The players

[Weegreenman]

Need to step up and start playing for their future.

I’ve been reading that this is all down to the manager and his formations/tactics. Bollox!!!

The players have it within them to turn this around. It’s over to them or this is going to get very messy and it kills me to watch this club get so low.

[BlackSheep]

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Need to step up and start playing for their future.

I’ve been reading that this is all down to the manager and his formations/tactics. Bollox!!!

The players have it within them to turn this around. It’s over to them or this is going to get very messy and it kills me to watch this club get so low.

While most of the players are out of form, a lot of the blame cannot be laid at their feet... you can’t blame the players who are being asked to play out of position, play to their weaknesses or in some cases not even getting a game!

We have a talented and strong squad but that matters nothing if the man making the decisions can’t see how to set up his team.

[B.H.F.C]

Complete lack of leadership on the pitch.

None of them demand anything from each other. Nobody trying to set a standard.

[BlackSheep]

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Complete lack of leadership on the pitch.

None of them demand anything from each other. Nobody trying to set a standard.

They’ve been set up like headless chickens and in turn are acting like headless chickens... and yes, there’s no one of the pitch capable of changing that at the moment... Hanlon being the vice captain used to be great, but in the past 12 months he has gone off the boil and he lacks confidence now.

[The Leith Dutch]

The reason the manager is getting it right is that he's sending out a formation that doesn't work, that the players clearly don't understand, that doesn't play players in the right positions and that doesn't have a proper midfield to compete or exert any kind of pressure.

No amount of the players trying to turn that around will fix it.

Doesn't mean they get a pass but the manager is showing a level of incompetence that will result in failure every time.

[SMAXXA]

The biggest problem we have with our players is simple for me, ability aside we have no leaders who will take them by the scruff of the neck when we don’t have SDG and Mcgregor in the side. Dreading the derby

[BlackSheep]

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The reason the manager is getting it right is that he's sending out a formation that doesn't work, that the players clearly don't understand, that doesn't play players in the right positions and that doesn't have a proper midfield to compete or exert any kind of pressure.

No amount of the players trying to turn that around will fix it.

Doesn't mean they get a pass but the manager is showing a level of incompetence that will result in failure every time.

This.

And I know I’ll get pelters for suggesting this, but right now, without a strong player in midfield the solution would be to flood the middle of the park with players... so 5... but our strike force are all better when up top as a 2.... that leaves 3 at the backnand I know everyone hates it, but we did have some success playing this way under Lennon.

Our recruitment should have been focusing on finding excellent wing backs, who are both capable of defending and contributing to the attack.

Because we have Gray, Stevenson and Boyle we haven’t been looking at developing this style and it’s clear that our current personnel are not fantastic at playing as a 352/532 formation and tactics.

IMHO this is the only way we should set up with the current squad we have available (injuries aside).

When Tom James is back and Lewy is up to speed we should be trying this out again... but I know Heckingbottom dislikes 3 at the back. This is another reason why he needs to go.

My first 11 would look like this:-

Marciano

Lewy (LWB)

Hanlon
Jackson
Porteous

James (RWB)

Vela (CM)
Hallberg (CM)

Allan (AM/number 10/free role)

Kamberi
Doidge

The team needs to play the ball on the ground, passing in from wide positions to gain ground and either slotting it through to the strikers or playing it out wide to the wing backs to cross in and find the strikers.

Right now its worth a shot, what have we got to lose.

This formation is a double setup too... when we attack we we play as a 5 in the midfield and as we defend the wing backs drop back and create a wall of 5 in defence. If this is drilled into the team then it could be successful... I think it’s the most flexible formation that our squad can work with.

I also think Allan has what it takes to lead the team, I think his career experience I the past few years looks to have matured him a lot and I can see in his game some passion, and this is what’s lacking.

New Players have to develop this and it takes time... but Scotty gets it, he knows what Hibs are about.

[BlackSheep]

No feedback on my post.... lol... either on the mark or way past it?

[bigwheel]

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No feedback on my post.... lol... either on the mark or way past it?

Tbh. Probably our best 11 currently

[The 90+2]

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No feedback on my post.... lol... either on the mark or way past it?

No, your post was spot on. It’s not going to happen anytime soon though unfortunately.

[BlackSheep]

It’s a shame.... how can we as fans see these things yet the people paid to manage the team can’t!

So frustrating !!!!

[The Leith Dutch]

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This.

And I know I’ll get pelters for suggesting this, but right now, without a strong player in midfield the solution would be to flood the middle of the park with players... so 5... but our strike force are all better when up top as a 2.... that leaves 3 at the backnand I know everyone hates it, but we did have some success playing this way under Lennon.

Our recruitment should have been focusing on finding excellent wing backs, who are both capable of defending and contributing to the attack.

Because we have Gray, Stevenson and Boyle we haven’t been looking at developing this style and it’s clear that our current personnel are not fantastic at playing as a 352/532 formation and tactics.

