If This Season Is Not The Season for a Title Challenge; When the Effe Is??!

[HibeeHutch]

Seriously, if not now then when?

This is thee most competitive and balanced league that I can remember in a long, long time. I thought we did decent business in the summer but given the opportunity should we be doing our upmost to strengthen even more in January and give this a real good go??

If not, why not? The mindset (at least on the surface) needs to change.

HH

[thegaffer12]

The surprise teams that win titles, eg. Leicester, Montpellier, never go out to say "lets win a title". With hearts fans going on about winning the title in the way they are, they are sure to crash and burn. Hopefully Hibs will just take every game as it comes, and not get dizzy at the top with delusion.

...and then in May we can start getting excited

[CMurdoch]

Next season will be the one.
Reasoning - Our midfield other than Milligan is not quite right and we are struggling to get MacLaren and Kamberi on the pitch together.

[SRHibs]

We are in an awkward position this season with regards Celtic. If they pick things up and start playing well then a title challenge is extremely unlikely. Conversely, if they keep doing ***** and Brenda gets the sack, I can’t see any other outcome than NL as Celtic manager. If that does happen, I hope the board retain the same amount of ambition when finding his replacement.

Our squad is the strongest it’s been for a long while though.

[Hibernia&Alba]

I don't think we'll put in a title challenge. If we still had last season's midfield, I would say we have a chance, but I think we'll end up battling for third, which is pretty good. Celtc and The Rangers will start to get some momentum and some point, and I think they will take the top two places, Celtc as champions again. It's true there's always that wee chance it could be a year when an outsider comes through, as Leicester did, and Hearts will be thinking the same.

[Lancs Harp]

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We are in an awkward position this season with regards Celtic. If they pick things up and start playing well then a title challenge is extremely unlikely. Conversely, if they keep doing ***** and Brenda gets the sack, I can’t see any other outcome than NL as Celtic manager. If that does happen, I hope the board retain the same amount of ambition when finding his replacement.

Our squad is the strongest it’s been for a long while though.

Personally if Celtic and Rodgers part company I dont think Celtic will look to NL. Very much of a case of been there and done it and not the way they want to move their club forward. I'd be very surprised to see NL back at Parkhead. I think English Championship clubs are more of a carrot to NL.

[cleanyman]

We could

But the team at the minute is too disjointed. Our acid tests will be against Rangers, Celtic and Hearts

[Pretty Boy]

Beyond them being Celtic and Rangers is there any reason why people are so confident they will begin to pull away? Rangers look really poor away from home and Celtic aren't firing at all and have 1 fit striker. Both also have a sustained run of midweek games for the forseeable. It was the same the year Hearts ran away with the Championship, even when it was obvious they were better than Rangers there was still a chorus of 'Rangers will catch them' well into the 2nd half of the season. In the end we ended up above them as well.

Of course you can't ignore the weight of 30+ years of history but history doesn't put points on the board. It would take a real run of no injuries and minimal suspensions for another team to do it but I think they will be closer to the pack than many think.

[Nakedmanoncrack]

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Beyond them being Celtic and Rangers is there any reason why people are so confident they will begin to pull away? Rangers look really poor away from home and Celtic aren't firing at all and have 1 fit striker. Both also have a sustained run of midweek games for the forseeable. It was the same the year Hearts ran away with the Championship, even when it was obvious they were better than Rangers there was still a chorus of 'Rangers will catch them' well into the 2nd half of the season. In the end we ended up above them as well.

Of course you can't ignore the weight of 30+ years of history but history doesn't put points on the board. It would take a real run of no injuries and minimal suspensions for another team to do it but I think they will be closer to the pack than many think.

Not in the case of Sevco.

[Hibernia&Alba]

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Not in the case of Sevco.

[Jones28]

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We could

But the team at the minute is too disjointed. Our acid tests will be against Rangers, Celtic and Hearts

Yepp, we've got a tough run after the Accies game on Saturday and need to keep accumulating points.

Celtic are wobbly but have quality, Rangers have shown they are beatable and will have a tough test against Hearts and like it or not our pink chums are top of the league on merit.

[wookie70]

Why wait until January. We need another striker and there are a few that may be available to provide competition. It would be amazing if we could mount a challenge but I'm delighted that Aberdeen have started poorly and hope that we can get third. That would be a fantastic season anything more would need substantial investment and lets be honest The Rangers and Celtc will both go on a spending spree in January.

[rcarter1]

Agree with the OP, this season looks like an opportunity as Celtic and Rangers look vulnerable, but Hearts have the advantage of that right now. Big balanced squad steamrolling most teams. If we are in with a shout by the end it will be awesome, but we will need some big wins like at Tynecastle, Celtic Park etc.

[Hibernia&Alba]

Winning the league would be 2016 times one hundred; the scenes would be legendary. I'd give my right baw for it to happen.

