sry]

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were any of the goals his fault ?

aye just the 4 but he did save a penalty

[bod]

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it was a serious question as i watched the man city/spuds game

[HibbyAndy]

Just a pity we have a very good goalkeeper in Mark Brown that is currently out injured,Pretty sure He will start the season as no 1.

Id Have Maka ahead of Smith for Sunday also.

[HibbyAndy]

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it was a serious question as i watched the man city/spuds game

What planet you been living on

Theres been like 478798797589758758759875079587590 threads

[truehibernian]

By bringing in a ridiculous "goalkeeping pool" though, he is now damned if he does damned if he doesn't. Put Smith in again, he has a howler again, the critics will bash away. Put Maka in, first game (arguably another bloody cliched cup final) for how many ??? Maka has a howler.....again, the critics and fans will bash away. Three keepers is all you need in the squad, not five. But that is John Hughes downfall IMO. Too many unknown "best elevens". The defence has had three keepers, god knows how many centre half pairings, at least four different right backs (Thicot, Hogg, DW and McCormack), three different left backs. The only constant has been the front three of Riordan, Nish and Stokes which we all know has it's limitations and frailties when they are not on form. Midfield (broken record time) is too similar, too narrow and too flat. I kind of always feel sorry for Hibs keepers, as for the last three to four seasons, all goals conceded never seem to be well worked affairs, but standard set pieces, simple crosses into the box, floated corners, etc etc. There you are looking for strong, willing, instinctive defenders. We don't have any. No one anticipates the cross or shot (see Thicot, Hanlon and Hogg versus Well for most recent example). Hogg is also the worst captain in our history and I make no bones about that comment. He has no natural leadership quality at all and is not a good footballer. Take a look at the way he ponders or jogs back into position when a cross comes in ! Will Hanlon progress alongside him ? Both Hanlon and Hogg have been turned and out muscled in the last three games (Lafferty, Elliot, Lukas whatshisname). Murray was made to look slow and dithery because he doesn't get the same level of cover as our right back does, because Derek is (rightly) a forward, and a forward thinking player. Footballers are quite simple beings. For all his days, Derek has only known to attack and score goals. He has never grown up being made to track back, harry and chase, and tackle on the edge of his own box along with his left back. You cannot suddenly change that kind of fixed mindset as they are as I say quite simple (in the nicest possible way). So rather than blame the keepers, I would lay the last few results firmly at the door of our defenders who are far far more culpable IMHO.

[500miles]

We saw from his time at Motherwell that he is a good keeper. We saw that he was a good keeper when he first arrived. Yogi then made the mistake of dropping him, despite him not being at fault for the hammering we took off of the Saints.

Now Yogi is trying to instill some confidence in him by showing him faith. Smith is a senior player, and needs to be able to shake things off. These things are always a gamble, and if he comes through it, he will be a better player for it.

I can see what Yogi's getting at here. With either goalkeeper, Smith or Maka, you'll be taking a chance.

[Tyler Durden]

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We saw from his time at Motherwell that he is a good keeper. We saw that he was a good keeper when he first arrived. Yogi then made the mistake of dropping him, despite him not being at fault for the hammering we took off of the Saints.

Now Yogi is trying to instill some confidence in him by showing him faith. Smith is a senior player, and needs to be able to shake things off. These things are always a gamble, and if he comes through it, he will be a better player for it.

I can see what Yogi's getting at here. With either goalkeeper, Smith or Maka, you'll be taking a chance.

I really don't want to sound like a "told you so" type but I always thought he looked average at best at Well. He let in too many bad goals for me.

I also have never really rated Mark Brown so hopefully I'm totally wrong on that front!

With everyone fit, I'd pick Stack every time. For me he's only really made 1 big mistake, which granted, was at Tynie. But for the majority of his games he's been steady IMO.

[Danderhall Hibs]

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By bringing in a ridiculous "goalkeeping pool"

It's not ridiculous we have 3 1st team keepers and Maka - 2 of them are injured so we've still got a goalie (although he didn't show it the other night). If we never had the goalie "school" we wouldn't have had a keeper the last few weeks.

[truehibernian]

I am pretty sure that SPL rules are that you can, like in England, bring in emergency loans if keepers are injured long term. We also have a young keeper in Thomas Flynn, who I have seen more than a few times, who Hibernian deemed good enough to give a pro contract to, so in that regard, is good enough to come in and do a job. Five keepers, four of whom on a very very good salary, is quite ridiculous. Do Celtic, Rangers, Dundee Utd or anyone else for that matter have that many. I will stand by the comment that there were and still are areas of the squad that take priority over goalkeeping.

[Cropley10]

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We saw from his time at Motherwell that he is a good keeper. We saw that he was a good keeper when he first arrived. Yogi then made the mistake of dropping him, despite him not being at fault for the hammering we took off of the Saints.

Now Yogi is trying to instill some confidence in him by showing him faith. Smith is a senior player, and needs to be able to shake things off. These things are always a gamble, and if he comes through it, he will be a better player for it.

I can see what Yogi's getting at here. With either goalkeeper, Smith or Maka, you'll be taking a chance.

Although I'm not the only one who thinks his behaviour in the 2nd half at Fir Park was EXTREMELY odd.