IMHO this is the only way we should set up with the current squad we have available (injuries aside).

When Tom James is back and Lewy is up to speed we should be trying this out again... but I know Heckingbottom dislikes 3 at the back. This is another reason why he needs to go.

My first 11 would look like this:-

Marciano

Lewy (LWB)

Hanlon
Jackson
Porteous

James (RWB)

Vela (CM)
Hallberg (CM)

Allan (AM/number 10/free role)

Kamberi
Doidge

The team needs to play the ball on the ground, passing in from wide positions to gain ground and either slotting it through to the strikers or playing it out wide to the wing backs to cross in and find the strikers.

Right now its worth a shot, what have we got to lose.

This formation is a double setup too... when we attack we we play as a 5 in the midfield and as we defend the wing backs drop back and create a wall of 5 in defence. If this is drilled into the team then it could be successful... I think it’s the most flexible formation that our squad can work with.

I also think Allan has what it takes to lead the team, I think his career experience I the past few years looks to have matured him a lot and I can see in his game some passion, and this is what’s lacking.

New Players have to develop this and it takes time... but Scotty gets it, he knows what Hibs are about.

Thing I like about that formation more than anything else is that it's straightforward. Players in decent positions and who know what they should be doing. Solid when it needs to be and capable of controlling the game.

[calumhibee1]

Some of the players have been dreadful. There's been a few inexcusable moments the last few games where the blame can only be put on the players. Horgan inexplicably not managing to play Flo through when we were 2-1 up against St J when he had a whole half of the pitch to play the ball into yet he hit the first man (who was about 20 yards away from Flo and also 20 yards away from Horgan, how he never managed to get it past him I've no idea).. Some of Rockys goalkeeping recently. Stevenson and Hanlons performances.

Some of the players really need to give themselves a shake.

[calumhibee1]

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Thing I like about that formation more than anything else is that it's straightforward. Players in decent positions and who know what they should be doing. Solid when it needs to be and capable of controlling the game.

If you reckon that the players can't play a 4-3-3 - probably the most common formation in football - because they don't know it, then I'm not sure a 3-5-2 is the way to go.

There's no way anybody in football nowadays doesn't know how to play in a 4-3-3.

[The Leith Dutch]

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If you reckon that the players can't play a 4-3-3 - probably the most common formation in football - because they don't know it, then I'm not sure a 3-5-2 is the way to go.

There's no way anybody in football nowadays doesn't know how to play in a 4-3-3.

We're not playing a 4-3-3 though

[MrSmith]

Higher levels of fitness not yet seen at the club and high pressing football?

Erm, has it happened yet?

[Tyler Durden]

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We're not playing a 4-3-3 though

We are and it’s the same formation that most of the players played since the manager came in. Certainly since the Rangers home game when he moved Flo wide at HT.

The only person arguably out of position is Mallan also, so not sure what your point is there either. Definitely lacking aggression and intensity all over the park and the players aren’t doing the basics (the Horgan example is a good one) which points to them downing tools.

[The Leith Dutch]

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We are and it’s the same formation that most of the players played since the manager came in. Certainly since the Rangers home game when he moved Flo wide at HT.

The only person arguably out of position is Mallan also, so not sure what your point is there either. Definitely lacking aggression and intensity all over the park and the players aren’t doing the basics (the Horgan example is a good one) which points to them downing tools.

What the manager is doing with the 3 in the middle isn't what you do in a 4-3-3. It's doing very specific and overly smart arse stuff with Mallan and Allan neither of whom are centre mids (presumably some kind of 4-1-2-3 or other nonsense).

The result of which is getting over run in midfield all the time.

[Tyler Durden]

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The reason the manager is getting it right is that he's sending out a formation that doesn't work, that the players clearly don't understand, that doesn't play players in the right positions and that doesn't have a proper midfield to compete or exert any kind of pressure.

No amount of the players trying to turn that around will fix it.

Doesn't mean they get a pass but the manager is showing a level of incompetence that will result in failure every time.

I don’t see the fixation that a different formation is going to solve our problems. Last week we played a 4-4-2 and this week we reverted to 4-3-3 (or 4-5-1 or 4-2-3-1 if you’d rather). These are formations that the players all understand and certainly in the case of 4-3-3 they’ve been successful with before.

It’s a wider issue than formations

[one day maybe...]

Its incredibly frustrating because in there somewhere is the makings of a decent team.

For me tightening things up centrally would give us a better platform to build from and yes the players need to take a huge amount of responsibility.

Marciano

Lewy (LWB)

Hanlon
Jackson
Porteous

James (RWB)

Vela (HM)
Hallberg (CM)
Slivka (CM)

Allan (AM/number 10/free role)

Kamberi

As I say I think there is a good team in there but they all need to apply themselves better and take some responsibility on the ball

[Tyler Durden]

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What the manager is doing with the 3 in the middle isn't what you do in a 4-3-3. It's doing very specific and overly smart arse stuff with Mallan and Allan neither of whom are centre mids (presumably some kind of 4-1-2-3 or other nonsense).

