Best team.

[flash]

Obviously there is an element of horses for courses but here are a few observations I have gleaned from the season to date. Would be grateful for any civilised responses either positive or negative.
1. Gogic needs to play every week. We have nobody else who does his unglamorous job properly in the squad.
2. Ryan Porteous does make the odd mistake but he is head and shoulders the best central defender we have.
3. Not having a third striker is causing us pretty severe issues at times. The imbalance of the squad needs to be addressed as a priority in the summer.
4. We aren't getting the best out of Murphy and Irvine in the current set up. They are both top players who should be offering a lot more.
5. The manager is doing a good job overall with real progress being shown and we now have some fine players. Having said that there have been too many performances like yesterday where we are flat as a pancake.
There is more but that will do for now.

[tonyrougier123]

The team lacks that killer instinct.
This squad is still a team in progress and additions are still needed.
Letting hammer go on loan was understandable but we could do with a striker like him just now,we should be winning games like yesterday and no excuse can explain how poorly we play in big occasions at times.the incentive was there to grab the euro place by the scruff of the neck and we failed to even burst the net once at home.
These inept performances do need addressing within the club I feel,and it’s down to management now to sort that out within the team,we are a decent side good at times but all very good sides have an edge we are lacking.
Im very happy with how jack Ross is doing,fixing the team in his own mould will happen and the signs are pretty evident it’s moving the right way.
I totally agree with your horses for courses and gogic comments,I can see the use of gogic as a shore up substitute but sometimes when he is not there we look like we need shored up from kick off.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I would hope We could better play our cards right at times.

[Ronniekirk]

To be fair to Mcgregor he hadn’t put a foot wrong in the last five games until his mistake for the second goal
But we were so flat in that first half I expect Ross will now look to change things for next game
Nesbit need to play to get match fit agsin and his sharpness back
We lost the first half in midfield and Thier front three caused us problems with Thier pace and we just couldn’t cope with them
Why after winning four games in a row , did we start looking so flat footed




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[jacomo]

I’m not really seeing it with Murphy I’m afraid.

I can appreciate his ability but it’s not clicking at the moment. He’s a winger for me, not a central attacking player.

[Smartie]

I agree with the "horses for courses bit" but I feel like there are a few players whose form is dipping and we might want to consider replacing them for a bit.

The 343 we've been playing has been pretty good and I'd be happy playing a variation of it,

Marciano in goal, the usual back 3.

Middle 4 - Cadden on the right, Gogic and Newell in the middle and Doig on the left.

Up front I'd have Boyle on the shoulder of the last man and Scott Allan and Jackson Irvine playing just behind him, trying to find him, bursting on occasion to get past him etc.

I'm not sure we can carry Doidge at the moment, as much as he grafts and as hard as he tries. Nobody gets close enough to make anything of anything he wins in the air anyway. Murphy is just so hot and cold. If we manage to play him in to the right positions then there's no doubt he can be very effective but games also have a habit of passing him by.

Scott Allan is just a Hibs player and even in his cameos he's shown that he can make a difference with his weight of pass. If we're to carry anyone then it should be him, every day of the week.

I'll change my mind next week when someone else has a bad game.

[CMurdoch]

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I agree with the "horses for courses bit" but I feel like there are a few players whose form is dipping and we might want to consider replacing them for a bit.

The 343 we've been playing has been pretty good and I'd be happy playing a variation of it,

Marciano in goal, the usual back 3.

Middle 4 - Cadden on the right, Gogic and Newell in the middle and Doig on the left.

Up front I'd have Boyle on the shoulder of the last man and Scott Allan and Jackson Irvine playing just behind him, trying to find him, bursting on occasion to get past him etc.

I'm not sure we can carry Doidge at the moment, as much as he grafts and as hard as he tries. Nobody gets close enough to make anything of anything he wins in the air anyway. Murphy is just so hot and cold. If we manage to play him in to the right positions then there's no doubt he can be very effective but games also have a habit of passing him by.

Scott Allan is just a Hibs player and even in his cameos he's shown that he can make a difference with his weight of pass. If we're to carry anyone then it should be him, every day of the week.

I'll change my mind next week when someone else has a bad game.

Scott Allan looks well away from being ready.
Obviously the coaches will see his training numbers but he looks heavy to me.

