Opposition Manager's Comments

[theonlywayisup]

Quite an extreme - one manager complimentary about Hibs, one manager made no reference to the opposition. Which approach would you want from your manager? Should they only focus only on their team (as per Levein and Warburton before him) or do you think they should compliment (as per Robinson)?

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson after 1-0 loss to Hibs: "In truth, I thought we got what we deserved. I thought Hibs came out of the blocks really well, their shape upset us a little bit.


"They did what I call the 'free stuff' better than us; they came out for every 50/50 ball, they won every header, they just seemed to have more legs than us today.


"In the second half we put up a bit of a fight but we were a shadow of ourselves today.


"The game was lost in the first half. A long ball over the top wasn't dealt with well and then it's always an uphill battle.


"Take nothing away from Hibs, I thought they deserved their victory but we weren't at the races. I think the end of this week has caught up with us."

Hertz manager Craig Levein after 1-0 loss to Hibs: "I am disappointed which you would expect but more so that we turned up with the right attitude but just didn't play.


"I think it disappointed the players as well.


"I have no complaints about the effort we put in but we just didn't pass the ball. It never really felt that we got a grip of the game.


"The first half was really poor, we didn't really get going at all. We weren't getting cut open but didn't get the ball moving the way we needed to so we kept giving the ball away and defending and that was the pattern in the first half.

"The second half was better but we didn't do well enough."

[MWHIBBIES]

Focus only on my team tbh, only speak about the opposition when you have done really well and still lost.

[1van Sprou7e]

After a derby loss the last thing you want to hear is your manager going on about how good the opposition were, it varies from game to game really

I like it when managers acknowledge the fact that the other team played well but I agree you should only really do it if you at least played decent yourself

[007]

Cathro was the same. All very narcissistic, mind you, they are the "famous" ones. Fits in well with their sense of superiority.

[O'Rourke3]

It's definitely in the Hearts Team Playbook. Never credit the opposition regardless - not just us.

[Suburban Hibby]

Jefferies was the worst for it!

[Steve20]

I'd never compliment Hearts, if they won the derby. No chance. Focus should be talking about your own team.

[Big L]

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Jefferies was the worst for it!

Correct! When they won it was "we" when they lost it was "they " grabbed whatever credit he could.

[Smartie]

I like a bit of honesty, so either way suits me, depending on the occasion.

If you've watched a game and you know the opposition have done well it can be good to hear your manager credit the opposition - it helps you form an opinion of your own manager if you feel like you've watched the same game.

If you've been pish and all the manager does is fawn over the other team or blame "resources" - I have a problem with that.

When the manager chooses to focus on his own team, equally that is fine.

I do think it is classless to criticise or belittle the opposition - in fairness to Levein he hasn't done that, and he could have probably got himself a few brownie points with the Hearts fandans if he opted for a cheap jibe or 2.

[Firestarter]

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I'd never compliment Hearts, if they won the derby. No chance. Focus should be talking about your own team.

This. I would be a bitter **** if I managed us to a loss.

[NAE NOOKIE]

I think the difference is to acknowledge the shortcomings in your own teams play but at the same time credit the opposition if they have played well.

An example being the Aberdeen game the other week .... IMO Hibs were the better team on the day, but our shortcoming was an inability to make use of the possession in the final third our good leading up play had created. Aberdeen defended extremely well and though their approach hardly made for an exciting end to end game but they deserved credit for the way they protected their one goal lead.

If NL had acknowledged both aspects of that game I wouldn't have had a problem with it.

[matty_f]

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I'd never compliment Hearts, if they won the derby. No chance. Focus should be talking about your own team.

To be fair, you struggle to compliment Hibs so that's hardly a surprise.