Its Official-We have Giveb up Playing with a Right Back

[hibsbollah]

When Calderwood took the laughably bad Pallson at half time and introduced, even more laughably, Wotherspoon of all people, at right back for the second half, I decided that CC's completely given up. This quite simple position has been criminally ignored since Whittaker's day, with a series of hopeless jokes in that position; Gathuessi, Van Zanten, Hart just off the top of my head as well as Murray, Thicot, Hogg etc out of position. Its not difficult is it? Can we be the first team to actually play professional football without a right back? Maybe just direct all the attacks down the left from now on? Maybe if Calderwood stood on his head through the 90 minutes things might improve, especially if the whole East Stand did it too maybe we wouldnt notice how unbalanced we are? and the other team might not notice either, and we could confuse them.


Appalling and depressing.

[Hibs Class]

Wotherspoon is a more effective RB than Palsson so in that respect it was an improvement, and we conceded fewer chances down that side in the second half than we did in the first. It also had the bonus of taking Spoony away from midfield where he was looking hopelessly inept.

[Cropley10]

Palsson! Heard someone just after the HT whistle blowing shouting something like - 'you're not as good as you think you are' at him as he was heading towards the tunnel. I found myself agreeing.

Sad thing is when he arrived I thought he was decent. However the worst player on the park had to be Thornhill today. He's an English Div 1 player at best, based on that. Didn't seem to care less.

[Macaroon]

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When Calderwood took the laughably bad Pallson at half time and introduced, even more laughably, Wotherspoon of all people, at right back for the second half, I decided that CC's completely given up. This quite simple position has been criminally ignored since Whittaker's day, with a series of hopeless jokes in that position; Gathuessi, Van Zanten, Hart just off the top of my head as well as Murray, Thicot, Hogg etc out of position. Its not difficult is it? Can we be the first team to actually play professional football without a right back? Maybe just direct all the attacks down the left from now on? Maybe if Calderwood stood on his head through the 90 minutes things might improve, especially if the whole East Stand did it too maybe we wouldnt notice how unbalanced we are? and the other team might not notice either, and we could confuse them.


Appalling and depressing.

How do you plan we replace Whittaker? It may seem that the position has been ignored because of Whittaker's quality, but he came through our youth system, he was free. What we have done since then is sign players who fall within our budget. A player of Whittaker's calibre is not an option for us wage and transfer fee wise so our only option is to persevere with youths, which is what Hibs were trying to achieve in Wotherspoon.

[Cropley10]

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How do you plan we replace Whittaker? It may seem that the position has been ignored because of Whittaker's quality, but he came through our youth system, he was free. What we have done since then is sign players who fall within our budget. A player of Whittaker's calibre is not an option for us wage and transfer fee wise so our only option is to persevere with youths, which is what Hibs were trying to achieve in Wotherspoon.

Interesting point. I hear alot about this youth system. Out of interest - how many games has Spoon played at RB?

What we have consistently done is fail to find anyone capable of playing the position, compounding the problem by signing, on big money Michael (F)Hart - who is now slower than a week in Saughton.

[hibsbollah]

I dont think Spoony ever really was, or should have been, a RB. He got by on youthful exuberance for awhile but somethings gone wrong.

[delbert]

Who are these people who keep saying Wotherspoon is the answer at right back. When he came into the side he was an attacking right sided midfielder who used his pace up and down to get crosses in and create chances. he was then switched to RB by the glakit buffoon, was ripped a new one on countless ocassions, and subsequently completely lost his confidence. We have now played almost 2 full seasons without a right back (you can't count Hart, because he is utterly gash), and 2 successive managers have'nt managed to sort this out. I have said time and again go out and buy a right back, somebody replied a couple of weeks ago its not that simple - YES IT IS !!!!!! most other teams in Scotland operate with 2 full backs, so surely somewhere out there is at least one right back who has the potential to be better than nothing at all, which is what we have at the moment. How can anyone in their right mind come on here and defend a manager who cannot see we need an experienced right back AND an experienced aggressive centre half who knows that his primary function is to defend and not concede cheap goals. Its been glaringly obvious throughout Calderwood's entire tenure, yet he has failed miserably to do anything about it - and the rumour was he was at one time an experienced international centre half. Buld a team from the back is'nt just some sort of catchphrase, it's total common sense, especially when you are presented week in week out with a powderpuff group of tossers who have no idea what they are doing. Have you seen the way we set up at corners?????.... primary school teams would'nt set up like that, consequently with players all on their heels we are alamost always defending a first header because we never ever get there first, there is no aggression at all back there. And if anyone posts, its just another bad day at the office, have a ****in word !!

[Largshibby]

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Interesting point. I hear alot about this youth system. Out of interest - how many games has Spoon played at RB?

What we have consistently done is fail to find anyone capable of playing the position, compounding the problem by signing, on big money Michael (F)Hart - who is now slower than a week in Saughton.