[number9dream]

I tend to think it should always be a case of horses for courses.
If we beat Kilmarnock 3-0 one week does that mean we choose the same XI for a trip to Ibrox?
If Stevenson played a blinder on Saturday would he be the best choice wide left next time against the giant Shaun Rooney?
We have made big strides this season but it's still a bit like the Rubik's Cube comparison Michael Stewart made earlier in the season. If X plays here then Y isn't so effective. If B goes there, then A is left out. Murphy is effective wide left but that might mean one up front, Nisbet & Doidge were working well together but then something gives in midfield, Gogic adds steel but is that compatible with three central defenders, McGregor can only play in a three etc, etc.
The manager's job is to address these issues and pick the best side for each match, not to be best mates with the players.

[Shrekko]

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Obviously there is an element of horses for courses but here are a few observations I have gleaned from the season to date. Would be grateful for any civilised responses either positive or negative.
1. Gogic needs to play every week. We have nobody else who does his unglamorous job properly in the squad.
2. Ryan Porteous does make the odd mistake but he is head and shoulders the best central defender we have.
3. Not having a third striker is causing us pretty severe issues at times. The imbalance of the squad needs to be addressed as a priority in the summer.
4. We aren't getting the best out of Murphy and Irvine in the current set up. They are both top players who should be offering a lot more.
5. The manager is doing a good job overall with real progress being shown and we now have some fine players. Having said that there have been too many performances like yesterday where we are flat as a pancake.
There is more but that will do for now.

I’ll be very civilised as I agree almost word for word.

Gogic being dropped for the Hamilton game was a major surprise- we’d hit top form with 3 good wins in a week and for me he was our overall best and key player. To me, we WERE seeing the best of Irvine next to Gogic at that time.

With regards strikers we should have another good one as I don’t think we can rely on the 2 we have quite simply. Nisbet has obvious potential but sometimes (especially the past 2/3 months) you barely notice him in games. He needs to be scoring as that’s clearly his main attribute. Doidge offers certain things but he’s now in a 2nd very dry spell since he came. We need another option for competition and variety.

The fact we’ve had 6/7 performances against teams we should beat where we haven’t looked like even creating a change is baffling. Great progress overall but, as usual, plenty to work on.

[Fergus52]

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Obviously there is an element of horses for courses but here are a few observations I have gleaned from the season to date. Would be grateful for any civilised responses either positive or negative.
1. Gogic needs to play every week. We have nobody else who does his unglamorous job properly in the squad.
2. Ryan Porteous does make the odd mistake but he is head and shoulders the best central defender we have.
3. Not having a third striker is causing us pretty severe issues at times. The imbalance of the squad needs to be addressed as a priority in the summer.
4. We aren't getting the best out of Murphy and Irvine in the current set up. They are both top players who should be offering a lot more.
5. The manager is doing a good job overall with real progress being shown and we now have some fine players. Having said that there have been too many performances like yesterday where we are flat as a pancake.
There is more but that will do for now.

Disagree with this, Newell and Irvine both make more tackles per match than Gogic does.

Definitely a useful player to have but he wouldn't be first name down on the team sheet for me, severely limited technically which is fine when we play a back 4 but with the back 5 I think it really hinders our build up play.

[Booked4Being-Ugly]

We were poor all over the park on Sat. Only pass marks would be for Boyle who kept plugging away despite his team mates sitting back and seeing if he could dig them out a hole again.

The problem is we have midfielders that don't have a goal in them. Newell, Irvine, Cadden, Gogic and Murphy will maybe get you 1 or 2 goals each max per season which isn't good enough.

If we have a striker that is out of form and you mark Boyle out the game we struggle.

[B.H.F.C]

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Disagree with this, Newell and Irvine both make more tackles per match than Gogic does. Our performances on that side of the game have been much of a muchness with/without him for me.

Definitely a useful player to have but he wouldn't be first name down on the team sheet for me, severely limited technically which is fine when we play a back 4 but with the back 5 I think it really hinders our build up play.

Gogic hindering the build up play through the middle of the park is becoming a bit of myth for me. Or rather, the myth is that we do this significantly better without him in the team.

