This is how it feels (St Johnstone 24 11 20)

[Jonnyboy]

Unsurprisingly, Hibs went with the same starting eleven that drew 2-2 with Celtic at the weekend. Christian Doidge, although available again, had to make do with a seat on the bench, whilst St Johnstone left in form David Wotherspoon out in favour of debutant Guy Melamed.

The visitors arrived on the back of an eight game unbeaten run whilst Hibs’ form of late had seen a previously miserly defence leaking goals at an alarming rate.

The game started brightly with both sides looking to attack at every opportunity. I confess that surprised me as I thought St Johnstone would be more inclined to play a cautious game and try to hit Hibs on the break. Murphy and Nisbet produced the first attempts on goal with Zander Clark comfortably saving from the former and then watching the effort of Nisbet flying high over the bar. At the other end, Melamed evaded the attention of Porteous but fired his effort high and wide.

Boyle next set up a chance for Murphy but again the effort was wayward and Mallan suffered the same fate soon after. A tricky turn by O’Halloran afforded him some space at the edge of the box but his effort failed to trouble Marciano.

Stray passes, hit too long, too short, or just woefully without conviction saw both midfield’s fail to gain any sort of superiority and from a Hibs point of view both Gogic and Newell didn’t look as though they were at it.

Around the twenty minute mark, Paul Hanlon went down injured and was quickly replaced by Darren McGregor. The nature of Hanlon’s injury wasn’t clear, but I did note that he jogged off the park so hopefully it’s nothing too serious. The arrival of McGregor meant that Porteous shuffled across into the left centre back position.

A bit of a lull in proceedings was ended when St Johnstone began to get the upper hand possession wise and efforts from both Craig and May had the warning bells sounding but sadly the Hibs rearguard didn’t hear them as both McGregor and Porteous went for the same ball allowing it to reach McCann who fired home easily from close range.

Normally, St Johnstone might have wanted to take the sting out of the game but they didn’t really get the chance as clever interplay between McGinn and Nisbet saw Kev deftly flick the ball into the path of the inrushing McGinn who fired a lovely low shot into the net via the far post. The goal came from an unlikely source, but it was well made and taken and brought Hibs level again.

Those goals arrived about ten minutes before the break and were pretty much the last meaningful instances prior to the interval.

Hibs started the second half on the front foot and a cross come shot from Boyle whistled past Clark’s far post. About five minutes later, Gogic was replaced by Doidge. In my view, Gogic had been struggling and it was no surprise when he was replaced. Not long after that change, Murphy released Mackie down the left and Sean’s cut back found an unmarked Joe Newell, but the Hibs man shot tamely wide from close range. Next, Mallan took an extra and unrequired touch before rifling a shot wide of Clark’s left hand post. I felt that if Mallan had shot right away he might well have scored.

With Wotherspoon on for the Saints the visitors started to enjoy more possession and a good pass from him set McCann free but his effort at goal was wildly off target. A needless foul on the edge of the Hibs box by Darren McGregor presented the visitors with an opportunity but the usually reliable Scott Tanser’s strike was deflected off the wall and went out for a corner.

Sitting watching this I felt we were living life dangerously and that a fair few of our passes out from the back were going astray. I guess bringing on Doidge and removing a central midfield player possibly gave us more oomph up front, but the same change meant St Johnstone were afforded more space to play in the middle third.

The visitors were getting more opportunities than Hibs to score although a mesmeric run by Murphy carved the home defence open allowing him to chip a ball to Nisbet some six yards out, but the striker hit his effort over the bar. Nisbet would feature in the next piece of action too but in a way he'd rather not be reminded of. Out on the Hibs right, just inside our half he played an aimless ball into midfield which was ceased upon by McCann who fed the ball to Wotherspoon. Strolling across the face of our box with neither Porteous nor McGregor getting anywhere near him, the former Hibs man slammed the ball past Marciano from eighteen yards. I’m critical of our two defenders here but I also feel that Marciano was badly positioned, when the ball was always close to his body as he dived which, in my opinion, was poor play by the goalie.

