A Case For (or against) The Defence

[hibee316]

There are quite a lot of posts here and stuff mentioning in the media about the speed of our defence.

I don't think any of our defenders are slow, however they are all getting older and have all lost a bit of pace, and I think this has been a big reason why we have been shipping so many goals recently.

Do we need a new defender in or is this just pre-season ring rust?

[Stewboy]

Not really sure about that. Look at the McGregor one in the 1st half when he got back. How many times does Lewis get beaten for pace?

[DetroitHibs]

Let's also take in to consideration that we haven't even started the league campaign yet and are still getting up to speed.

[Paul1642]

It’s a strange one. When I think about our defenders individualy they are all excellent yet as a unit don’t seem to be working so far this season.

[Smartie]

We've defended badly at times, but I honestly don't think it's anything to do with a lack of pace.

Over the piece I thought we defended well enough last night, and their goal only came from a misjudgment from Efe, who gambled on attempting an interception when he shouldn't have (something he often does to great effect).

[Brummie_Hibs]

We need to start building a new defence. It is our weakest area.

[happiehibbie]

My issue ATM is Ambrose he is not concentrating and doing the simple stuff well

[SouthsideHarp_Bhoy]

I dont think we have bad defenders, we just leave them exposed a bit because we are not really set up to defend as a team.

I'm kinda ok with that because we seem genuinely commited to playing quite exciting attacking fitba - how many Scottish teams play two up front away in Europe while defending a lead? - but it is hard, and probably beyond a team of our means to be both attacking and defensive strong - you need pretty special players to do that.

Fwiw, I felt we were reasonably secure st back for most of last season.

[The Modfather]

What I didn’t understand last night was with 3 at the back and them only having 1, albeit very fast, striker. Why didn’t we play one of the centre backs as a sweeper.

[FRes Hibbie]

We've looked shaky but I rate our centre backs. Thought the two ties ( particularly last night) were crying out for Bartley to start. Might've looked a bit more solid if he had.

[MagicSwirlingShip]

No need to do any rebuilding in my opinion. Porteous will step up soon enough when required.

This year we’ve came up against the strongest opposition we’ve faced in a pre season for some time, and in competitive matches. Mistakes were bound to happen. No need to make any drastic changes because of it.

[Ozyhibby]

They need a proper defensive mid in front of them. It was through the middle last night that they looked most exposed.


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[J-C]

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They need a proper defensive mid in front of them. It was through the middle last night that they looked most exposed.


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Really shouldn't need a proper defensive midfielder when playing 3 at the back, our problem is Efe doesn't really play well in a back 3, he gets caught out of position too often, goes into challenges when not needed and leaves gaps behind him when he does, this exposes McGregor who doesn't get over to cover quick enough.

A back 4 with a solid defensive midfielder would be much better, last nights goal may never have happened. 2 CH's sitting behind the DM and him stopping the runs from their midfield, if he gets past the DM then you have a CH in position waiting to make the challenge.

[wookie70]

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Really shouldn't need a proper defensive midfielder when playing 3 at the back, our problem is Efe doesn't really play well in a back 3, he gets caught out of position too often, goes into challenges when not needed and leaves gaps behind him when he does, this exposes McGregor who doesn't get over to cover quick enough.

A back 4 with a solid defensive midfielder would be much better, last nights goal may never have happened. 2 CH's sitting behind the DM and him stopping the runs from their midfield, if he gets past the DM then you have a CH in position waiting to make the challenge.

McGregor would have to be mystic Meg to figure out what Ambrose is going to do at times. Hard not to love Efe but he would be an excellent defender if he just stuck to the simple things. He often loses concentration and makes mistakes because he is gambling but the problem is he is so integral to us when we have the ball or when we need to drive on. I'm content that we are just going to continue with scoring one more than the opposition, it makes for fantastic entertainment. Already this season the excitement has been brilliant, goals, thrills and spills and the league hasn't even started. Efe never got going until October or so last season so maybe that will be the case again.

[Brightside]

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We need to start building a new defence. It is our weakest area.

Our weakest area? What we are lacking is the cover infront of the defence at the moment.

[Brightside]

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Really shouldn't need a proper defensive midfielder when playing 3 at the back, our problem is Efe doesn't really play well in a back 3, he gets caught out of position too often, goes into challenges when not needed and leaves gaps behind him when he does, this exposes McGregor who doesn't get over to cover quick enough.

A back 4 with a solid defensive midfielder would be much better, last nights goal may never have happened. 2 CH's sitting behind the DM and him stopping the runs from their midfield, if he gets past the DM then you have a CH in position waiting to make the challenge.

