Five key points from last night

[theonlywayisup]

Pretty sums up my thoughts on the game, McGeoch, Gunnarsson, Keatings and the referee!

http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.co...elow-1-4019856
Dylan McGeouch is far too good for the Championship
It was a pleasure, yet again, to watch Dylan McGeouch in action. The diminutive midfielder was again head-and-shoulders above anybody else on the pitch. He’s always available for the ball and very rarely loses it, continually prompting attacks and finding a Hibs counterpart in space. Without the ball, he’s intelligent enough to close down space and press opposition players. The three other main Hibs midfielders – Fraser Fyvie, John McGinn and Liam Henderson – all played their part too, but McGeouch is the vital cog in Hibs’ engine room. It’s a real surprise that Hibs didn’t lose out to clubs in the Premiership or down south when he became available in the summer, because he’s streets ahead of anybody else in the Championship.

On second viewing, Niklas Gunnarsson looks useful
It’s always too early to judge a player on his debut, but Norwegian Niklas Gunnarsson failed to impress when he made his debut at Stark’s Park in Hibs’ 2-0 Scottish Cup win over Raith in early January. He was much more assured in Greenock, however. He ably replaced David Gray – rested ahead of Sunday’s derby – at right back, driving forward at every opportunity and defending strongly. He was very rarely beaten by Bobby Barr on the wing and it was actually Gunnarsson who penned his Morton foe back, winning a fair few corners and offering Hibs width on the right. He barely missed a tackle either and appeared much more at home than he did a few weeks ago, which is only natural considering he’s had time to get fit and acclimatise to Scotland. It’s unlikely he’ll become Hibs’ first-choice right back, but the Valerenga loanee offered enough to assuage any fears that Hibs lack cover should Gray get injured.
Another 1-0 win for Hibs
The win at Morton was Hibs’ SEVENTH 1-0 victory in the league this season. For many years Hibs have been labelled as a side unable to churn out results when the going gets tough, but that’s exactly what they’ve been doing this season. In a title race, it’s imperative – especially away from home – to win at all costs, and substance is very much more important than style. Hibs were in control for most of last night’s match and could’ve won by more, but taking the points back to Edinburgh was mission accomplished as far as head coach Alan Stubbs was concerned, considering Saturday’s draining League Cup semi-final win. Last season, the Easter Road side dropped too many points when 1-0 wins would’ve more than sufficed, so it’s good to see them winning when not at their best. As the well-worn cliché goes, it’s the sign of champions after all.


A frustrating evening for James Keatings
Last night was a good chance for James Keatings to really show Stubbs what he can do. The former Hearts man will have been desperate to show his boss that he’s deserving of a starting place at his old stomping ground on Sunday. Did he do enough? Probably not. He was lively enough and always looking for possession, but too often the ball didn’t stick or the final product was lacking. His one big chance – a close-range header on the stroke of half-time – was too close to Derek Gaston and allowed him to make a save. Keatings clearly is a good player – he’s shown us that already this season – but it’s just not coming off for him right now. Jason Cummings, Anthony Stokes and Chris Dagnall are probably in better form right now, and it’s fair to assume Keatings is probably going to be a substitute against his former employers.


The standard of refereeing in the Championship is poor
Nobody likes slagging off referees, but it’s hard to ignore John McKendrick’s performance last night. Both sets of fans were irked by the official as he made a series of bemusing and incorrect calls. It was probably one of the worst officiating displays this season in a Hibs game. Morton players continually got away with clear fouls on McGeouch, Henderson and Fyvie, while the hosts can feel aggrieved that in the latter period of the match, McKendrick missed some infringements in promising positions. It wasn’t just at Cappielow last night where gripes were made about the referee. Euan Anderson got it in the neck from Ray McKinnon for chopping off a Raith goal against Rangers, while even in the Premiership, Barry Cook’s card-happy performance didn’t go down well with either Parick or Motherwell. It’s a sad fact that the further down the leagues you go, officialdom becomes less impressive, but even still, McKendrick’s performance made Willie Collum and, ahem, Craig Thomson look like Pierluigi Collina.

[RCNG]

Aye. Wouldn't be bothered if Keatings never wrote a Hibs top again after that. Up against poor opposition and was never in the game. Movement was poor. Touch was poor. It's a no from me.

[CallumLaidlaw]

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Aye. Wouldn't be bothered if Keatings never wrote a Hibs top again after that. Up against poor opposition and was never in the game. Movement was poor. Touch was poor. It's a no from me.