St Johnstone almost sneaked a third but the effort from Stevie May flew wide whilst at the other end Hibs were trying desperately to get level again. A Mackie cross into the visitors’ goal area saw Doidge get the merest of touches with the ball deflected towards Paul McGinn who controlled it before lashing a shot into the net with a slight deflection off Zander Clark. I’m going to be honest here and tell you I was singing “We’ve got McGinn” in my head!

With both sides anxious not to concede again the game kind of petered out and the result moved Hibs above Aberdeen into third, though I suspect that is only temporary.

It was another frustrating ninety minutes in my view. St Johnstone were decent from start to finish, showing the confidence of a team now unbeaten in nine games. From a Hibs perspective I felt there were too many of our players just not at it, which is frustrating to say the least. I suspect Dundee might give us a harder game next time out although their recent form has been pretty dire.

The players

Marciano – On a wet and windy night I thought his handling was excellent and I was impressed at how many times he came out to calmly claim the ball, something I’ve criticised him for not doing in the past. As I said earlier, I felt he could have done better at their second goal but that’s just maybe my disappointment coming through.

McGinn – Two goals was a wonderful contribution and, on another day, might have won him my man of the match award. The reason I’m not choosing him is that I felt there were too many misplaced passes, in both halves of the game.

Porteous – There are times when he is as solid and dependable as you’d want him to be but there are also times when he makes rash decisions. For the most part tonight I felt he performed well but it shouldn’t be forgotten that both of the goals we conceded tonight came through the centre of our defence.

Hanlon – Paul was injured early on but for the twenty minutes he lasted I thought he was fine.

Mackie – After his performance against Celtic, I, like many others, gave him the praise that his performance deserved. Not so much praise from me tonight as I thought his use of the ball was pretty sloppy a lot of the time and that he was caught out of position too often. He’s better than that and I’m fairly sure he will offer up better performances in future games.

Boyle – I’d love to say Martin did well tonight but would be lying if I did so. I have no idea why, but he has had a drastic drop in form of late and I’m struggling to recall more than one occasion tonight that he took his man on and got to the bye line.

Gogic – What you see is what you get with Alex, but what I saw tonight was a jittery performance. Or maybe it was me that was jittery because I almost put my hands in front of my eyes a few times when he dallied on the ball in dangerous areas.

Mallan – A mix of views on Stevie’s game tonight. At times he was right in there doing his job and at other times he was posted missing. He wasn’t alone in this as I mentioned earlier that a few players were just not at it.

Newell – It you were only listening to Cliff’s commentary and not watching the stream, you’d be forgiven for thinking Joe wasn’t playing tonight. He was hardly mentioned and that’s because I’ve never seen him go missing for such huge chunks of the game before. Sure, he played the occasional nice pass and should have scored from the Mackie cutback, but I’ve come to expect a lot more from him.

Murphy – A delight to watch this very clever and incredibly talented footballer. I thought he was excellent tonight and very much up for the challenge. The mazy run to set up Nisbet was mouth watering and Jamie wins my man of the match award, hands down.

Nisbet – Once again, Kevin was largely starved of decent supply and it’s a shame that what I’ll recall of him in this game is not the fabulous feed to McGinn for the first goal but his shocking ball to no-one that led to their second goal. It both surprised and shocked me at the time as one of his strengths for me is his retention of and use of the ball.

McGregor – I love big Daz; I love his passion and commitment and of course his love of the club but I feel that together with Porteous he shares a large part of the blame for the goals we lost tonight. It’s possibly because he’s not had a lot of game time and is combat rusty, I don’t know.

Doidge – The big fella got the lion’s share of the second half but wasn’t really involved a great deal as the game unfolded. There were a couple of touches that created half chances, but he never really got to show his prowess in attacking a high ball into the box.

Gullan – Jamie got about ten minutes or so but didn’t really feature in anything of note.

Jack Ross – Still haven’t read or heard his interview but I sincerely hope he admits that defensively we have been a bit of a shambles recently.

Referee – Kevin Clancy – Had a quiet night of it as there were no major talking points regarding his decision making.

[BILLYHIBS]

Thanks for posting Jonnyboy

Difficult to argue with any of that

I think we can wave tattie bye to a third place finish after watching that

Keep up the good work

[DaveF]

Agree about McGinn. Great goals so full marks for them, but his passing was really poor and he panicked a lot in possession.

