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Hibs v Dundee United, Sat 16 October, KO 3.00pm
#1
It's back to Scot Prem business and most of our players "freshened" up during the international break. Kevin Nisbet had a small bit of game time with Scotland. So he should be well primed for this upcoming match v United. Boyly more committed to the Aussie World Cup campaign and playing well. I reckon Doidgy could be "returning to the fold" fairly soon and that would be a welcome addition to the team. The objective is fairly simple - lets "get back on track" and win this match. We were unbeaten before that Ibronx fixture/loss. It's a case of "normal service resumes" and a different referee, different perception of the rules of the game. IMO United is a decent fixture for Hibs and Jack Ross and hopefully the result will be as positive as our past fixtures v the Tangerines. Their form has improved in the weeks preceding the international break, but this game is all about how Hibs tackle this match in front of a big Hibs support. I think Hibs are a better side than United and it should be the case on Saturday afternoon. As usual, they must "show up" and earn the result. C'mon Hibs!

GGTTH
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#2
Just reading an injury update on Christian Doidge and Meker Hallberg (forgot about his injury!) and there is an optimistic outlook re an early return for both players in early November. It also looks like there's a good chance Murphy, also injured, may return to the 1st team squad for this United match.
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#3
I've been expecting this type of result for sometime as eventually our luck was bound to run out. My thoughts after watching that.............

We were lucky to get 0. Doh

Take out Boyle and we lose 80% of our threat and creativity. Doh

Ross yet again has no plan B.  Doh

When we did get in behind them on the few occasions, our final delivery was woeful and easily cut out by the men in Tangerine. Aside from a couple of shots from the 18 yard line we didn't threaten. Overall we are all too predictable and finished the second half the same as we had done while playing the first half. We must be a dream for opposing managers to figure out their game plan.

We lacked that box to box creative midfielder.........its not Scott Allan who in games like today is a "luxury" player and was surprised he lasted to halftime.

Nathan Wood looks like he will become a good player and I liked the way he was in the refs ear at a couple of incidents in the second half.............more than Hanlon was!

Dundee United looked well organised and they all stuck to their tasks well. Thumb up

With the games coming up its a good job we got some points from the earlier games. Whistle
"FOREVER UNITED"
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#4
We got absolutely rinsed the day, the midfield in particular was all over the place.

Doig's defending continues to shock,and i don't think Cadden is much better tbh.  Early days but i havent been hugely impressed by Scott either.

Ah mean one of those goals was like a header from about 15 yards out ffs Doh

The boy Fuchs looks a right tidy player for Utd.

Will put it down to a bad day at the office but we all know the deeper issues here.
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#5
After recovering from the initial "shellshock" of this game, I must ask, "Where to start re this shock result"?? And that was a shock result!! I'll shed a slightly different "light" on this game. I kept up with info on Australia's World Cup games in the past fortnight with Boyly's involvement in mind and I'll say right away, before I even start on this match, their coach certainly got "his pound of flesh" out of Boyly and I wondered if Jack Ross would even play him in this match!!!!!!? This isn't the 1st time the Aussie international commitment has impacted on Hibs results!! To the game itself - I must say I found the starting line-up absolutely concerning as I wasn't aware that RJ's 1st pick defence was not only gonna lose Porty - Paul McGinn also unlisted!!! And Darren McGregor not "filling the void" left by Porty either!!!?? But sitting on the subs' bench??? So our 1st pick settled defence has been shredded even before we started this match - SURELY A GOOD REASON TO "EXPECT THIS KINDA RESULT" BEFORE THE REFEREE EVEN BLEW THE STARTING WHISTLE!!!??? On closer scrutiny of the team, I noted Magennis also missing and unlisted - is that another injury incurred after the Ibronx fixture??? So we have a manager, who hardly knows what a plan B actually means, setting up a team that was absolutely wrong. For example, playing Murphy and Allan in the same mid area just "beggared belief" - I was gob smacked!! As soon as we knew this game was gonna be a difficult one and we were down on goal(s) conceded, I would've immediately removed Allan because he doesn't "battle" in matches like this one - that is a qualified opinion based on a lotta observations of Scott Allan in all types of matches down the years. Ross just watched from the sidelines as usual! Also remember Murphy (not my favourite player btw) had just returned from injury!! Rolleyes I believe Gogic should've been started in his "anchor role" in front of a "scratch" back line - IMO his omission was a big mistake by Ross!! I'm not saying we would've won this match btw. But that move would've placed some solidity on a defensive mid area. Re Dundee United? They played OK, but this was all about a weakened Hibs side that really played badly and it was expected with that improvised formation!! I'll bet United players/officials couldn't believe their luck v a team, effectively one of their bogey sides, lining up in such a vulnerable position that they'd never experienced before - THEY PLAYED US AT THE RIGHT TIME AND TOOK FULL ADVANTAGE!! There were players in this Hibs team who I certainly don't trust any more to do a job for Hibs esp in view of the circumstances that unfolded in the team selection and not revealed by Hibs in the lead up to this match (????). I'll reflect back to a cutting comment that Hibeesbounce made a couple of months ago after the transfer window expired in August - Hibs evident failure to provide decent cover of certain important positions in the team esp if injuries arise leading in to the autumn/winter season. That comment/thread pulled in a good few "likes". I think we've just observed some confirmation of that fact. I pray that Ross has access to almost a fully strong 1st team selection sooner rather than later. Our strongest side will have a good chance of beating any Scot Prem team on their day and will play a lot better than that "shadow" of a Hibs team this afternoon - our best players naturally make a difference!

