Game 23: Hibernian (H) 25th January 2020

[The African]

I think I would probably have taken a point before kick off. With the forwards we are missing, it was always likely that goals for us would be at a premium. A decent performance and another clean sheet is not the worst outcome.

Looking ahead, I reckon we are just going to have to accept that we are going to be a little lightweight up front for the remainder of the season.  We currently have eight options, two out injured, and the main issue is that they are more along the lines of pacy wide players rather than old school line leading centre forwards or poachers averaging a goal every second game. The chances of us being able to pick either of these up in the next couple of days seems unlikely on just about every level ( budget, availability etc.) so we will have to get the best out of what we've got. I think there is a fair amount of ability in the attacking players we do have, and if the rest of the team can chip in with a few goals we should be okay. Throw in a returning Turnbull at some stage, and the goal threat he could provide, and we should be fine.

[Kmcalpin]

5 hours ago, texanwellfan said:

What selections were wrong? 

I would say Illic and MacIver. I can see why they were given a chance though. Perhaps Manzinga and Ndjoli could have started with O'Hara coming on later, if required. I don't think Seedorf contributed anything when he came on.  MacIver looks promising and showed some nice touches but is lightweight and to me looks more of an attacking midfielder rather than a main striker.  Nobody on our books though looked capable of facing up to Jackson.  Others may know more about MacIver than I do though. The lack of a main striker in our recruitment process this season is puzzling to me.

[ohwulliewullie]

15 hours ago, Wellfan1984 said:

What a challenge by Polworth

Yes, can we put to bed ever seeing “Polworth” and “lazy” in the same sentence?

[Welldaft Mk1]

1 hour ago, Kmcalpin said:

I would say Illic and MacIver. I can see why they were given a chance though. Perhaps Manzinga and Ndjoli could have started with O'Hara coming on later, if required. I don't think Seedorf contributed anything when he came on.  MacIver looks promising and showed some nice touches but is lightweight and to me looks more of an attacking midfielder rather than a main striker.  Nobody on our books though looked capable of facing up to Jackson.  Others may know more about MacIver than I do though. The lack of a main striker in our recruitment process this season is puzzling to me.

I agree with this line of thought Dave. Robinson clearly thinks or thought for this game McIver was a better bet than Manzinga or Ndjoli. I thought he did OK but did not look like he was going to trouble the Hibs defence. Even on the brief cameo from Manzinga he seemed to offer more threat.

However it is worrying that with one key striker missing we don't have what I would consider a capable alternative.  I know they don’t grow on trees and it appears we may have been interested in Brian Graham. But this is a bit of an oversight imho. 

All that said I felt we played well yesterday and our defence and midfield are as strong as they have been for quite some time. 3 clean sheets in a row so far in 2020. Got lucky with Kamberi miss. I saw him go for the header with the whole goal to aim at and expecting to see Hibs support celebrating, but someone stood up in front of me and next thing the ball was out of play. 

Final word form me was that I actually thought Seedorf did OK when he came on. Granted that comes from a low expectation level. 

Big game v Livi next week. A win or a draw and I think top 4 is almost a gimmie. A loss and Livi are suddenly only 7 points behind with Celtic up next for us. 

 

[Onthefringes]

Anybody who follows the reserves on a regular basis will tell you Manzinga’s cameo performances have been the exception rather than the rule. It’s no surprise McIver was given the nod.

i don’t buy the Brian Graham interest either.

[buff_is_the_tooth_fairy]

Thought McIvor did ok, won a few headers and knock ons, but a proper target man would allow mixed playstyles.   Scott and Seedorf need to stop over complicating at times.  Dont need to beat the man five times,  every time, mix it up with some early crosses.

Scott and Gallacher guilty at times of dwelling on ball giving Hibs, Accies opportunities. 

Enjoyed the midfielders rotating at times, good movement.  

Overall thought we played very well, were in total conrrol and should have won, but 4 points from last two games was a good return. 