The result of which is getting over run in midfield all the time.

Totally agree with that. Seems more the personnel than formation though is all I’d say.

He talks about Omeonga being our best defender last year, which seems spot on to me in terms of energy and desire to win the ball back. But for some reason we have seemingly made no attempt to replace him or Milligan with a player who has those attributes. It’s bizarre and is gonna cost the man his job

[tonyrougier123]

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Need to step up and start playing for their future.

I’ve been reading that this is all down to the manager and his formations/tactics. Bollox!!!

The players have it within them to turn this around. It’s over to them or this is going to get very messy and it kills me to watch this club get so low.

Heckinbottom is as bad an appointment as calderwood.and he went on to build a squad of imposters we never recovered from because he was given too much time and resources.

[calumhibee1]

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We're not playing a 4-3-3 though

We are imo. I get what you're saying about there being slightly different roles to a standard 4-3-3 but I think saying its not a 4-3-3 would be like saying a 4-4-2 diamond is a 4-1-2-1-2 and not a 4-4-2.

I don't actually disagree that a 3-5-2 could be a potentially decent formation, but imo one thing that can't be labelled at PH is that he has the players playing a formation they don't understand as it's pretty much the formation used by 90% of teams now. If the players don't know it then they shouldn't be pro footballers.

There's no doubting somethings not right at Hibs and that PH has to improve but the players have got off pretty lightly imo. Some of the individual performances the last couple of weeks have been awful. Things like Rocky diving out the way of O'Hallarans shot, his horrendous attempt at clearing the ball against O'Hallaran, the Horgan example I gave earlier, Doidge missing a couple open goals.. they're nothing to do with formations and purely down to horrendous pieces of individual play that have cost us dearly (maybe not so much the Marciano tackle or the Doidge open goals). They sort of things are out of the managers control.

[noz]

Fair enough, PH should take the blame and rightly so, but the players are responsible too.
Both our right backs are injured so he plays Whittaker, Im keen to know who else we could have played.
Then Jackson inexplicably handles the ball, not the managers fault, then Marciano fluffs the third.
Theres only so much a manager can do but he cant do anything about these mistakes?

[ancient hibee]

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Totally agree with that. Seems more the personnel than formation though is all I’d say.

He talks about Omeonga being our best defender last year, which seems spot on to me in terms of energy and desire to win the ball back. But for some reason we have seemingly made no attempt to replace him or Milligan with a player who has those attributes. It’s bizarre and is gonna cost the man his job

I can’t think that anyone who watches football regularly could disagree with that.Bizarre is definitely the word.Mallan’s feeble pretendy tackle shown on Sportscene was embarrassing.

[Torto7]

We need energy in the team imo. I have no issue with the 3 at the back other than the lack of a ball playing centre half. Efe was vital in the 3 because he could bring the ball out but also go into the rb role when Boyle was pushed up the pitch. The thought of Jackson getting dragged out to the RB area gives me the fear.


I like Fraser Murray and I'd get him into midfield alongside Lewis Stevenson. So going with his current 4-3-3 I'd have.

Marciano

James Mcgregor/Jackson Porteous Hanlon
Murray Hallberg Stevenson
Allan
Kamberi Horgan

[Jonnyboy]

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The biggest problem we have with our players is simple for me, ability aside we have no leaders who will take them by the scruff of the neck when we don’t have SDG and Mcgregor in the side. Dreading the derby

We need a Scott Brown type to sort them out

[BlackSheep]

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We're not playing a 4-3-3 though

It doesn’t suit our squad though... when attacking we have 3 up but are left light in midfield, when defending we are left with 1 up front, usually Flo, and he just isn’t a lone striker...!

While a 1 up top with wide men works down south and on the continent, it just doesn’t work in our league cos teams just shut up shop and then you are trying to break them down, time and time again, leading to this slow boring build up which comes to nothing!!

On top of that it’s nothing to do with understanding... its to do with execution... it plain that our squad isn’t executing the tactics of a 433/4213/whatever it is, so why do we persist!!! As someone on another thread said about playing players out of position, it’s a square peg ina round hole.... let’s just set up simply and get the basics right then see where we go from there.

[One Day In Time]

We've got a decent squad but we're also missing real leaders like McGregor, SDG and Ryan. The players need to be taking some flack though. Talk of dressing room split - sort it out FFS. Bunch of grown men

[The 90+2]

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We've got a decent squad but we're also missing real leaders like McGregor, SDG and Ryan. The players need to be taking some flack though. Talk of dressing room split - sort it out FFS. Bunch of grown men

We haven’t got a decent squad at all. The defence is a shambles and we have one decent striker.