In one of my rare appearances on this board, I must say I viewed this match v THEM slightly differently today although one of my last comments to a family friend/hibee was "I just hope there is a decent ref group officiating this game". As soon as I saw Nick Walsh's name as the match ref, I knew right away that this guy is not a great ref and has no real "presence" as an affiliated SPFL ref. He has been generally crap in all SPFL leagues and that's a fact even though he has been around for years. He couldn't even call that Hibs pk on first glance and that's no surprise. At least VAR can partially expose poor refs like Walsh, Napier, Beatson et al - some of these refs look like wee school boys who never grew up - no real "presence" about them and no wonder none of them have been recognised in big UEFA and FIFA final tourneys in decades!! Also a possible foul on Miller leading up to that vg Lawrence goal???
However, back to my "take" leading up to this game, for what it's worth - I genuinely felt Hibs had a vg opportunity to win today's match. The reason why?? I reckoned Rangers were "ripe" to be beaten by a reasonably committed side mainly because of their previous two match commitments while Hibs well rested for this one. I expected them to be leg weary and psychologically lazy - proved right more or less!!! Also this was a match result that could've really "kick-started" Hibs season - absolutely important for manager and players to realise that fact and prepare to expose Rangers frailties on the day!! I can't believe some of the match decisions David Gray actually made TBH!!!?? His choice of Kuherevich as a pk taker is baffling when one considers the importance of this game result!! Where was that player who picks up the ball, slaps it down on the pk spot and absolutely slams it past Butland with conviction????????????????? You just don't take a pk like that!!! Some players who I've played with in years gone by would tell a goalie where the baw is going and him still not having an earthly of saving it at all!! Clearly, Hibs not covered with a top pk taker AGAIN!!! He just looked like another Hibs player "getting a game of fitba" (observed lots of similar Hibs players lax and profligate down the years in this particular fixture AND ACHIEVING NOTHING, NOT EVEN A DRAW!!!!!!!!) and just adds to the malaise that I'm regularly observing at Hibs FC!! No wowww factor at all, no proper captain with drive and real passion!! HFC provide an entertainment "product", pure n simple!! So much missing and any savvy Hibs fan can observe this problem very clearly. Lets not "paper over the cracks" any more!!! This Rangers team was there to be beaten today - the timing was perfect, but Hibs at their best in f##### it up once again and adding to that diabolically long record of nothingness/no results v Rangers. Back to the scrutiny of David Gray - he removes our best player, Hoilett, in the second half and replaces him with a clown of a player called Youann in this particular important match??? Youann naturally confirmed he is a clown and should never have been introduced!! Then he brings on Levitt and, McKirdy to do what??? These players are not good enough for Hibs!! The game plan I hoped for, preceding the start of this match, was to pound them with a hi-press strategy because I expected their frailties to be revealed after a Thursday Euro match - that failure v an expected revised Rangers side was as "clear as the light of day" esp with lots of their fans groaning and booing them throughout that second half!!! David Gray was part of this failure today - he can't hide that fact - no penetration in the last quarter when Hibs should've been pounding them with superior fitness and freshness!! He fielded the wrong players to do that late on - an utter failure in my humble opinion, and a huge opportunity lost!!! Reading and listening to some "half glass full" Hibs fans recently, one can only say, "It's nice to be pragmatic and say there's some improvement, maybe in the next game eh"?????? In reality, this fixture today was an acid test for Hibs manager to actually "kickstart Hibs season", as previously commented!! Hibs had a team of players to do that job in my humble opinion. They didn't do it!! They didn't have a manager who saw that opportunity - set out the game plan accordingly, motivate the players to carry it out and instil a belief to do it!!! That's the overall picture I'm observing in spite of the bad refereeing. Our season is now gonna be a major challenge with other lesser SPFL clubs than Hibs doing much better than us AGAIN and one of the key factors re "Why that is"? Guess what -it's down to having a proper manager rather than an assistant coach who aspires to be a manager. That rarely works out at all as proved in many instances down the years!! Merely look north to Aberdeen and observe how some reasonably thought-out management action has finally proved successful after some dreadful setbacks - Hibs look so "out of touch " in comparison, and any savvy Hibs fan would logically scrutinise both Ian Gordon, a man on a fantasy mission at HFC who more or less admitted recently "he'd made mistakes"??? Did a lot of damage to Hibs in his fantasy role that he should never have been given in the first place and could never touch the ability of our previous Director of Football, George Craig. And, of course, the other target to scrutinise has to be Ben Kensell, a CE who "begs to deceive" and so irritatingly "talks a good game" while our club is being so badly let down for years. Some hope for the future with Malky Mackay in place??? I hope so, but I'm not "holding my breath" in great anticipation. In the process, I think Gray, the "cheap option" for HFC, has been compromised beyond belief!! The malaise prevails IMO!!