Not the only one in that regard but he was very guilty on that front tonight.

[Hibrandenburg]

Thanks JB, missed the game tonight so this is my first stop rather than the matchday thread nowadays.

[Snedz]

Can't argue against any of that and agree with the vast majority of it. Thought Clancy refereed the game well, went unnoticed throughout and that is the sign of a good referee. Agree with the motm, thought Murphy was the stand out player tonight. Think JR has to revisit his tactics as its not producing the football the fans want to see. We all want to see the ball on the deck but played with precision and penetration. Far too many passes from the back to midfield and back again and ones going astray too.

[Ringothedog]

A weird one tonight but I would have had Newell or Mallan off before Gogic, the minute he went off we lost the midfield.

[AugustaHibs]

The blame for the goals isn’t shared between both centre halves. Mcgregor at fault for both.

[skyhibs]

McGregor needs to shape up, he looks like carrying lots of extra weight... should be nowhere near the team
Mallan as per was like a man short
Mackie I just can’t see him cutting it
Newell was terrible
Boyle very ineffective
Full team too slow, pedestrian and predictable
Ross needs to take a look at himself... what do these guys do in training..
just not good enough.... no fight no strength no good and no idea

[The Harp Awakes]

A very good summary of the game as ever JB.

I agree with you about Rocky at the 2nd goal. Although Wotherspoon hit the shot well enough, it crossed the goal line just off centre and at a good height for a diving goalkeeper to save. Just as worrying is how the scorer just ran past our two central defenders as if they weren't there.

Everything has gone a bit flat in recent weeks, and we need some inspiration from somewhere. Other than Murphy, we lack directness to our play and seem content to pass the ball sideways at a slow pace most of the time. Boyle used to give us directness and speed but his mojo has gone awol.

[hibby6270]

Great summary JB.
I too sang the SPM song in my head!!
To further sum up, home draws, no matter who they’re against, will be our undoing again this season.

[Stuart93]

I actually think Mcgregor is done at this level now as much as it pains me to say it. An absolute fantastic servant for the club but we need better in there and as back up if we want to kick on.

[basehibby]

One thing I thought the ref got wrong and which the commentary team - and Johnnyboy - didn't even mention was when Boyle was clattered right on the edge of the St Js area - probably about 10 or 15 mins in.

I was surprised at the lack of analysis from Pike and McManus as I thought replays showed it was a clear foul in a dangerous area and probably a booking but nothing was given.

Was I the only one fuming at my screen at that one?!?

NB - Great report as ever JB - but do you recall the incident above and what did you think?

[JimBHibees]

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The blame for the goals isn’t shared between both centre halves. Mcgregor at fault for both.

Disagree Porto also culpable more so for goal 2.

[JimBHibees]

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One thing I thought the ref got wrong and which the commentary team - and Johnnyboy - didn't even mention was when Boyle was clattered right on the edge of the St Js area - probably about 10 or 15 mins in.

I was surprised at the lack of analysis from Pike and McManus as I thought replays showed it was a clear foul in a dangerous area and probably a booking but nothing was given.

Was I the only one fuming at my screen at that one?!?

NB - Great report as ever JB - but do you recall the incident above and what did you think?

Was shouting for it also but think replay showed guy won the ball.

[JimBHibees]

Very good analysis of the game measured accurate and also recognises there are two teams on the pitch.

[flash]

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McGregor needs to shape up, he looks like carrying lots of extra weight... should be nowhere near the team
Mallan as per was like a man short
Mackie I just can’t see him cutting it
Newell was terrible
Boyle very ineffective
Full team too slow, pedestrian and predictable
Ross needs to take a look at himself... what do these guys do in training..
just not good enough.... no fight no strength no good and no idea

Just read this summary and realised we actually lost 3-0 to my surprise.

[number9dream]

St Johnstone worked hard and we suffered from a lack of intensity and focus in horrible conditions, with too many players having an off night or, in Newall’s case, simply looking uninterested.
Mallan didn’t get close enough to Nisbet, while Boyle and Murphy didn’t tuck in enough to support the striker either.
Two really soft goals given away and the mounting number of costly mistakes is a worry.
Two great strikes from McGinn though and let’s hope Murphy can stay fit and in form.
The potential for a good season remains but it’s in the balance now and December is going to be a big month.

