Full Time: Hibs 2 v 1 KF Shkëndija

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Just my luck, couldn’t be the away game first eh. Going to miss home game again… better win as i will have missed all Euro games ☹️ would like to see at least 1
 
Had a bit of a faff securing my ST seat for Thursday's game. When I logged in to the ticketing site it seemed to be with a client reference number not linked to my ST, so couldn't purchase my seat. Emailed the ticket office and they sorted it fairly quickly though, so hats off to them :applause:
 
They are a decent outfit. They came through the group stages last season and reached the knock out round. We better enjoy the trip to Macedonia..I think it will be our last one
 
Unless we get a daft red card and have a lot of bad luck, I'll be shifting towards the "Gray Out!" camp if we lose to these Albanian grifters.
 
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Jamie McGrath and Calum Wright have both been added to the squad for the Euro tie against Shkendija.
I doubt either will be fit to play any part on Thursday, but hopefully at least one them could feature in the return leg..
Good news though that both are making progress and are not too far away.
 
Mad that you cant buy tickets for this right now. It's in 2 days. I know there is a deadline for season ticket holders to buy their seat but still seems daft from a commercial perspective
 
Greenmachine said:
Jamie McGrath and Calum Wright have both been added to the squad for the Euro tie against Shkendija.
I doubt either will be fit to play any part on Thursday, but hopefully at least one them could feature in the return leg..
Good news though that both are making progress and are not too far away.
Click to expand...

McGrath is a massive loss, he’s the best all round football player at the club and a genuine difference maker.
 
The games keep coming thick and fast, and it’s another Thursday night game as we try to navigate to the play off round of the Europa Conference. It’s fair to say that fan complacency is pretty low.

KF Shkëndija will be a tough challenge, but one that on paper we should negotiate. Football isn’t played on paper. Conversely our opponents are more experienced in Europe captained by their 39 year old striker. A quick skim suggests our opponents were formed by ethnic Albanians in 1979 in what was then Yugoslavia under Tito. Simpler times.

A convincing victory would give our stuttering season a shot in the arm and this is the team I would go with:

Sallinger

O’ Hora Hanley Obita

Passlack Mulligan Campbell Chaiwa Mayor

Lowe Elding

This is serious, and I think sentiment is for another day?

What do we all think though?

Hibernian Forever
 
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Purple & Green said:
The games keep coming thick and fast, and it’s another Thursday night game as we try to navigate to the play off round of the Europa Conference. It’s fair to say that fan complacency is pretty low.

KF Shkëndija will be a tough challenge, but one that on paper we should negotiate. Football isn’t played on paper. Conversely our opponents are more experienced in Europe captaining by their 39 year old striker. A quick skim suggests our opponents were formed by ethnic Albanians in 1979 in what was then Yugoslavia under Tito. Simpler times.

A convincing victory would give our stuttering season a shot in the arm and this is the team I would go with:

Sallinger

O’ Hora Hanley Obita

Passlack Mulligan Campbell Chaiwa Mayor

Lowe Elding

This is serious, and I think sentiment is for another day?

What do we all think though?

Hibernian Forever
Click to expand...
Good team, but I can't see Gray benching Boyle, particularly when you remember the part he played in our fast start against Malisheva.
As least Suto strengthens our bench.
 
Purple & Green said:
The games keep coming thick and fast, and it’s another Thursday night game as we try to navigate to the play off round of the Europa Conference. It’s fair to say that fan complacency is pretty low.

KF Shkëndija will be a tough challenge, but one that on paper we should negotiate. Football isn’t played on paper. Conversely our opponents are more experienced in Europe captained by their 39 year old striker. A quick skim suggests our opponents were formed by ethnic Albanians in 1979 in what was then Yugoslavia under Tito. Simpler times.

A convincing victory would give our stuttering season a shot in the arm and this is the team I would go with:

Sallinger

O’ Hora Hanley Obita

Passlack Mulligan Campbell Chaiwa Mayor

Lowe Elding

This is serious, and I think sentiment is for another day?

What do we all think though?

Hibernian Forever
Click to expand...

Going to be an interesting contest, not one Hibernian can afford to lose. We absolutely have to take a positive result over there, recent European history tells us that.