How hard can it be to teach one of our existing players to take on this role.We must have about 30 professional footballers on our books and goodness knows how many coaches so surely one of them can be shown what to do. Wasn't Calderwood a right back? Dare I say that rather than spend afternoons on the golf course or in a snooker hall players should be hooked into the "fantastic" training centre for afternoon training/teaching sessions on how to perform the RB role.

[Perspective]

To think people used to moan about Whittaker not being up to it!

[Sas_The_Hibby]

It never seems to have crossed the minds of either Calderwood, or Hughes (thinking particularly of his tactical masterstroke in the away game v Maribor) before him, that there's any problem with our defence.

Calderwood appears to have attempted to strengthen every area of the team except the defence (with the exception of O'Hanlon), when our defence has been shocking, IMO, for two straight seasons, ever since Rob Jones left.

[Andy74]

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Who are these people who keep saying Wotherspoon is the answer at right back. When he came into the side he was an attacking right sided midfielder who used his pace up and down to get crosses in and create chances. he was then switched to RB by the glakit buffoon, was ripped a new one on countless ocassions, and subsequently completely lost his confidence. We have now played almost 2 full seasons without a right back (you can't count Hart, because he is utterly gash), and 2 successive managers have'nt managed to sort this out. I have said time and again go out and buy a right back, somebody replied a couple of weeks ago its not that simple - YES IT IS !!!!!! most other teams in Scotland operate with 2 full backs, so surely somewhere out there is at least one right back who has the potential to be better than nothing at all, which is what we have at the moment. How can anyone in their right mind come on here and defend a manager who cannot see we need an experienced right back AND an experienced aggressive centre half who knows that his primary function is to defend and not concede cheap goals. Its been glaringly obvious throughout Calderwood's entire tenure, yet he has failed miserably to do anything about it - and the rumour was he was at one time an experienced international centre half. Buld a team from the back is'nt just some sort of catchphrase, it's total common sense, especially when you are presented week in week out with a powderpuff group of tossers who have no idea what they are doing. Have you seen the way we set up at corners?????.... primary school teams would'nt set up like that, consequently with players all on their heels we are alamost always defending a first header because we never ever get there first, there is no aggression at all back there. And if anyone posts, its just another bad day at the office, have a ****in word !!

Eh? Hughes brought him in and he played right back. Up until Christmas the back four had the best defensive records for decades.

Weve now tried him in all the forward positions and he's been rubbish.

He looked a lot better going forward from the right back position when he was switched today.

[Hibiza]

without trying to sound smart , said it weeks ago. ritchie towell done brill. any team doeds well with good full backs, calderwood is rubbish

[Hibiza]

John Brownlie

[Hibiza]

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When Calderwood took the laughably bad Pallson at half time and introduced, even more laughably, Wotherspoon of all people, at right back for the second half, I decided that CC's completely given up. This quite simple position has been criminally ignored since Whittaker's day, with a series of hopeless jokes in that position; Gathuessi, Van Zanten, Hart just off the top of my head as well as Murray, Thicot, Hogg etc out of position. Its not difficult is it? Can we be the first team to actually play professional football without a right back? Maybe just direct all the attacks down the left from now on? Maybe if Calderwood stood on his head through the 90 minutes things might improve, especially if the whole East Stand did it too maybe we wouldnt notice how unbalanced we are? and the other team might not notice either, and we could confuse them.


Appalling and depressing.

Bang on

[thebakerboy]

I thought today the best performance at fullback all match was the St. Mirren right back. Oh no that cannot be true because that was David van Zanten who according to most on here is totally gash but he played at right back as a right back should play and Danny Galbraith , Spoony and Ivan really had no success against him . Then again in article in the Scotsman today he said he hated his time at ER because of problems in the dressing room and it would seem it's still a problem.

[calumb]

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Who are these people who keep saying Wotherspoon is the answer at right back. When he came into the side he was an attacking right sided midfielder who used his pace up and down to get crosses in and create chances. he was then switched to RB by the glakit buffoon, was ripped a new one on countless ocassions, and subsequently completely lost his confidence. We have now played almost 2 full seasons without a right back (you can't count Hart, because he is utterly gash), and 2 successive managers have'nt managed to sort this out. I have said time and again go out and buy a right back, somebody replied a couple of weeks ago its not that simple - YES IT IS !!!!!! most other teams in Scotland operate with 2 full backs, so surely somewhere out there is at least one right back who has the potential to be better than nothing at all, which is what we have at the moment. How can anyone in their right mind come on here and defend a manager who cannot see we need an experienced right back AND an experienced aggressive centre half who knows that his primary function is to defend and not concede cheap goals. Its been glaringly obvious throughout Calderwood's entire tenure, yet he has failed miserably to do anything about it - and the rumour was he was at one time an experienced international centre half. Buld a team from the back is'nt just some sort of catchphrase, it's total common sense, especially when you are presented week in week out with a powderpuff group of tossers who have no idea what they are doing. Have you seen the way we set up at corners?????.... primary school teams would'nt set up like that, consequently with players all on their heels we are alamost always defending a first header because we never ever get there first, there is no aggression at all back there. And if anyone posts, its just another bad day at the office, have a ****in word !!

