Why do Hibs go with a smaller squad?

[Hibs90]

I believe it's the clubs choice...and even then we have Allan, Mallan, Gullan out on loan who could have offered something today.

Looked at the bench today and it is really weak in an attacking sense.

I don't understand.

[MWHIBBIES]

Calculated risk based on smaller budget. Today it backfired. Over the season, it has worked. Win Cup and its our best season since 50s

Still think we'll get 3rd. Rangers will beat Aberdeen.

[Alfred E Newman]

The lack of cover for the strikers was always going to come back to haunt us.
Just imagine what sort of line up we would have put out if Doidge got injured as well as Nisbet.

[Hibs90]

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Calculated risk based on smaller budget. Today it backfired. Over the season, it has worked. Win Cup and its our best season since 50s

Still think we'll get 3rd. Rangers will beat Aberdeen.

Sending/agreeing to the guys going out on loan from a team perspective was an absolutely ridiculous decision.

I hope your right but I just don't see it happening with the current manager in charge.

[flash]

Not having a third striker when we play two up front is a ridiculously bad piece of judgement.
Our only option then is to move Boyle from a position he is far more effective in not to mention the fact he either scores or creates about half our goals.

[The Harp Awakes]

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Sending/agreeing to the guys going out on loan from a team perspective was an absolutely ridiculous decision.

I hope your right but I just don't see it happening with the current manager in charge.

Looks that way. Behind in a very important game and needing some inspiration and an attacking threat from the bench and there's nothing there. Bringing on Halberg and Stevenson is never going to give you that.

[MWHIBBIES]

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Sending/agreeing to the guys going out on loan from a team perspective was an absolutely ridiculous decision.

I hope your right but I just don't see it happening with the current manager in charge.

What, so we sack him?

[Lago]

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I believe it's the clubs choice...and even then we have Allan, Mallan, Gullan out on loan who could have offered something today.

Looked at the bench today and it is really weak in an attacking sense.

I don't understand.

Money it's all Hibs can afford

[hibbydog]

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Looks that way. Behind in a very important game and needing some inspiration and an attacking threat from the bench and there's nothing there. Bringing on Halberg and Stevenson is never going to give you that.

I agree and I had the same worry last week when the chips were down against Motherwell.

Can we recall any of them?

[Hibs90]

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What, so we sack him?

If we lose 3rd place and our 3rd semi-final of the season then yes he should go IMO.

Get both and he can stay for as long as he likes as far as I'm concerned.

[Danderhall Hibs]

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Not having a third striker when we play two up front is a ridiculously bad piece of judgement.
Our only option then is to move Boyle from a position he is far more effective in not to mention the fact he either scores or creates about half our goals.

Agreed. Losing Nisbet is more than 1 player - changes the dynamics of the team, removing our width, pace and creativity.

[A Hi-Bee]

it is simple economics we dont have too much of the cash required to put out a real quality team that would be good and consistant, we dont live in that world.

[Hibs90]

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it is simple economics we dont have too much of the cash required to put out a real quality team that would be good and consistant, we dont live in that world.

Which is fair enough, if the money isn't there nothing you can do.

In which case why on earth did we agree or send players out on loan? Absolutely baffling.

[A Hi-Bee]

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Which is fair enough, if the money isn't there nothing you can do.

In which case why on earth did we agree or send players out on loan? Absolutely baffling.

i believe when we send players out on loan we cut the cost of keeping that player as the club he is going to will be paying a fair wack of his wages, so Hibs save money with the player not being fully paid by Hibs. again it is just business and a lack of real cash during very tough times.

[Alfred E Newman]

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it is simple economics we dont have too much of the cash required to put out a real quality team that would be good and consistant, we dont live in that world.

Yet poorly supported St Johnstone with a much lower budget than are able to change 7 players and still grind out a win against us.
It's not all about money.
Maybe if Ross hadn't spent spent a big chunk of the budget overloading us with injury prone and fairly ordinary midfield players we could have had a better balanced squad.

[A Hi-Bee]

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Yet poorly supported St Johnstone with a much lower budget than are able to change 7 players and still grind out a win against us.
It's not all about money.
Maybe if Ross hadn't spent spent a big chunk of the budget overloading us with injury prone and fairly ordinary midfield players we could have had a better balanced squad.

i was not talking about turning out teams that grind out a result, I was talking about a team with real quality players in it, St j do not have such a team. And we do not have such a team.

[MWHIBBIES]

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If we lose 3rd place and our 3rd semi-final of the season then yes he should go IMO.

Get both and he can stay for as long as he likes as far as I'm concerned.

Which is pretty eye-opening no? Like, all his hard work, all his good signings, all the good results, all the bad ones etc all crumbles with a bad refereeing decision or a screamer from an opposition player.

A case could certainly be made for sacking him, but it wouldn't happen. 3rd place and 2 semi finals is a good season for Hibs. It always will be.

[J-C]

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i believe when we send players out on loan we cut the cost of keeping that player as the club he is going to will be paying a fair wack of his wages, so Hibs save money with the player not being fully paid by Hibs. again it is just business and a lack of real cash during very tough times.

Nonsense.

Mallan went to Turkey because he wanted playing time, Gullan to Raith for the same reason and Allan has just came back from a very serious heart condition and needs playing time to get his fitness back, all 3 nothing to do with money as they were part of the original squad at the beginning of the season.

[hhibs]

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Nonsense.