Boyle is still our most likely source of a goal, benching him makes absolutely no sense to me. Elding has shown plenty flashes of something so far, but he looks far from clinical, not sure being stuck out on the left suits him either.

I wish we had Nicky Cadden and Jamie McGrath available, without their quality of final ball we are sorely lacking the ability to break down well organised defences.


Gray won’t, but I’d bin this back three / two man midfield combo, it’s hopeless. I’d go with something to control the middle of the park far better:
Sallinger
Passlack Kerr Hanley Obita
Mulligan Abdulai Chaiwa
Campbell
Lowe Boyle

I know O’Hora is well liked, I think he’s decent too, but his positional sense is poor at times and it gets masked in a back three. Kerr has been fine so far, so I’d go for him and Hanley (to handle their veteran striker) together at the back.
 
Zab said:
Going to be an interesting contest, not one Hibernian can afford to lose. We absolutely have to take a positive result over there, recent European history tells us that.

Boyle is still our most likely source of a goal, benching him makes absolutely no sense to me. Elding has shown plenty flashes of something so far, but he looks far from clinical, not sure being stuck out on the left suits him either.

I wish we had Nicky Cadden and Jamie McGrath available, without their quality of final ball we are sorely lacking the ability to break down well organised defences.


Gray won’t, but I’d bin this back three / two man midfield combo, it’s hopeless. I’d go with something to control the middle of the park far better:
Sallinger
Passlack Kerr Hanley Obita
Mulligan Abdulai Chaiwa
Campbell
Lowe Boyle

I know O’Hora is well liked, I think he’s decent too, but his positional sense is poor at times and it gets masked in a back three. Kerr has been fine so far, so I’d go for him and Hanley (to handle their veteran striker) together at the back.
Click to expand...
No chance I'd be starting Abdulai at the moment who has looked very average. For me Boyle has to start and we need a good convincing home win to take over there.
 
I still think Kerr is a better option than Hanley who is too easily turned now.

I might also be inclined to start with Lowe, Elding and Suto. If he’s fit Boyler could be introduced later to introduce a bit more energy
 
We don't play with a playmaker. Even when the ball players are on the park.


Wouldn't be against Campbell. Goals are more important than a 20 yard pass. We put enough balls across he will get on the end.
 
Cavalier said:
Having spent 90 odd fun filled, exciting minutes at ER on Sunday the same can be said of more than just Campbell.
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True. Not just a Hibs thing though. The idea of one touch pass and move is alien to Scottish football. Our game nurtures physical runners over one touch passers. Its why Steve Clarke couldnt get a tune out of Lewis Ferguson, John McGinn and Scott McTominay in midfield. Three physical runners who looked as if one touch football was alien to them and our national team's midfield looked ponderous and unskilful as a result, even compared to Haiti. Mulligan is another one in that mould. One if these guys in midfield to break up play is fine. More than that and its boring. Thank fuck we have players like Chaiwa and McGrath who can play football the proper way.
 
This will be a tough game tonight there is no doubt about that.
Shkendija will be a significant step up from what we played last Thursday.
It will be a totally different sort of game as well.
Last week we had to pull back a two goal deficit very quickly and to the teams credit we did that.
It gave us the momentum to push on as we had a target in mind to achieve that night.
Tonight being a first leg match against a better team is a different scenario.
What we need to try to do is to take some sort of lead over to North Macedonia if we can, but even a draw won't be a complete disaster.

What is essential though is that we play a whole lot better and with more cohesion than we did against Motherwell last Sunday.
Cut out the basic errors, and take our chances.
I wasn't impressed at all with Hibs against Motherwell, and I expected us to be better prepared and organised than we were.
It just seemed like a hell for leather approach from an attacking outlook even after we got the equaliser, culminating in a sequence of defensive errors which led to their winning goal.
We can't afford that tonight, I expect this team to be street wise and cunning, we have to rise above the black arts we will be seeing.
European refs also are stricter and apply the rules more rigorously, but we must keep eleven players on the park.

I will try to be confident and optimistic, even after last Sunday, and go for 1-0 to Hibs, which would be a good result.
 
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