 

[Yorkyred]

10 hours ago, Kmcalpin said:

Overall I was quite pleased with a share of the points as neither side deserved to lose. We had far more of the play but Hibs defended extremely well although we outgunned them in midfield. Rumours of Hibs having a poor defence turned out to be way off the mark. I thought their huge centre back (Jackson?) had a great game and gobbled up everything in the air we threw at him. I've seen one or two comments referrring to their style of play as agricultural but thats paying them a disservice... they were ruthless and cynical and I have real doubts as to whether that was down to spur of the moment decisions or whether it was premeditated, which is more likely. Despite having far less of the play than us Hibs had almost as many efforts on target as us.

Our defence looked a bit shaky at times but Gallagher strolled through the game. Our midfield bossed their Hibs counterparts and that was largely down to Donnelly, who took a real beating,  and the energetic Campbell.  Polworth had a reasonable game but but got caught in possession 3 or 4 times. Illic did nothing of note and I was surprised he wasn't hooked at half time. Up front we were very lightweight and although Scott started well he faded once he was snuffed out by 2 or 3 defenders. MacIver looked promising but was out of his depth and maybe centre forward is not his role. Overall our attack was very lightweight, which was my fear going into the game.  We could have played until next week and not scored. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I think we got several selection decisions wrong today.

The referee was very poor and bottled a big decison not to red card the lucky Omeonga.

The point will please us more than Hibs and it was another clean sheet. I'm not convinced though that had Long played we would have fared any better.  If we seriously want to go for 3rd spot then I'm afraid we need to sign an out and out striker very soon. Not easy, I know, to find the right man this month and Robbo's record on signing strikers isn't anything to write home about.

Next Saturday will pose us another challenge and we have to come up with something different. Its a great position though to be writing about going for 3rd place...its beats a relegation struggle every time!

 

I’m not sure I agree Robinson got the selections wrong given who we had available. Both defence and midfield very very good yesterday although Grimmy was quite poor at times. Up front we really had very few options and you could maybe argue that MacIver was not the right choice as a centre forward but I’m really not convinced there was anyone that could play that role with Long out, and even he is far from perfect. As you say we need an out an out striker but it’s not going to happen according to Robinson so it’s very much manage with what we have.

[underboyleheating]

Heartening to see that our nearest rivals are pish. Currently 0-0 against our cup opponents St.Mirren with 25 to go.

[CoF]

11 hours ago, GazzyB said:

I think people being a tad harsh on Illic. 

Pretty standard for any young player who hasn't come through our ranks. Seedorf's getting it too. 

Think we just need to look at Donelly to know that players in their early twenties are still learning and developing. I doubt many would have predicted he'd become the player he is now. Madness to write anyone that age off. 

[underboyleheating]

We stay 4 points clear so nothing lost or gained by our draw yesterday. It’s all good. 

[Yorkyred]

2 minutes ago, underboyleheating said:

We stay 4 points clear so nothing lost or gained by our draw yesterday. It’s all good. 

Overall we look a better team than Aberdeen, Take out Cosgrove and they are nothing special.

[underboyleheating]

7 minutes ago, Yorkyred said:

Overall we look a better team than Aberdeen, Take out Cosgrove and they are nothing special.

Yes I don’t fear them as they lack a threat up front when Cosgrove isn’t on it.

[fizoxy]

The selections were fine at the time based on how mciver and illic did against Aberdeen. Mciver looks to be closer to a center forward than the others and didn't look miles away.

Manzinga looked ok coming on off the bench, but he was fresh and hibs were tired. As said above, his performances in the reserves are what you want to look at. It doesnt mean he wont improve, but he's not the saviour either.

 

[Toxteth O'Grady]

Aberdeen are at Ibrox on Saturday. Big opportunity for us at Livingston.

[Yorkyred]

13 minutes ago, Toxteth O'Grady said:

Aberdeen are at Ibrox on Saturday. Big opportunity for us at Livingston.