As Ozy says they were coming right through the middle. We are struggling for defensive mid in there at the moment. Even when Whits came on he was as deep as the defence. Even with a back 3 we still need that DM role

[Mr Grieves]

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They need a proper defensive mid in front of them. It was through the middle last night that they looked most exposed.


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You're spot on. There was very little pressure on the opposition in midfield

[Aim Here]

I think the major issue is that McGeouch has gone. He basically made the defence jobs easier by clearing up a lot of problems before they even reached the back three - it's no coincidence that our recent flurry of absurdly goaltastic games has been almost entirely with McGeouch off the pitch (the only exception was the Rangers 5-5).

If we can find someone who can take over McGeouch's role, then we're maybe in the clear; otherwise we need to rearrange the defence somehow with new players or new tactics.

[midfield_maestro]

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Really shouldn't need a proper defensive midfielder when playing 3 at the back, our problem is Efe doesn't really play well in a back 3, he gets caught out of position too often, goes into challenges when not needed and leaves gaps behind him when he does, this exposes McGregor who doesn't get over to cover quick enough.

A back 4 with a solid defensive midfielder would be much better, last nights goal may never have happened. 2 CH's sitting behind the DM and him stopping the runs from their midfield, if he gets past the DM then you have a CH in position waiting to make the challenge.

Agree, I felt that once they went down to 10 last night we should have gone 4 at the back much earlier.

[hibby6270]

Let’s also not forget that most of our games so far have been against foreign teams/players and that in itself brings a different dimension to how our defence has to play. Up against Scottish home attacks, think we’ll do just fine!!

[Inconsequential]

Listening to the game on Thursday and reading comments afterwards gave the impression that Efe made a total hash of things... looking at the footage I thought he was beaten by an excellent piece of skill. We have a new keeper and the defence have still to find an understanding with him as far as I can see. Early days - the season hasn't started yet!

[southern hibby]

Last season up until mid January we shipped in goals at the back post, eventually sorting it out. At the end of last year 3 against Killie, 5 against the Huns, 5 against part timers over 2 legs and 3 against a very decent team over 2 legs. We could argue 2 against Blackburn too, but that’s just being picky.

I’ve said it for a while on paper we have a good defence but in reality it leaks goals. Really not sure what we need to sort it out. Sort the defence out and we will be above 4th come the end of the season.

GGTTH

[jacomo]

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We need to start building a new defence. It is our weakest area.

[Blaster]

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Last season up until mid January we shipped in goals at the back post, eventually sorting it out. At the end of last year 3 against Killie, 5 against the Huns, 5 against part timers over 2 legs and 3 against a very decent team over 2 legs. We could argue 2 against Blackburn too, but that’s just being picky.

I’ve said it for a while on paper we have a good defence but in reality it leaks goals. Really not sure what we need to sort it out. Sort the defence out and we will be above 4th come the end of the season.

GGTTH

In reality though

Rangers game we went for broke to win by 6
Faroes team first game was a deflected free kick
Faroes team second game we’ll never see a defence made up like that again with Whitaker and Ambrose as our centre backs (I hope)

A bit of tightening up required, no doubt about it but some over panicking about the defence in my opinion

[Sammy7nil]

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Nothing to be confused about looks at recent goals against column

[AlbertK86]

Would love to see Hanlon sweep as he reads game so well .... however he is beginning to push and drive forward more from left CB.

Porteous has filled in at left CB albeit he is right footed and can play a bit of football


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[macca70]

I reckon we’re desperately trying to accommodate playing Efe, Hanlon, McGregor but it’s not quite working, the 3 of them seem to be all over the place, Personally I think 2 centre half’s and 2 full backs in a back 4 works best.

Although, despite leaking goals we’re still winning so as long as we outscore the opposition.

[Blaster]

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In reality though

Rangers game we went for broke to win by 6
Faroes team first game was a deflected free kick
Faroes team second game we’ll never see a defence made up like that again with Whitaker and Ambrose as our centre backs (I hope)

A bit of tightening up required, no doubt about it but some over panicking about the defence in my opinion

Clean sheet today
Panic over?

[southern hibby]

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Clean sheet today
Panic over?

Blaster I’m not panicking, yes we did have a clean sheet today but we did ride our luck, hit the post, X hearts striker should have scored with free header. Yes we know he never but we’re still dodgy at the back


GGTTH

[Blaster]

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Blaster I’m not panicking, yes we did have a clean sheet today but we did ride our luck, hit the post, X hearts striker should have scored with free header. Yes we know he never but we’re still dodgy at the back


GGTTH

Most of those chances came from the midfield switching off from 70 mins. And once gray went off. One bad mistake otherwise defence were solid