Mallan went to Turkey because he wanted playing time, Gullan to Raith for the same reason and Allan has just came back from a very serious heart condition and needs playing time to get his fitness back, all 3 nothing to do with money as they were part of the original squad at the beginning of the season.

The Gullan move seemed a good one potentially for him,but always looked potentially bad for Hibs.

[Northernhibee]

We seem to be ignoring that at this stage of his development Gullan was completely ineffectual this season in the top flight.

[Hibs90]

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We seem to be ignoring that at this stage of his development Gullan was completely ineffectual this season in the top flight.

I agree but we still never replace him in terms of an option off the bench.

[Danderhall Hibs]

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We seem to be ignoring that at this stage of his development Gullan was completely ineffectual this season in the top flight.

How many games did he play and how many did he start? I genuinely can’t remember - he did come off the bench a few times for the last 5-10 mins but I can’t remember him getting much more than that.

[Brightside]

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I believe it's the clubs choice...and even then we have Allan, Mallan, Gullan out on loan who could have offered something today.

Looked at the bench today and it is really weak in an attacking sense.

I don't understand.

Budget.

[wookie70]

The risk to go with two strikers with Boyle as a stand in looked stupid but we have largely got away with it with one or more of the three chipping in with goals throughout the season. All it takes is an injury though and we look ridiculously short. Hopefully Nisbet is back in next week or the decision may yet have a massive effect on our season.

An earlier poster nailed it for me. We have spent quite a bit of the budget on midfielders. Some has been very well spent in terms of Gogic and some poorly spent in terms of Wright, Murphy. Irvine and to a lesser extent Cadden. We still don't really have cover if Gogic is out and given Murphy has been injury prone for a while we don't have much cover on the left. To me we are still buying players rather than building a squad. If St Johnstone can field 7 players who don't regularly start and look efficient and well organised then it is hard to believe we struggle to fill a bench with subs.

Ross had to rebuild and he has made a decent start. Tough choices need to be made next year and hopefully we finish strong and get a nice big budget so we can have quantity, quality and balance.

[ancient hibee]

We have gone with a small squad -fair enough-but we have brought in too many players who are contributing very little. A bad combination.

[147lothian]

Why was Nisbet not even in the squad today? Is it an injury? Is he expected to return for next Saturday?

[Alfred E Newman]

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We have gone with a small squad -fair enough-but we have brought in too many players who are contributing very little. A bad combination.

A good squad should have reasonable cover for all the positions. We don’t. We are ok at the back, over loaded in midfield and short up front.
You are the same generation as me AH and will remember when your injured centre forward was usually replaced by the reserve striker , the winger by another winger and so on.
Yesterday we had the ridiculous situation where our most influential player in recent weeks was moved to the middle to cover for Nisbet and was totally ineffective and the rest of the reshuffle was a mess with players looking as if they didn’t know what their exact role was.

[ancient hibee]

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A good squad should have reasonable cover for all the positions. We don’t. We are ok at the back, over loaded in midfield and short up front.
You are the same generation as me AH and will remember when your injured centre forward was usually replaced by the reserve striker , the winger by another winger and so on.
Yesterday we had the ridiculous situation where our most influential player in recent weeks was moved to the middle to cover for Nisbet and was totally ineffective and the rest of the reshuffle was a mess with players looking as if they didn’t know what their exact role was.

So many midfielders but a failure to have a comfortable balance there.

[LeithMike]

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Win Cup and its our best season since 50s

Still think we'll get 3rd. Rangers will beat Aberdeen.

I think a lot of our problems as fans and patience with the manager and fans stem from this narrow view of looking at results. If we are going to be objective we need to look beyond results, trophies, league positions,etc.

Looking over the course of this season, I think Hibs have played in fits and starts. Good for a handful games and then poor for two or three. For my point of view, I don't think there is a massive difference between Hibs and the rest and Aberdeen have definitely come back to the pack. There is a huge gulf between Hibs and the old firm though.. Taking that into account, I think a cup win and 3rd position would flatter this team who are pretty middle of the road. We've a potent strikeforce but a fairly slow and pedestrian midfield and rely heavily on Boyle to beat teams.

In my time following Hibs, I'd place the 2017-18 team up there as the best despite no silverware and finishing 4th. We were capable of dominating any team in the league. Next up would be the McLeish and Mowbray sides - again which won no silverware but were very competitive. Despite the 2015-16 cup win (best ever footballing moment) that team wasn't the greatest and I often felt it lacked width and balance.

So, as great as it would be to win the cup and finish 3rd, we shouldn't be fooled into thinking this team is a great team. It's not clear how successful Glass will be next season with Aberdeen but I expect them and Hearts to invest significantly and really challenge for 3rd. Hibs have a lot work to do and we shouldn't be fooled by our lofty position into thinking we're now better than the rest. Its clearly still a work in progress and could go either way.

As fans, its good to look beyond results. This board often swings back to and fro about Jack Ross with our results when truth is we're a pretty middle of the road side - but one which looks to be improving. Let's hope that continues.

PS - have been on the fence about Griffiths coming back but think we need a spark like that.



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[Hibs90]

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Which is pretty eye-opening no? Like, all his hard work, all his good signings, all the good results, all the bad ones etc all crumbles with a bad refereeing decision or a screamer from an opposition player.

A case could certainly be made for sacking him, but it wouldn't happen. 3rd place and 2 semi finals is a good season for Hibs. It always will be.

It shouldn't be accepted, we should aim higher, specifically when you look at the context of the season and who was left in the cups. There is no reason why we can't achieve more in this respect.