Absolutely but it’s obviously a hell of a tough game on that abomination of a pitch. However we are good away with five wins in a row, full of confidence, and we will outnumber the home support so you never know.

[Ya Bezzer!]

54 minutes ago, Toxteth O'Grady said:

Aberdeen are at Ibrox on Saturday. Big opportunity for us at Livingston.

Aberdeen now 3 wins in their last 10.  Not great form and the fans aren't happy with the style of play.  They are under a wee bit of pressure and have been dire since the break.

Livingston should not be underestimated.  For me they have one of the best midfield rosters in the league, are coming off 5 home wins on the trot and have only lost at home to Rangers and Aberdeen.

Away to Livingston has been one of the tougher fixtures for the past couple of seasons.

[Well Well]

Its amazing how Hearts can put on a great performance v Rangers despite being utter dross all season and yet when we play Rangers its like men v boys.

[weeyin]

38 minutes ago, Well Well said:

Its amazing how Hearts can put on a great performance v Rangers despite being utter dross all season and yet when we play Rangers its like men v boys.

It's all about match ups.  Hearts and Rangers rely more on the physical aspects of their players so are more similar in style.

 

[steelboy]

Rangers are much easier proposition without mad Morelos. We well in the game at Ibrox when they had Defoe up front.

[weeyin]

10 minutes ago, steelboy said:

Rangers are much easier proposition without mad Morelos. We well in the game at Ibrox when they had Defoe up front.

Aye, but Morelos hasn't played for all of the past 20+ years where we haven't won a league game against them.

[texanwellfan]

3 hours ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

Aberdeen now 3 wins in their last 10.  Not great form and the fans aren't happy with the style of play.  They are under a wee bit of pressure and have been dire since the break.

Livingston should not be underestimated.  For me they have one of the best midfield rosters in the league, are coming off 5 home wins on the trot and have only lost at home to Rangers and Aberdeen.

Away to Livingston has been one of the tougher fixtures for the past couple of seasons.

Certainly a tough game in store for us but another chance to give us added breathing space over our closest rivals. Let’s hope we can keep the good performances rolling along 

[Kmcalpin]

5 hours ago, CoF said:

Pretty standard for any young player who hasn't come through our ranks. Seedorf's getting it too. 

Think we just need to look at Donelly to know that players in their early twenties are still learning and developing. I doubt many would have predicted he'd become the player he is now. Madness to write anyone that age off. 

As far as I'm concerned, both players have potential and Robbo is quite good at developing young players. Don't know about anyone else, but I'm not writing either of them off; I just happen to think they had a poor game yesterday. Every player can have an off day or poor spell or indeed take time to develop.  

[CoF]

1 hour ago, Kmcalpin said:

As far as I'm concerned, both players have potential and Robbo is quite good at developing young players. Don't know about anyone else, but I'm not writing either of them off; I just happen to think they had a poor game yesterday. Every player can have an off day or poor spell or indeed take time to develop.  

Of course, sorry that comment wasn't aimed at you at all.

It's the "never a footballer" comments aimed at 21/22 year old players who have played 5 games for us. Illic and Seedorf have had it from a few. 

[Hope Springs]

Illic was badly supported by Grimmy who had a poor game and did not link up with Illic well. I think there is more to Illic and he can still make a better impact if he gets a couple more starts. McIver also showed enough promise and should not be dismissed out of hand.  Doubt if Seedorf has enough of a clue - he doesn’t seem to read the game well and often looks pretty lost really

[Ya Bezzer!]

4 hours ago, weeyin said:

It's all about match ups.  Hearts and Rangers rely more on the physical aspects of their players so are more similar in style.

 

Even when good, wee teams tend to have a wee team mentality.  At the opposite end of the scale even when bad, bigger teams tend to have a bigger team mentality.

Teams like Hearts and Aberdeen have done well against Rangers because they approach the game with a different mindset.  It goes beyond form, line ups, tactics.