Good support for him

[HibsNutter]

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Aye. Wouldn't be bothered if Keatings never wrote a Hibs top again after that. Up against poor opposition and was never in the game. Movement was poor. Touch was poor. It's a no from me.

Good thing there's three strikers ahead of him in the pecking order then.

[Super_JMcGinn]

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Aye. Wouldn't be bothered if Keatings never wrote a Hibs top again after that. Up against poor opposition and was never in the game. Movement was poor. Touch was poor. It's a no from me.

Very harsh, given a decent run in the team I'm certain he would score more than his fair share.

[Waxy]

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Aye. Wouldn't be bothered if Keatings never wrote a Hibs top again after that. Up against poor opposition and was never in the game. Movement was poor. Touch was poor. It's a no from me.

Disagree.Makes goals and scores on top form. It'll come.

[trev the hat]

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Aye. Wouldn't be bothered if Keatings never wrote a Hibs top again after that. Up against poor opposition and was never in the game. Movement was poor. Touch was poor. It's a no from me.

His movement & touch to set up Stokes at ER recently might say something different.
7 goals with limited game time is non too shabby IMO

[RCNG]

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Disagree.Makes goals and scores on top form. It'll come.

We don't have time for it to come.

[Waxy]

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We don't have time for it to come.

The stage is pretty well set up perfectly this coming Sunday.

[hugo boss]

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Aye. Wouldn't be bothered if Keatings never wrote a Hibs top again after that. Up against poor opposition and was never in the game. Movement was poor. Touch was poor. It's a no from me.

Your a rocket

[Stewboy]

I think having a striker as capable as Keatings as our 4th choice says more about where the club is going than Keatings ability

[The_Horde]

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We don't have time for it to come.

Deary me. The lunatic has left the asylum.

Ltyf

[green day]

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We don't have time for it to come.

Did you see how he MADE the goal for stokes the other week?

If you didnt see that live (or catch it on highlights) then you are either at the wind up or a

[RCNG]

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Your a rocket

You're.

Great response.

[RCNG]

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Did you see how he MADE the goal for stokes the other week?

If you didnt see that live (or catch it on highlights) then you are either at the wind up or a

What did you make of his performance last night?

[green day]

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What did you make of his performance last night?

Couldn't make it - work commitments, good enough for you?

Understand it wasnt brilliant - however there have been games this season when Henderson wasnt great - but IMO he has had still a good season. Ther have also been games where Cummings has been mince.

Its a squad game, and if we need to rotate, then Keatings is a part of it.

Like I said, if you actually saw the contribution to make Stokes first goal back for us, you might be giving him a wee bit more slack.

[RCNG]

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Couldn't make it - work commitments, good enough for you?

Understand it wasnt brilliant - however there have been games this season when Henderson wasnt great - but IMO he has had still a good season. Ther have also been games where Cummings has been mince.

Its a squad game, and if we need to rotate, then Keatings is a part of it.

Like I said, if you actually saw the contribution to make Stokes first goal back for us, you might be giving him a wee bit more slack.

I did see that. It was good. We were already winning and that goal sealed it. Didn't see any of that against better opposition IMO.

[Andy74]

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I think having a striker as capable as Keatings as our 4th choice says more about where the club is going than Keatings ability

I think he has had a really disappointing few weeks and is maybe showing why Hearts made a call that they were happy for him to go.

I'm hoping he gets back at it, not least of which because we are down to two strikers just now who are scoring goals.

I know i'm slightly obsessed with Malonga just now and still don't really get why we let him walk away for next to nothing, but you can contrast the expectations on him to Keatings. He has been pretty much supported through weeks of not producing and praised for the one moment he has shown something.

Malonga would have been hung, drawn and quartered by now if he had just had the run of form that Keatings has been showing.

[Billy Whizz]

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I think he has had a really disappointing few weeks and is maybe showing why Hearts made a call that they were happy for him to go.

I'm hoping he gets back at it, not least of which because we are down to two strikers just now who are scoring goals.

I know i'm slightly obsessed with Malonga just now and still don't really get why we let him walk away for next to nothing, but you can contrast the expectations on him to Keatings. He has been pretty much supported through weeks of not producing and praised for the one moment he has shown something.

Malonga would have been hung, drawn and quartered by now if he had just had the run of form that Keatings has been showing.

Maybe Dom wanted to go, do you keep an unhappy player if he's doesn't want to be at Hibs?

[My_Wife_Camille]

Typical reaction on here when someone dares to criticise a player.

Keatings has has been poor for weeks and we're coming to a critical point of the season where we can't afford sit back and hope it will come for certain players while we have others who we know will do a job.

