[ritchiebaby]

As stated in many of my posts, I don't expect anything from games against the bigot bothers. They should be regarded as a free hit and there's no reason we shouldn't have a real go. Any points gained will be a bonus.

High Noon at Ibrox awaits us on Sunday, a cliff-hanger ending with the under-rated good guy coming out on top is the feel-good finale. We can win this one as both defences are sub-standard, although ours seem to be improving. Chances taken will be the key and I lean towards a home win on that alone.

[Lord Snooty]

Bigot brothers. Like it.

[hibeejim21]

Nice of them to finally give us an allocation at the last minute for their falling apart shoebox of a stadium.

As i used to with 0762 its more fitting to speculate exactly how the officials will rob us if we have the temerity to actually play well there for a change. You can usually set your watch by the penalty award....or if they still need the win late on the 10 mins of injury time out of nowhere.

[hibeejim21]

Well we can't say we haven't had chances, but we need to be a bit better on the ball - hoilett in particular should have taken his chance down and finished it. Amazingly got a pk award from VAR which Myko fluffed badly but souttar absolutely should have seen red for his handball. Cheating bastards.


But 1-0 down at the break..... Miller is having a shocker and needs replaced at the interval.

[0762]

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!!

[ritchiebaby]

It's good to have your opinions on here again, 0762, and I'll wholeheartedly agree with your comments re the missed opportunity to take points away from Ibrox against a Rangers team who are nowhere near as good as they think they are.

The chances were there and Kuharevich should be immediately dropped from penalty-kick duties and maybe even the team for his abysmal penalty-kick. Any power generated from the run-up is lost. If you're only going to take one step, then you've got to place it in one of the top corners, not meekly roll it along the ground.

We had various other scoring chances as well - Gayle heading inches wide, Kwon still looking for his shooting boots (get it on target and it might go in!).

All-in-all it was a decent performance, but it did come down to chances taken for Rangers to edge it.

[hibeejim21]

I do agree, that was a great opportunity spurned to turn them over in their own gaff. They absolutely stank the place out, Celtic look miles ahead of them at the moment in footballing terms. Its to their great fortune that most of their games after european midweeks are at home - funny that.

Grays inexperience played its part, I thought his choice of subs was poor 2nd half. You could tell from Myko's face that he was missing that pk, he had no belief in himself and ultimately it cost us a result.

Triantis was excellent in midfield, and that yellow card he got was a joke. He won the ball cleanly and had us straight through on goal....So of course the game had to be stopped.

I think we look a bit better and the team is starting to gel, hopefully something for us to build on.

[0762]

Additional comment - re that awful pk, recent video footage has shown that two Rangers players encroached into the RFC pen box (by about 2 metres) just before the pk - a pk retake possibly in order? Totally missed by ref and VAR checkers!!! Of course, that's not to say Hibs would've missed that pk too, but a possible retake as I'm damn sure Rangers, or Celtic for that matter, would be given that decision to ensure they are given every chance to win a match!!! What's new eh!!?

[HerefordBull]

I think by the Laws of the game, unless the defender directly interferes with play or the penalty taker ( which he didn't do) then the penalty does not have to be retaken. Just an infringement into the box does not always result in a retake.

If the ball had rebounded out and the said defender cleared the ball then it would have been retaken. ( mind you this is sevco we are talking about so who knows what decision VAR would have come up with!!) Since the keeper saved it cleanly and the defender did not interfere with the taker no retake was the correct decision.

[0762]

A bit of common sense applied to that encroachment rule although I believe it has just been changed from last summer as I recall many incidents down the years of playing/watching footie - encroachment was deemed a pk retake and a normal ref decision if such a player offence was spotted. I must say it's hard to keep up with the regular rule amendments these days!! It was such an awful pk, Hibs didn't deserve a retake to be perfectly frank about it!! The pk miss is a repetitive episode of abject failure and "not doing a job properly" by another Hibs player, one of many down the years who do not perform in this particular fixture at all. Hence the diabolical record they have and will continue to have in this fixture even when Rangers arrogantly field their B or C sides against Hibs 3 days after a testy away Euro match. That sums up where we are as a footie club at the moment - Rangers can play badly (and they were crap btw!!!) and still win while Hibs just stumbling along as usual with the majority of players "getting a game" and happy to be there!!! Winning matches like this one can alter the whole outlook of a football season. The only problem is we don't look impressive enough to do that yet!!! I see too many players "getting a game" and that's a fact!! I don't want these players at Hibs and there is a good few of them still "getting a game"!!!! It means more than "just getting a game" to lots of passionate Hibs fans who want to see somebody appear on the "footie front" and raise expectations - effectively lift the spirits of a footie club that really needs to be lifted by individuals who have the appropriate personal skills and infectious drive to do that job. As for Rangers manager, Clements', post match questioning remarks re Hibs pk award, this is more of the same Rangers deliberate antagonistic "how dare you award a pk against us" behaviour; I'd call it implicit intimidation of refs and VAR officials!! Note this ref, Walsh, never had the gumption or courage to award that pk to Hibs - he left it to VAR!! And yet Souttar blocked a Hibs shot at goal, the ball was going directly towards the Rangers goal, but it was his outstretched arm that blocked the shot - a pk award and a simple ref decision in my humble opinion! Clements cynically "laying the ground rules" to Scottish referees for future matches IMO. Why? Because he's desperate and knows he has a fairly average group of players who cannot handle their more demanding fixture schedule after UEFA's revised league format schedule was introduced for the first time this season. They will suffer the consequences even though they are fortunate to be playing in a lower standard Scottish Premiership football league.