[Jonnyboy]

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One thing I thought the ref got wrong and which the commentary team - and Johnnyboy - didn't even mention was when Boyle was clattered right on the edge of the St Js area - probably about 10 or 15 mins in.

I was surprised at the lack of analysis from Pike and McManus as I thought replays showed it was a clear foul in a dangerous area and probably a booking but nothing was given.

Was I the only one fuming at my screen at that one?!?

NB - Great report as ever JB - but do you recall the incident above and what did you think?

Yep, I remember that incident and when it happened I thought free kick but when I saw the replay I had to change my mind 😀

[Onceinawhile]

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I actually think Mcgregor is done at this level now as much as it pains me to say it. An absolute fantastic servant for the club but we need better in there and as back up if we want to kick on.

He might manage v hamilton or ross county, but anyone from sort of 8th or up, he isn't going to be good enough.

which isn't really surprising given he barely trains and is well into the twilight of his career. It's the fault of the football department that we are relying on an unfit 35 year old as our 3rd choice centre back.

Do we have any younger players in reserve that can play there?

[Keith_M]

Agree with most of that but I'd argue that Boyle did actually beat his man a few times and get the ball into the box. Unfotunately, that was only during about a ten minute spell and none of his passes actually reached a Hibs player in a decent position.

Also, while Gogic's defending might not have been great, his passing seemed to have improved. I still don't understand the substitution though, as I fail to see what Doidge actually contributed to the game and we were already short in midfield before we took off Gogic.


Actually, on that point, there were a number of chances we missed where the Saint defence then had poor clearances to just outside the box. Almost every time, we had no midfielders there waiting to take advantage, which is a big worry.

[H18S NX]

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McGregor needs to shape up, he looks like carrying lots of extra weight... should be nowhere near the team
Mallan as per was like a man short
Mackie I just can’t see him cutting it
Newell was terrible
Boyle very ineffective
Full team too slow, pedestrian and predictable
Ross needs to take a look at himself... what do these guys do in training..
just not good enough.... no fight no strength no good and no idea

.......Spot on m8.

[Since452]

I wish we hadn't got rid of Adam Jackson

[brog]

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I wish we hadn't got rid of Adam Jackson

We didn't. He wanted to move back South for family reasons.

[brog]

[QUOTE=Keith_M;6364511]Agree with most of that but I'd argue that Boyle did actually beat his man a few times and get the ball into the box. Unfotunately, that was only during about a ten minute spell and none of his passes actually reached a Hibs player in a decent position.

Apart from the one where Murphy should have scored but hit it straight at the keeper!

[brog]

The players

Marciano – On a wet and windy night I thought his handling was excellent and I was impressed at how many times he came out to calmly claim the ball, something I’ve criticised him for not doing in the past. As I said earlier, I felt he could have done better at their second goal but that’s just maybe my disappointment coming through.

McGinn – Two goals was a wonderful contribution and, on another day, might have won him my man of the match award. The reason I’m not choosing him is that I felt there were too many misplaced passes, in both halves of the game.

Porteous – There are times when he is as solid and dependable as you’d want him to be but there are also times when he makes rash decisions. For the most part tonight I felt he performed well but it shouldn’t be forgotten that both of the goals we conceded tonight came through the centre of our defence.

Hanlon – Paul was injured early on but for the twenty minutes he lasted I thought he was fine.

Mackie – After his performance against Celtic, I, like many others, gave him the praise that his performance deserved. Not so much praise from me tonight as I thought his use of the ball was pretty sloppy a lot of the time and that he was caught out of position too often. He’s better than that and I’m fairly sure he will offer up better performances in future games.

Boyle – I’d love to say Martin did well tonight but would be lying if I did so. I have no idea why, but he has had a drastic drop in form of late and I’m struggling to recall more than one occasion tonight that he took his man on and got to the bye line.

Gogic – What you see is what you get with Alex, but what I saw tonight was a jittery performance. Or maybe it was me that was jittery because I almost put my hands in front of my eyes a few times when he dallied on the ball in dangerous areas.