[where'stheslope]

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Agree with the OP, this season looks like an opportunity as Celtic and Rangers look vulnerable, but Hearts have the advantage of that right now. Big balanced squad steamrolling most teams. If we are in with a shout by the end it will be awesome, but we will need some big wins like at Tynecastle, Celtic Park etc.

Its up to all the teams to watch how both Celtic and Rangers are being taken down a peg or two by other teams and go for the jugular rather than trying just to stop them scoring!
Taking the game to them seems to trouble them more than I can ever remember, by christmas it could be a really good league, full of challengers, us included!!!!

[Hi Heid Yin]

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Seriously, if not now then when?

This is thee most competitive and balanced league that I can remember in a long, long time. I thought we did decent business in the summer but given the opportunity should we be doing our upmost to strengthen even more in January and give this a real good go??

If not, why not? The mindset (at least on the surface) needs to change.

HH

The signs at this early stage (with an erratic Celtic and Sevco, a strong Hibs, Livi and Kilmarnock, a stuttering Aberdeen, and a high-flying Hearts) are that this potentially could be an historical season with the mouth-watering prospect of The League Champions coming from outside Glasgow. This would have sounded ridiculous pre-season, but already we have witnessed some surprising results, with both the Glasgow giants looking anything but intimidating and a class above the rest of us.
As always, we have to see where we all stand after playing each other both home and away. There are far too many permutations and scenarios lying ahead.
If the present league table standings are mirrored at the end of January, then I for one might start to believe in the "unthinkable".

[Keith_M]

One game at a time, guys.

[bingo70]

Hibs 66/1 to win the league, Hearts 16/1.

Seems a big difference considering we are only 5 points behind them and finished a million points ahead of them last season.

FWIW I think this team needs a big performance and result before anyone will start to believe. We all know a team with SJM, Mcgeouch and Allan could turn anybody in this league over but I think the jury is still out a bit to see if we can do the same with Milligan, Mallan and Hyndman (or a.n other). I know that’s just the midfield I’m talking about however it does feel like there’s been a change of the guards this season and we’re still to really see how good they can be.

[bingo70]

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One game at a time, guys.

*****bag 😉

[Nevi_SOL]

We could look at the run we have coming up 2 ways; a tough run or a chance to take points of the teams around us. I’ve a feeling Lennon will be choosing the latter

[Keith_M]

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*****bag 😉

And?

[Fife-Hibee]

We should always be pushing for the title anyway, regardless of whether it's deemed realistic or not. It's the only way to finish as high up as possible. I'll never understand teams setting their targets any lower.

[jacomo]

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The surprise teams that win titles, eg. Leicester, Montpellier, never go out to say "lets win a title". With hearts fans going on about winning the title in the way they are, they are sure to crash and burn. Hopefully Hibs will just take every game as it comes, and not get dizzy at the top with delusion.

...and then in May we can start getting excited

I think Ranieri waited until April before admitting their ambitions might reach slightly higher than relegation!

The main point the OP makes is a good one though. In a normal season we would expect to be massively outgunned by Celtc. If they are stumbling then we have to make the most of the opportunity.

[Dalianwanda]

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Its up to all the teams to watch how both Celtic and Rangers are being taken down a peg or two by other teams and go for the jugular rather than trying just to stop them scoring!
Taking the game to them seems to trouble them more than I can ever remember, by christmas it could be a really good league, full of challengers, us included!!!!

I’d give my left....

[Onion]

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The surprise teams that win titles, eg. Leicester, Montpellier, never go out to say "lets win a title". With hearts fans going on about winning the title in the way they are, they are sure to crash and burn. Hopefully Hibs will just take every game as it comes, and not get dizzy at the top with delusion.

...and then in May we can start getting excited

Wise words. This is still September ?

[Pagan Hibernia]

Hearts will be hoping we take points off the ugly sisters before the Halloween derby. And the way things are we might well manage it. When was the last top flight Edinburgh Derby when we were the top 2 in the table?

[Nutmegged]

Can't go folk who say we shouldn't get excited until April/May...a big EFFE AMBROSE to that, if we're playing well and staying among the pack then there's absolutely no reason why we can't get excited, football brings you a vast range of emotions, supporting Hibs will give you more lows than highs so we should enjoy the run we're on and not feel guilty for enjoying it or worrying we'll jinx it.

[Brooster]

Let's just focus on beating Hamilton Accies first before we get carried away. They pumped us at ER last season remember.

[SirDavidsNapper]

Club is still soaring on and off the park since 21/5/16. Where does it end? Who knows. If someone had said to me 4 years ago where we would be today I'd have laughed at them. We have an excellent manager and a very, very good group of players.

[DC_Hibs]

The first half at Dundee and second at Paisley providesnplenty reasons why we will be nowhere close to winning the league.

We will seriously need to up our game to get top 4 and hopefully the midfielder and forward Lennon wanted towards the end of the window will appear in Jan.