GGTTH
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#6
Hibernian manager Jack Ross: "We deserved what we got. We were our worst version of ourselves; lazy, slow and selfish in a lot of our individual play. No qualms over the result, Dundee United deserved to win. We were desperately poor and that isn't acceptable in terms of where we want to be and where we've pushed to be for probably the last year and a half." Says it all really. United were up for it and we weren't.

I agree Scott Allan is a luxury player, but you could also argue that Martin Boyle is the same. If he's not up for it, or is starved of decent ball, Hibs are just not at the races. I would field a couple of luxury players most games, but they need others around them to do the donkey-work.

For me, the biggest problem is the lack of an aggressive, ball-winning midfielder - a John McGinn type player, or another Marvin Bartley. Gogic is fair to middling, but doesn't fill that gap consistently enough for Hibs' ambitions. As stated above, we are an opposition manager's dream at the moment - far too predictable and without enough on- or off-field leadership.
Cabbage is still good for you
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#7
Following the last 2 points:

In general, I don't buy into the theory that because a couple of players are missing from a side then then its game over. All teams have to endure this but more importantly what it highlights is a lack of depth in our squad. For instance we have many, many ( too many perhaps) midfielders but only a couple ( well one at least) that can do that "John McGinn" role and unfortunately Kyle was missing yesterday. In my opinion, Gogic should have played as he is the next best thing. All the other midfielders are very samey and cannot do the role required. Many of these through the season play out of position and we don't see the best of them.

I disagree re Martin Boyle. Yesterday he was the only player who injected some pace into the attack (couple of great runs through the middle but inevitably was chopped down) and got people slightly excited although Murphy does well at ghosting past players. The problem is that teams know to double or even triple up on Boyle which is expected but what it should mean is, it creates space for others to use. He also has become a better defender and tracking back to help out the right back. Allans only plus is that occasionally he can pick a worldy pass but yesterday United did well at shutting the channels down so none of his vision came to anything. He cannot tackle well or hold the ball up and certainly doesn't track back a lot of the time.

The other big miss yesterday was McGinn. This again highlights our poor squad as Cadden had to play right back.....certainly not his preferred position now although did play there for Oxford United. Columbus preferred him playing further forward. This is again part of our problem in that we have players who "can do a job" in certain positions which may not be their best ones and areas they are not particularly specialist in. Watching Doig at times I wonder if he will ever become a "specialist" left back or would again be happier playing slightly more forward???

It became obvious yesterday that United were happy to let us have the ball in our own half ( possession stats bear this out) let us play our square passes for a while and then when we came forward to push the play to the flanks. very little came through the mid channels. Then all they did was to stop any crosses and when we did create some room the final ball was woeful or the crosses were easily dealt with by their central defenders.

As Jim said.......a bad day at the office. Doh

GGTTH
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"FOREVER UNITED"
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#8
Ross wasn't given the players he needed in the summer to help us kick on. It's that simple. He deserved that chance even though we all seen the flaws in his gameplan at times.
There is the basis of a good side there, but injuries and form will always take their toll.

I'm hoping yesterday was a blip, but if i'm being honest i have to say that a lot of fans aren't totally bought in to what Ross is about. Much of the football last season wasn't particularly enjoyable to watch.
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#9
Ross more or less indemnified himself from all blame!!!???? He picked that team for yesterday's match and I wouldn't be the only Hibs fan with "alarm bells ringing" re that choice of side/formation for this particular match!! I received enough texts from some family members and others who expressed similar concerns preceding the start of the game. Also one disturbs a reasonably settled defence at great risk - that was fairly evident yesterday!! For starters, I'd argue that Stevo was a better option for either of the full back positions - clearly not from JR's viewpoint, a manager who definitely set up this team wrongly yesterday and it didn't look like he could motivate the players either btw!! My view is that JR had the players to give United a testy match, but he didn't set up the "stuffy side" that was possible to initiate using the players he had available. Also is McGregor injured???? If so, why was he sitting on the subs' bench? Remember this was a group of players most of whom had a decent two week break to freshen up before this fixture. I watched a rerun of that tackle by Edwards on Boyly and IMO a good few refs would've red-carded Edwards for that tackle - we didn't get anything from that ref bearing in mind a quick reflection back to Porty's tackle on Arribo at Ibronx!!!! Study Edwards tackle on Boyly and compare it, the score was 0-0 at that point too - NO CONSISTENCY RE THIS TYPE OF OFFENCE, AND HE MADE SIGNIFICANT CONTACT TOO - PORTY DIDN'T!!! AND EDWARDS EVENTUALLY SCORED ONE OF THEIR GOALS AGAINST US!! Sadly we are not Rangers FC at Ibronx because it's clear to me and a lotta other Scot footie fans that the "rules of engagement" are different - an absolute disgrace in a sport that shouldn't be enduring this kinda biased nonsense!! We move on, but we now realise we need our best players in the team asap. Lastly, Murphy was mentioned in a previous thread - I must say I don't like this player at all and hoped that Hibs wouldn't sign him in the summer. I've no ill feeling against this guy, I just think he's not good enough to play for Hibs, not enough to offer! I watched his shenanigans preceding one of United's goals and frantically waving for offside when he was clearly playing them onside in Hibs pen box - a total embarrassment in that instance, looked clueless!
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#10
Agree about Murphy 0762. As I said he has the ability to ghost past players really well but doesn't offer enough in other aspects of the game. Sick
"FOREVER UNITED"
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