The voice of reason as ever. And also forever far more football savvy than me.
With that in mind GM can you reassure me against my own instincts; that without some serious further additions, this team is bottom six and very possibly fighting relegation?
It seems to me we were pish last year and are now;
- likely weaker in GK dept
- stronger in defence when first picks are available
- marginally weaker in midfield
- weaker in attack
I'm no expert believe me. Just been watching Hibs for over 50 years who occasionally has an opinion.
I also learned a lot about how a football club is run and how it is structured back in 1990/1991 with Hands off Hibs....now that really was a crisis.
The team as it stands. Bearing in mind I haven't seen Hibs play since the end of last season and the Peterhead game on Saturday will be my first match of the season.
Goalkeeper; Heard from good sources that Bursick is excellent. It's a pity he is only here on loan. Smith, I have no idea how good he is, but we had to address the goalkeeper situation with Marshall gone and we have done. Btw i'm glad Marshall is still involved with Hibs and working with Mackay.
Defence; Depends if Gray prefers a back three or a back four, but we have good cover at right-back, but we need back up for Obita, preferably someone who can also play left-side central defence. Three central defenders at the moment is fine and we have at long last addressed the central defence situation, but we could do with a left sider.
Midfield; We might get another creative midfielder in, but only if we move on at last two and possibly three. Too many fringe midfielders on good contracts, but I do think Gray is going to have to persevere with one or two of them as we won' be able to solve all our squad problems in one summer transfer window.
Forwards; We need two more strikers in...and I mean strikers not wingers. Not flavour of the month at the moment, but I still rate Vente. Scored a hat-trick when being played where he should be and missed a few in the last two games (all strikers have games like that). I still think he will be an asset this season. We really need a big physical striker who can hold the ball up and be good in the air. Another striker alongside him so we have Vente plus two others. that should give us some options in that area. If Youan goes we definitely need to replace him.
We need signings, but they will come. I'm confident we can get the quality in so we can at the very least be top six next season...which should be a given for Hibs every season. However St Mirren and Killie both overachieved last season and there is no reason why we can't finish above both of them. Hearts will have a big Euro league schedule to negotiate which will affect them. I expect Aberdeen to be much better than last season. If we get the recruitment right and we are lucky with injuries, then no reason why fourth cannot be achieved. No-one really knows though. I do think we will have a significantly better season than last, that's as much as I can realistically predict !