Mallan – A mix of views on Stevie’s game tonight. At times he was right in there doing his job and at other times he was posted missing. He wasn’t alone in this as I mentioned earlier that a few players were just not at it.

Newell – It you were only listening to Cliff’s commentary and not watching the stream, you’d be forgiven for thinking Joe wasn’t playing tonight. He was hardly mentioned and that’s because I’ve never seen him go missing for such huge chunks of the game before. Sure, he played the occasional nice pass and should have scored from the Mackie cutback, but I’ve come to expect a lot more from him.

Murphy – A delight to watch this very clever and incredibly talented footballer. I thought he was excellent tonight and very much up for the challenge. The mazy run to set up Nisbet was mouth watering and Jamie wins my man of the match award, hands down.

Nisbet – Once again, Kevin was largely starved of decent supply and it’s a shame that what I’ll recall of him in this game is not the fabulous feed to McGinn for the first goal but his shocking ball to no-one that led to their second goal. It both surprised and shocked me at the time as one of his strengths for me is his retention of and use of the ball.

McGregor – I love big Daz; I love his passion and commitment and of course his love of the club but I feel that together with Porteous he shares a large part of the blame for the goals we lost tonight. It’s possibly because he’s not had a lot of game time and is combat rusty, I don’t know.

Doidge – The big fella got the lion’s share of the second half but wasn’t really involved a great deal as the game unfolded. There were a couple of touches that created half chances, but he never really got to show his prowess in attacking a high ball into the box.

Gullan – Jamie got about ten minutes or so but didn’t really feature in anything of note.

Jack Ross – Still haven’t read or heard his interview but I sincerely hope he admits that defensively we have been a bit of a shambles recently.

Referee – Kevin Clancy – Had a quiet night of it as there were no major talking points regarding his decision making.[/QUOTE]

Grand as ever John but I feel I need to defend Martin Boyle. I really don't think he's suffered a drastic drop in form but rather there's a number of reasons why his contribution is currently less effective than before.
1. We switch between a front 3, a 2 & almost a 4 at times. Martin had a great run in the 1st half & hit a fine ball in. Unfortunately as Martin was 1 of a front 2 at that time Kevin was the only other player in the box and he couldn't get there.
2. Players need to score for Martin's contribution to be recognised. He had another fine run in the 2nd half & laid on an excellent chance for Murphy. Unfortunately Murphy, like Newell before him, went for the near post instead of going across the keeper. If Murphy (who i agree was MOTM) scores then we're applauding Martin's run today.
3. IMO, probably the most important, Scott Allan! Scott gave Martin the option of taking the ball to feet or making a run inside the full back, his goal against Aberdeen last year was a perfect example. With the absence of Scott, option 2 has pretty much disappeared. Nearly every ball now goes to Martin's feet & he usually has 2 or even 3 men on him. Just by retaining possession Martin drags defenders out & creates space elsewhere but we lack the craft to take advantage.
A couple of other random thoughts. After the Dundee game there was a thread on here calling for Darren to play more regularly. Unfortunately I think last night showed why that's not going to happen. I would give Doig a run at left CB on Saturday. Finally I thought Gogic actually had a decent game last night though I agree he gave me palpitations at times. However I thought he was better at his job than both Mallan & Newell were last night. I'm a fan of both but they created zip last night & Joe's effort from Murphy's cutback was woeful.
We're a work in progress, we're unbalanced at times but I've seen better Hibs teams than this lose to St J at ER and our resolution was admirable.
Thanks again!

[scoopyboy]

Paul Hanlon was injured before last night and in hindsight shouldn't have played, but that's down to Jack Ross not me lol.

I'm sure he was injured during the Celtic game.

Our squad is so small a lot of players will be playing this season when they probably shouldn't. Lewis is another example.

[ancient hibee]

Don’t normally disagree with much of what you write but I think you are offbeam about Gogic and Boyle and to a certain extent Doidge. In the first half I thought Gogic was the only midfielder that tackled and made a few runs with the ball and he also was much more in control of his passing.I was surprised he was taken off rather than Mallan who was doing none of the things that Gogic was.