However, back to my "take" leading up to this game, for what it's worth - I genuinely felt Hibs had a vg opportunity to win today's match. The reason why?? I reckoned Rangers were "ripe" to be beaten by a reasonably committed side mainly because of their previous two match commitments while Hibs well rested for this one. I expected them to be leg weary and psychologically lazy - proved right more or less!!! Also this was a match result that could've really "kick-started" Hibs season - absolutely important for manager and players to realise that fact and prepare to expose Rangers frailties on the day!! I can't believe some of the match decisions David Gray actually made TBH!!!?? His choice of Kuherevich as a pk taker is baffling when one considers the importance of this game result!! Where was that player who picks up the ball, slaps it down on the pk spot and absolutely slams it past Butland with conviction????????????????? You just don't take a pk like that!!! Some players who I've played with in years gone by would tell a goalie where the baw is going and him still not having an earthly of saving it at all!! Clearly, Hibs not covered with a top pk taker AGAIN!!! He just looked like another Hibs player "getting a game of fitba" (observed lots of similar Hibs players lax and profligate down the years in this particular fixture AND ACHIEVING NOTHING, NOT EVEN A DRAW!!!!!!!!) and just adds to the malaise that I'm regularly observing at Hibs FC!! No wowww factor at all, no proper captain with drive and real passion!! HFC provide an entertainment "product", pure n simple!! So much missing and any savvy Hibs fan can observe this problem very clearly. Lets not "paper over the cracks" any more!!! This Rangers team was there to be beaten today - the timing was perfect, but Hibs at their best in f##### it up once again and adding to that diabolically long record of nothingness/no results v Rangers. Back to the scrutiny of David Gray - he removes our best player, Hoilett, in the second half and replaces him with a clown of a player called Youann in this particular important match??? Youann naturally confirmed he is a clown and should never have been introduced!! Then he brings on Levitt and, McKirdy to do what??? These players are not good enough for Hibs!! The game plan I hoped for, preceding the start of this match, was to pound them with a hi-press strategy because I expected their frailties to be revealed after a Thursday Euro match - that failure v an expected revised Rangers side was as "clear as the light of day" esp with lots of their fans groaning and booing them throughout that second half!!! David Gray was part of this failure today - he can't hide that fact - no penetration in the last quarter when Hibs should've been pounding them with superior fitness and freshness!! He fielded the wrong players to do that late on - an utter failure in my humble opinion, and a huge opportunity lost!!! Reading and listening to some "half glass full" Hibs fans recently, one can only say, "It's nice to be pragmatic and say there's some improvement, maybe in the next game eh"?????? In reality, this fixture today was an acid test for Hibs manager to actually "kickstart Hibs season", as previously commented!! Hibs had a team of players to do that job in my humble opinion. They didn't do it!! They didn't have a manager who saw that opportunity - set out the game plan accordingly, motivate the players to carry it out and instil a belief to do it!!! That's the overall picture I'm observing in spite of the bad refereeing. Our season is now gonna be a major challenge with other lesser SPFL clubs than Hibs doing much better than us AGAIN and one of the key factors re "Why that is"? Guess what -it's down to having a proper manager rather than an assistant coach who aspires to be a manager. That rarely works out at all as proved in many instances down the years!! Merely look north to Aberdeen and observe how some reasonably thought-out management action has finally proved successful after some dreadful setbacks - Hibs look so "out of touch " in comparison, and any savvy Hibs fan would logically scrutinise both Ian Gordon, a man on a fantasy mission at HFC who more or less admitted recently "he'd made mistakes"??? Did a lot of damage to Hibs in his fantasy role that he should never have been given in the first place and could never touch the ability of our previous Director of Football, George Craig. And, of course, the other target to scrutinise has to be Ben Kensell, a CE who "begs to deceive" and so irritatingly "talks a good game" while our club is being so badly let down for years. Some hope for the future with Malky Mackay in place??? I hope so, but I'm not "holding my breath" in great anticipation. In the process, I think Gray, the "cheap option" for HFC, has been compromised beyond belief!! The malaise prevails IMO!!