Most of our positive results have been with him in the team. Look at some of the games like Saturday, where we apparently don’t need a player like him, that have turned out horrendously.

Don’t think it’s all about making tackles in the middle of the park. Motherwell wandered right through the middle of us numerous times at the weekend because we were lacking someone to help us keep a bit of defensive shape in there.

[JimBHibees]

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I’m not really seeing it with Murphy I’m afraid.

I can appreciate his ability but it’s not clicking at the moment. He’s a winger for me, not a central attacking player.

Kind of agree really like his ability however to me much more suited wide. Also doesn't imo really help the other two centre mids when we don't have the ball quite apparent on Saturday

[JimBHibees]

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Gogic hindering the build up play through the middle of the park is becoming a bit of myth for me. Or rather, the myth is that we do this significantly better without him in the team.

Most of our positive results have been with him in the team. Look at some of the games like Saturday, where we apparently don’t need a player like him, that have turned out horrendously.

Don’t think it’s all about making tackles in the middle of the park. Motherwell wandered right through the middle of us numerous times at the weekend because we were lacking someone to help us keep a bit of defensive shape in there.

It's not just tackling it is an athleticism also.

[Fergus52]

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Gogic hindering the build up play through the middle of the park is becoming a bit of myth for me. Or rather, the myth is that we do this significantly better without him in the team.

Most of our positive results have been with him in the team. Look at some of the games like Saturday, where we apparently don’t need a player like him, that have turned out horrendously.

Don’t think it’s all about making tackles in the middle of the park. Motherwell wandered right through the middle of us numerous times at the weekend because we were lacking someone to help us keep a bit of defensive shape in there.

All fair points, with Gogic sitting right in front of the defense we are definitely harder to play through.

I do find our build up play bad to watch when we have 3 centre backs and Gogic on the pitch though, any half decent press can completely stifle us which forces us to go long even more often than usual - see recent dundee utd and st mirren games. Irvine and Newell can both play their way successfully out of trouble and receive the ball in tight spaces on the half turn, which Gogic really can't.

Also not sure about "most of our positive results" coming with him in the side, easily our two best games to watch this season were Hamilton and Motherwell away imo, where Newell was quite disciplined in position and happy to do the dirty work, while also providing an effective out ball for our defence when we were being pressed high.

[B.H.F.C]

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All fair points, with Gogic sitting right in front of the defense we are definitely harder to play through.

I do find our build up play bad to watch when we have 3 centre backs and Gogic on the pitch though, any half decent press can completely stifle us which forces us to go long even more often than usual - see recent dundee utd and st mirren games. Irvine and Newell can both play their way successfully out of trouble and receive the ball in tight spaces on the half turn, which Gogic really can't.

Also not sure about "most of our positive results" coming with him in the side, easily our two best games to watch this season were Hamilton and Motherwell away imo, where Newell was quite disciplined in position and happy to do the dirty work, while also providing an effective out ball for our defence when we were being pressed high.

We’ve won games similarly with Gogic in the team, Livi and St Mirren away spring to mind. I think our best to performances of the season were the home games against Rangers and Aberdeen which he played in.

I don’t think that he’s some world class player that transforms the team or anything like that. I just don’t think there was a need to change the midfield on the back of the Aberdeen game and I don’t see us playing consistently better football without him.

[MWHIBBIES]

Porteous definitely isn't head and shoulders the best central defender we have. Hes good, but if he was head and shoulders better than Hanlon

A) - we'd be a much better side because we'd have the best centre back in the league
B) - better than Milwall would be after him

[flash]

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Porteous definitely isn't head and shoulders the best central defender we have. Hes good, but if he was head and shoulders better than Hanlon

A) - we'd be a much better side because we'd have the best centre back in the league
B) - better than Milwall would be after him

He definitely is. That's why Millwall have never wanted Hanlon.

[MWHIBBIES]

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He definitely is. That's why Millwall have never wanted Hanlon.

Or maybe Hanlon never showed any interest in leaving.

He definitely isn't. Thats why Hanlon is always first choice. Has the potential to be but currently isn't.

[flash]

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Or maybe Hanlon never showed any interest in leaving.

He definitely isn't. Thats why Hanlon is always first choice. Has the potential to be but currently isn't.

We will just have to agree to disagree.