If we ignore pre season/Europe for a second we are in better shape player wise

[Col2]

Assuming Bamba stays....

Brown - replaces Maka
De Graff - replaces Gregg
Hart - replaces McCann (on loan)
Stephens - replaces McCormack
?????? - replaces Benji

Deeks, Stokes, Miller, Bamba, Hart, Murray and De Graff give us quality and experience. Zemmama adds to this when back.

We need another striker/Pacey winger and ideally attacking midfielder if possible.

Not bad when you think about it....

[--------]

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Assuming Bamba stays....

Brown - replaces Maka
De Graff - replaces Gregg
Hart - replaces McCann (on loan)
Stephens - replaces McCormack
?????? - replaces Benji

Deeks, Stokes, Miller, Bamba, Hart, Murray and De Graff give us quality and experience. Zemmama adds to this when back.

We need another striker/Pacey winger and ideally attacking midfielder if possible.

Not bad when you think about it....

Who's "Gregg" - the pieman?

[California-Hibs]

Been thinking this for weeks mate. The folk who are worring and panicing about the forth coming season, and who want Hughes sacked asap are going to be eating some humble pie soon

[NAE NOOKIE]

Perhaps, but it remains to be seen how much of an impact our new guys will make,

I've seen De Graff twice now and to be honest he doesnt look anything earth shattering, though I appreciate thats not to say he wont be good in the long run.

Michael Hart IMO hasnt shown a great deal of the blistering pace he once had, but perhaps he needs more game time.

David Stephens looks not bad at all, doesnt panic in possession and knows when to lump it into the stand from what I saw at Carlisle.

Zouma ... Wont be back until Christmas according to the papers, bad news that.

The proof of the pudding will come on Sunday and I for one am at a loss as to what will happen given that we have had a mixed pre season.

[Prawn Sandwich]

Maybe if the Manager picked the best team rather than the best players and then play them out of position. I also think the goalkeeping problem hasn't been solved. So no I don't think that we are in better shape.

[erin go bragh]

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Perhaps, but it remains to be seen how much of an impact our new guys will make,

I've seen De Graff twice now and to be honest he doesnt look anything earth shattering, though I appreciate thats not to say he wont be good in the long run.

Michael Hart IMO hasnt shown a great deal of the blistering pace he once had, but perhaps he needs more game time.

David Stephens looks not bad at all, doesnt panic in possession and knows when to lump it into the stand from what I saw at Carlisle.

Zouma ... Wont be back until Christmas according to the papers, bad news that.

The proof of the pudding will come on Sunday and I for one am at a loss as to what will happen given that we have had a mixed pre season.

de graff was our best player on the park by a country mile at the leith san siro
he will take the spl by storm and be in the running for player of the year
my glass is always half full

[ScottB]

My concerns for this season are tactics, I think we have a more than good enough squad to finish third, the question is if we can adopt a system that works, make good use of substitutes etc etc.

[jacomo]

So we haven't got a clear No 1 keeper (no one's convinced me) and we're a striker short compared to last season.

I agree the signings this summer look decent but we've hardly strengthened significantly, have we?

[Hibby 2005]

Yes we are in a better shape player wise, just not Manager wise.

[hibiedude]

And if you forget about the last half of last season for a second we are the 3rd best team in the SPL.

If anyone thinks Yogi is going to turns things around anytime soon they are kidding themselves on.

As for eating humble pie........ When Yogi comes good.... I look forward to the day that happens.

[Beefster]

If we ignore everything that has been pish about the last 4 weeks....? That's similar to 'If we ignore the last 8 months and multiple spells of his Falkirk reign, is Hughes the next Alex Ferguson?'.

Most of the new players haven't done anything for Hibs yet, we still don't have a convincing keeper and a lot of the players that let us down in the second half of last season (Hogg, Murray, Miller, McBride, Rankin etc) are still considered almost automatic starters.

I wouldn't be making any predictions on this season until we've actually seen the team in a few more meaningful games.

[bighairyfaeleith]

TBH if we ignore the last hundred years, then we are odds on favourites to win the scottish cup this year!!!

[lyonhibs]

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If we ignore everything that has been pish about the last 4 weeks....? That's similar to 'If we ignore the last 8 months and multiple spells of his Falkirk reign, is Hughes the next Alex Ferguson?'.

Most of the new players haven't done anything for Hibs yet, we still don't have a convincing keeper and a lot of the players that let us down in the second half of last season (Hogg, Murray, Miller, McBride, Rankin etc) are still considered almost automatic starters.

I wouldn't be making any predictions on this season until we've actually seen the team in a few more meaningful games.

It's quite a big "If" isn't it!!

With the exception of Hogg and Nish, who are likely to be murder in almost any tactical set-up, the single biggest variable as regards our success this season is the manager, and his capacity (or lack thereof) to play the strongest player, in their strongest position on a regular basis.

We live in hope!!

[down-the-slope]

Yes we are....

But pesonally I would rather still have Benji as he would at least runwith the ball and commit people...and also Maka as he is better than at least one of the 3 we have now and had more potential (as well as being a possible transfer fee in years to come)

Cregg was always a stop gap...and with Stevens / Currie / Welsh / Taggart we have potential for 1 or 2 of those to make a breakthrough.

We need a striker who can play with back to goal and hold up play (Big Mac would do well in this team) And a keeper who can do all the basics at least averagely...shot stopping / kicking from ground / coming for crosses / communicating with defence (all of them are flawed in at least one of those)

Left back in mould of Hart would be handy also....

[Ritchie]

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Been thinking this for weeks mate. The folk who are worring and panicing about the forth coming season, and who want Hughes sacked asap are going to be eating some humble pie soon

would you care to place a bet on that??

[Hibs On Tour]

We needed another CH - we got one in Stephens who is very highly rated. We needed a RB - we got one in Hart who has a lot of experience. We didn't want to lose DR, AS or ideally SB - we've lost none of them. We've freed up wages by releasing players not up to the job including:

Benji - who had barely kicked a ball for Hibs in the past 2 years so its hardly like he's a loss to the team is it?

Maka - please, please stop with the nonsense about "potential". Potential only means anything if it at some stage starts being realised and turned into something in the present tense instead of future tense. Maka had been at Hibs what 3 years? Just how long were we supposed to wait until he started showing anything other than this mythical "potential"? Face facts - he wasn't good enough, move on.

No, we're not 'there' yet and we're a long way from being the finished article. Just like we always knew would be the case and just like Yogi has said from day 1. We're a work in progress and it is likely to take another couple of transfer windows before we're close to 'it' [wherever 'there' and whatever 'it' actually is, of course]

Yes, we're undoubtedly better than we were squad-wise last season. More of the young lads out on loan to strengthen them up and hopefully see more than just Spoony getting a run-out in the first team this year - Lee Currie looks like the next name on the list on that front.

Glass half-full. ENDOF.