Personally, I wouldn't have him anywhere our goal.

What happens if he has another complete nightmare and/or behaves in the same way? Sunday is our Cup Final FFS!

[Danderhall Hibs]

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I am pretty sure that SPL rules are that you can, like in England, bring in emergency loans if keepers are injured long term. We also have a young keeper in Thomas Flynn, who I have seen more than a few times, who Hibernian deemed good enough to give a pro contract to, so in that regard, is good enough to come in and do a job. Five keepers, four of whom on a very very good salary, is quite ridiculous. Do Celtic, Rangers, Dundee Utd or anyone else for that matter have that many. I will stand by the comment that there were and still are areas of the squad that take priority over goalkeeping.

Rangers have 5
So do Dundee United and Hearts. Motherwell have 4.

Might be others as well - I only looked at the other top 6 sides.

Our goalkeeping position was a priority and he's tried to sort it - unfortunately our top 2 keepers are both injured leaving our 3rd choice and Maka. I think the young lad's out on loan?

[TornadoHibby]

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Smith has something to play for/prove Makalamity doesn't as he is away at the end of next week.

What do you have in mind here exactly?

[truehibernian]

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Rangers have 5
So do Dundee United and Hearts. Motherwell have 4.

Might be others as well - I only looked at the other top 6 sides.

Our goalkeeping position was a priority and he's tried to sort it - unfortunately our top 2 keepers are both injured leaving our 3rd choice and Maka. I think the young lad's out on loan?

Bit of poetic licence there Danderhall. The Utd keepers, two of whom are their youth keepers (17's and 19's, similar to two at Rangers) will be on buttons and will be part of their youth set up. If that were the track of your argument, you can add another two keepers to our list as well which makes us have seven.

[H18sry]

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What do you have in mind here exactly?

Well let me explain in simple terms for you Makalamity is being released Smith has a contract so it in his interest to play well and try and help us in to a Europa cup place

[Danderhall Hibs]

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Bit of poetic licence there Danderhall. The Utd keepers, two of whom are their youth keepers (17's and 19's, similar to two at Rangers) will be on buttons and will be part of their youth set up. If that were the track of your argument, you can add another two keepers to our list as well which makes us have seven.

Just went into squad lists.

We'll be down to 3 + 1 apprentice at the end of the season so pretty much on a par with the others?

[truehibernian]

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Just went into squad lists.

We'll be down to 3 + 1 apprentice at the end of the season so pretty much on a par with the others?

I do see where you are coming from bud, but salary wise, we are spending an awful lot of money on four keepers, three of whom each week will be in the stand or on the bench. That obviously doesn't include the young keepers at the academy. I was incredulous that Hughes did not get at least two right backs and/or cover for left back (given the versatility of Murray, Thicot and Hanlon), but instead brought in two keepers. A Hibernian keepers form IMHO is directly affected by the players in front of him, and we concede soft sloppy goals because we allow possession in our own half too easily and allow crosses and set pieces into the box more than any other side in the top half. The law of averages thereafter take over and the chances of mistakes or keeper errors are multiplied. Our defence did no favours to Smith the last three games (that said, yes, he was sloppy and made errors of judgement too bud).

[Danderhall Hibs]

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I do see where you are coming from bud, but salary wise, we are spending an awful lot of money on four keepers, three of whom each week will be in the stand or on the bench. That obviously doesn't include the young keepers at the academy. I was incredulous that Hughes did not get at least two right backs and/or cover for left back (given the versatility of Murray, Thicot and Hanlon), but instead brought in two keepers. A Hibernian keepers form IMHO is directly affected by the players in front of him, and we concede soft sloppy goals because we allow possession in our own half too easily and allow crosses and set pieces into the box more than any other side in the top half. The law of averages thereafter take over and the chances of mistakes or keeper errors are multiplied. Our defence did no favours to Smith the last three games (that said, yes, he was sloppy and made errors of judgement too bud).

Completely agree we needed a RB and probably even a CH but for whatever reason we didn't get them.

Still happy we've got goalies and cover now though. I know we've got 4 but Maka is obviously not in his plans and is probably only still here as noone came in for him in January and he's decided to see his contract out. We'll be down to 3 next year.

One problem we have with it is all 3 keepers appear to be of a similar standard (and no obvious no. 1) and as soon as one makes a mistake there are cries to change the keeper.

[matty_f]

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Completely agree we needed a RB and probably even a CH but for whatever reason we didn't get them.

Still happy we've got goalies and cover now though. I know we've got 4 but Maka is obviously not in his plans and is probably only still here as noone came in for him in January and he's decided to see his contract out. We'll be down to 3 next year.

One problem we have with it is all 3 keepers appear to be of a similar standard (and no obvious no. 1) and as soon as one makes a mistake there are cries to change the keeper.

Does anyone know if Jamie McDonald kept his place in the Yam's side after his howlers at Easter Road?

[Danderhall Hibs]

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Does anyone know if Jamie McDonald kept his place in the Yam's side after his howlers at Easter Road?

Just checked - he played.

Happy about that that laddie's a bombscare.

[hibee_girl]

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Smith has something to play for/prove Makalamity doesn't as he is away at the end of next week.

I wouldn't say Maka has nothing to prove