Keatings was given a chance to play the full 90 in his favoured position yesterday and offerered next to nothing. Now we have Stokes and Dagnall in alongside Cummings, I agree that I'm not fussed about Keatings either.

[AlbertK86]

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Aye. Wouldn't be bothered if Keatings never wrote a Hibs top again after that. Up against poor opposition and was never in the game. Movement was poor. Touch was poor. It's a no from me.

Great backing for the team mate!

Have you passed your thoughts on to Stubbsy

Sure he doesn't know his squad very well so would welcome your input.

Strongest squad we've had in years and we have only been beaten once in 25 games. Keatings has played his part by scoring vital goals and setting up others.

[Boyle89]

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Deary me. The lunatic has left the asylum.

Ltyf

Not a yam. Many GREAT away days together with him.
Can anyone deny he's been poor for quite some time?
His assist for stokes last week was good but other than that I've not seen much of what he's done recently. Glad we have stokes and jc.

[RCNG]

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Great backing for the team mate!

Have you passed your thoughts on to Stubbsy

Sure he doesn't know his squad very well so would welcome your input.

Strongest squad we've had in years and we have only been beaten once in 25 games. Keatings has played his part by scoring vital goals and setting up others.

Backing for the team is going to games. Stating opinions is what the forum is for. Something a lot of people forget on here. Lighten up.

[RCNG]

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Not a yam. Many GREAT away days together with him.
Can anyone deny he's been poor for quite some time?
His assist for stokes last week was good but other than that I've not seen much of what he's done recently. Glad we have stokes and jc.

Many terrible ones too!

[E10 Rifle]

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Not a yam. Many GREAT away days together with him.
Can anyone deny he's been poor for quite some time?
His assist for stokes last week was good but other than that I've not seen much of what he's done recently. Glad we have stokes and jc.

This is a fair point. I thought, that given the chance, he would have been all over the park yesterday, but he wasn't and just didn't look overly interested or up for the fight. However, the most important thing he did do last night was give Cummings a rest before the weekend.

[BSEJVT]

I truly don't get the need for folk to come on here and criticise the players constantly.

I could maybe accept it if folk were commenting that so and so had a bad game or had been off form for a while and left it at that.

Instead we have folk lining up to rubbish a variety of players and to call them for everything.

The only consolation is that unlike previous years there is no focal point like Craig or Nelson or whoever, but just about everyone seems to be getting shot at at varying times.

WTF is the point of that?

If anyone should be criticised for a particular playing it should be the manager that picks him.

The player gets selected and does his best.

IMO every player in the current squad would have walked into every Hibs team since the demise of the golden generation. Wtf have we to complain about?

There have been times in the past when I wouldn't have trusted the manager of the day to pick his nose, let alone a team, but as that's clearly not the case with Stubbs, maybe we should leave them to get on with job in hand and try getting behind them, they are doing pretty well after all?

I shudder to think what this place would be like if we weren't.

Seems to me there are too many folk like to create a bit of a stir with some either stupid or outrageous comments like last night's pathetic goal no goal.

[The_Horde]

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Not a yam. Many GREAT away days together with him.
Can anyone deny he's been poor for quite some time?
His assist for stokes last week was good but other than that I've not seen much of what he's done recently. Glad we have stokes and jc.

Clearly doesn't have very much guile, you sure he's not?

[Blaster]

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I think he has had a really disappointing few weeks and is maybe showing why Hearts made a call that they were happy for him to go.

I'm hoping he gets back at it, not least of which because we are down to two strikers just now who are scoring goals.

I know i'm slightly obsessed with Malonga just now and still don't really get why we let him walk away for next to nothing, but you can contrast the expectations on him to Keatings. He has been pretty much supported through weeks of not producing and praised for the one moment he has shown something.

Malonga would have been hung, drawn and quartered by now if he had just had the run of form that Keatings has been showing.

Has keatings not scored more goals than malonga this season?

[Springbank]

The Hibs v Hearts cup tie has Keatings winner written all over it.

It's very often an unsung or seemingly off form player that becomes the hero in these games

Not many had Wotherspoon (or Zaliukas og) as first scorer in the last cup Derby

JK to come off the bench and net the winner

[Andy74]

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Has keatings not scored more goals than malonga this season?

I think he has, yes. Scored a few in that 2 or 3 week spell. My comment was that he has since gone on a long run of not playing well. Some don't get that luxury without getting a lot of stick.

Anyway, don't want to see anyone getting stick so I've not really got a proper point.