I thought Boyle was fine.He suffers from a lack of movement in the box,Gullan showed how to do it when he scored against Dundee,and that’s why there’s often no end product.He also gets very few decent passes.McGinn is best at opening up the full back with a through ball for him but Newell and Mallan only seem able to play the ball directly to him or even worse behind him.

It was noticeable once Doidge was on that play in the St.J. box became more of a problem for them.He causes upsets and awkward situations and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that more chances fell to other players.

Thanks for another report.Always thought-provoking

[flash]

Always enjoy these posts and appreciate the effort involved.
My only disagreement would be Paul Hanlon. In the 20 minutes he was on he almost gave a goal away with an awful clearance as well as a fresh air swipe which nearly put them in too.

[NAE NOOKIE]

The overall team performance rather than individuals was the problem, with practically every player at one time or another misplacing passes or picking a wrong option.

Some of the basics seem to be our problem, it was noticeable last night the number of passes by players under little pressure that went either to feet or slightly behind a player with space in front of him killing his forward momentum. We didn't mix it up enough, we were fixated trying to get down either flank and rarely tried to play through the middle.

Rocky .... 7 .... His handling and for the most part distribution were sound. At their 2nd from behind the goal you could see his weight was slightly to his left and Wotherspoon's shot went to his right, it would have been an outstanding save if he had got to it, besides that he can rightly blame his defence for it.

McGinn ....7 .... Mostly for his two goals, his overall play was on a par with most of his colleagues.

Porteous ... 5 ... Not one of his better nights, along with McGregor he has to accept that both of their goals came in an area he was responsible for and once again he gave away a needless free kick in a really dangerous area with a brain fart of a challenge. Though having to play on the left after McGregor came on probably didn't help him.

Hanlon ... 5 .... Was playing ok until he got injured ... hope it isn't too serious coz overall he has been good this season.

Mackie .... 6 .... Tried manfully to get up and down his wing, but for me he lost possession a bit too much allowing St Jonstone to mount attacks. Say what you want about Lewis, but he rarely gives it away. I like Mackie though and he definitely gives more going forward, which is why he loses the ball more I suppose. In another game with another ref he could have found himself in the book for a rather meaty studs up challenge at one point.

Gogic ... 6 ... Was surprised to see him subbed, even for tactical reasons, but as another poster mentioned his insatiable need to take one or two extra touches in dangerous areas gives me the fear, not for the first time in games last night that propensity to over play nearly got us into bother.

Newell ... 6 .... Such a neat and tidy player with the capability to influence a game far more than he did last night, I would like to see him get forward a bit more as well.

Mallan .... 6 .... He is trying to be a more physical player, but the things we look to him for IE good passing and shooting were missing last night. At least twice the defence parted for him allowing a chance to shoot from distance and he failed to take the shot on, if he isn't going to do what he's best at when given the chance what's the point of having him on the pitch?

Boyle ... 6 ... One really good run that lead to a decent chance, but that was part of a short period where he was effective, after which he just couldn't get going, though he did set up Murphy with a great chance in the 2nd half.

Murphy .... 8 .... Looked like he might do something whenever he got the ball and had two or three mazy runs which got him into the box. Having said that he really should have done better with the aforementioned chance, IMO it wasn't that he went for the near post, he was trying to be clever and clip the ball into the keepers far right corner but got it horribly wrong.

Nisbet .... 6 .... Yes he suffered from a lack of service, but that's as quiet a game as I can remember him having. Could have done better with a chance after half time and his hold up play wasn't as good as it usually is. All that being said he showed a nice touch to set up McGinn's first goal.

SUBS:

McGregor ... 5 ..... Only because I cant bring myself to mark a guy who gives everything any lower, not his finest outing in a Hibs shirt and his lack of game time was evident at times. Another poster said he looked like he was carrying weight, to me it looked like he has been hitting the weights a bit too much and he had too much muscle rather than too much fat.

Doidge .... 5 ..... Didn't really change the game and the one chance he did get to attack the ball in the box came to nothing.

Gullan ... 4 .... Got his usual 10 minutes with the usual result.

The Ref ...... One of the better efforts I've seen at ER this or last season, I cant recall having to shout at him once.