This one of the most bizarre thing i've seen we only ever have one player defending the posts.
Its a universal constant in football to have someone defend the near and back post, we have one player usually Booth or Stevenson drifting from one post to another. If i was an opposing manager all you would have to do is tell your corner kicker not to play the ball into the middle but to play it to whatever post is being left unguarded. its only a matter of time before someone scores against us directly from a corner kick.

[Sir David Gray]

It's an absolute joke that this situation with our defence as a whole - not just at right back - has been allowed to happen.

How he could play the same defence that performed so shambolically at Rugby Park last week was unbelievable. For the first, and probably last, time in my life, I actually agreed with Allan Preston's comments on Sportsound today, which was that if Sean O'Hanlon's been deemed fit enough to be included as a substitute then he should be fit enough to start.

As for the RB position in particular, it's a position that we've been looking to fill for about 4 years now, ever since Steven Whittaker left. Since then we've either had makeshift right backs filling in for the odd game (Chris Hogg, Victor Palsson) or we've had complete bombscares (Thierry Gathuessi and David van Zanten).

I've made this point on a few occasions now but for Colin Calderwood to only make one defensive signing this summer, when we ended the last campaign with the worst defensive record in the whole league is, at best, completely neglectful on our manager's part.

[DH1875]

So does anyone thing we will go out and sign a RB or will we stick to the crap CC came out with the other week about how we can play round it

[BEEJ]

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So does anyone thing we will go out and sign a RB or will we stick to the crap CC came out with the other week about how we can play round it

We're probably holding out to get one at the end of the transfer window.

However, sides with RBs to spare will be able to see how desperately we need to fill that position.

[Gala Foxes]

Palsson isn't a right back

Neither is Wotherspoon

Sadly, neither is Michael Hart

How come we signed 2 forwards, Agogo & Airey, neither of whom could make the bench, when we have needed a right back for 12 months ?

[HibbyAndy]

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Palsson isn't a right back

Neither is Wotherspoon

Sadly, neither is Michael Hart

How come we signed 2 forwards, Agogo & Airey, neither of whom could make the bench, when we have needed a right back for 12 months ?

That my friend is the best qoute ive seen on here for a long time!.

[hibsbollah]

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We're probably holding out to get one at the end of the transfer window.

However, sides with RBs to spare will be able to see how desperately we need to fill that position.

Time to spend. Hateley please. Pay a fee and move on to better things. He can take the freekicks instead of Spoony as well.

[nortonhibby]

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When Calderwood took the laughably bad Pallson at half time and introduced, even more laughably, Wotherspoon of all people, at right back for the second half, I decided that CC's completely given up. This quite simple position has been criminally ignored since Whittaker's day, with a series of hopeless jokes in that position; Gathuessi, Van Zanten, Hart just off the top of my head as well as Murray, Thicot, Hogg etc out of position. Its not difficult is it? Can we be the first team to actually play professional football without a right back? Maybe just direct all the attacks down the left from now on? Maybe if Calderwood stood on his head through the 90 minutes things might improve, especially if the whole East Stand did it too maybe we wouldnt notice how unbalanced we are? and the other team might not notice either, and we could confuse them.


Appalling and depressing.

give Colin time

[cabbageandribs1875]

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I thought today the best performance at fullback all match was the St. Mirren right back. Oh no that cannot be true because that was David van Zanten who according to most on here is totally gash but he played at right back as a right back should play and Danny Galbraith , Spoony and Ivan really had no success against him . Then again in article in the Scotsman today he said he hated his time at ER because of problems in the dressing room and it would seem it's still a problem.

but most posters on here said he was rank pity we wont have him to keep driver in his back pocket again next week

[hibsbollah]

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but most posters on here said he was rank pity we wont have him to keep driver in his back pocket again next week

He WAS rank. He did have a couple of good games against Driver (and McGeady) but he was desperate.

[Jim44]

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To think people used to moan about Whittaker not being up to it!

I think Whittaker and also De La Cruz were poor right fullbacks but made up for it with attacking flair. Now we have poor excuses for right fullback and no flair whatsoever.

[calumb]

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He WAS rank. He did have a couple of good games against Driver (and McGeady) but he was desperate.

Aye but at least he was a proper right back and part of the problem was that we were comparing him to
whittaker who was an attacking threat, Van Zanten was poor going forward but he could defend.
At the moment we dont have a right back who is capable of attacking or defending

[Jim44]

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give Colin time

It's a bit much to lock hiim up for his ineptitude. A one way ticket to Birmingham, compliments of Petrie, would suffice.