Just back and we are limping over the line.....

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Personally I don't think daz had to make that Challenge. He was never gonna get the ball and Marciano was favourite to save a shot from there cause of the angle. Disagree with gray I thought he was poor, beat too often and needs to calm down and take a touch rather than trying to boot it first time all the time.Don't think it was a pen for us either Boyle's smashed it from about a yard away the defender couldn't really have got his arm out the way. Less of a pen than dunfermlines last weekApart from that I agree. We miss shinnie as he is our most creative player.
 
Thank you [MENTION=813]1875[/MENTION] for another Just Back. I sense a weariness creeping into your reports as a result of having to comment on week after week of sub-standard performances. But your reports are a lifeline for us distant fans, I always think of them as the Saturday Pink for the digital age, older Bouncers will know what I mean. I wonder how many really convincing, exciting performances there have been from Hibs this season. 4-0 v Morton, 3-0 v Dundee United, 3-1 v the gunts, any others? Still, I hope your reward for having to write about all the dross will be three more quality Just Backs between now and the end of the season: 1. The day we clinch the league title 2. How we beat Aberdeen in the cup semi-final 3. Two in a row
 
Cheers M sounds like I didnae miss much.
 
1875 said:
Jeezo its frustrating watching Hibs just now. I have to say I find it far too pedestrian and unadventurous. We set up too deep, to defend, and are happy to try and see games out way to early. As I have said before, their are nuggests of gold that shine through the $#@!e, today that was Jason's well taken goal and John McGinn. The word turgid is sneaking back into my vocabulary.

4200 turned up, easy 1500 of them were Hibs fans and first half the support were noisy and got behind the team and Neil Lennon. Second half they gave us nothing to sing about with lacklustre attempts at goal and generally poor play. As I took my seat beside Right Said Fred in the main stand, Lenny and Duff Jimmy appeared to kiss and make up. The huns in their end didnae seem to forgive Neil or Darren right enough and enjoyed their regular chants of Hello Hello. They wont be singing that the morn when their big team get skelped at Aiburdeen. HillBillyBoy fandans.

Then there was the clear hand ball, which was a penalty to Hibernian at 1-0. Only that idiot referee and his linesman didnae see it clearly for what it was, everyone else in the stadium saw it was a clear handball, not ball to hand, not hit too hard, it was a handball.

Hibs did have some decent performances, Jason and Graham done well first half, McGinn was everywhere and Daz and Efe made a mistake each, pity they cost us a goal.

I really think we miss Shinnie, as SKII suggested on the post match blether on the way back to the cars, maybe he is still not quite fit.

The referee was hopeless, Morton had nowt much to admire, Hibs plodded, the sun was lovely.

The Team

Marciano didnae really have much to do but save a penalty, he didnae manage that.

Gray had a reasonably decent game, the scorer of the winning goal as he captained Hibernian in the Scottish Cup Final on the 21st of May 2016 only had to defend, as Boyle was in front of him. He done fine.

Darren was superb, he had no choice in the challenge that gave away the penalty. He is a wonderful defender, I love the fact he is one of us, plays for us and is hard as nails.

Efe had a smashing game, then made an 'Efe' that gave away the penalty. I think he is better at centre half, however my oldest son suggested and I agree that Hibs are better when Daz and Paul play together.

Lewis had a good game, he did very little wrong.

Dylan kind of played a left half role for those of you that can mind that position. It means we miss him in the middle and he as in and out the game when played out there, although he did last 90 minutes again.

Marvin had a reasonable game, it was a battle in which he didnae always win.

John McGinn was superb first half, as suggested by a well kent face, his arse is a key element of his play, second only to ex Thelt and red $#@!e, Kenny Dalglish in arse ability. He migh have scored, but was the winner in the midfield battles, especially first half.

Boyle just didnae get going, when he did beat his man, his final ball was poor, and for me that was nothing to do with the other forwards movement.

Brian Graham had a very decent first half, arguably his best in a Hibs shirt. He faded badly second half and missed a clear chance to win it for us. Its not good enough to give 45 - 50 minutes then fade.

Jason scored a beauty and like his fellow striker Graham had a good first half. He needs to learn to stay on his feet and that will add to his goals. He did little second half, but he really is our only proper goal scorer.

The subs

Holt came on for Graham with 15 to go, only thing of note was a good defensive clearance at a corner.

Weirder than weird, on came Boozy Harris for Boyle with 10 minutes to go. He offered as much as Boyle. No much.

The one player Hibs had been crying out for the whole second half came on for McGeouch with 3 minutes to go. Shinnie should have been on much earlier. I think he has got better as the season has progressed and we miss him when he doesn't play.

Whilst we started well and the team Lenny set out was pretty much as suspected, it was poor that we fell away so badly second half, poorer still he never changed it whilst time was on our side. We are limping over the line and its ugly to watch Neil. You know that mystical 'Celtic Way' Neil, mind we invented that shower. The fitba we are watching is not what we want to see.

The referee was piss poor.

Morton are a decent team, given they have been built on nae money in town that looks like Scotland in the 1950's. Their centre half, Lamie, wearing number 3 is a monster of a man and no a bad defender. The boy with the alice band looks like his face has been ironed. Duff Jimmy is still a baldy prick, their ground is a disgrace, no toilets for male Hibs fans in their main stand and a single burger van to cater for 1500 fans.

Hibs support was big and noisy, well done guys and girls, once again you turn up in numbers and back out club. Who can fault us?

Man of the match for me was John McGinn, I though SJM had a great game, no one got near him and he is hard, erse and all.

Not sure of the maths, but I think if Morton lose or draw v St Mirren and Falkirk draw or lose to St Mirren, no one can catch us and next week, we beat Queens, we are champions? I hope its after a better performance than today's second half?

See you behind the goals.....

Hibernian Forever.....
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Like many Bouncers yours is the first and often only match report I read after each game. I mainly go to home matches so its extra useful for the away ones I cannae make.

This one makes me scratch my head. Your individual player ratings dont tally up with that summary at the start. If we were that poor and turgid which it sounds like it, and is the norm under Lennon, how come almost everyone apart from Boyle gets pass marks. I'm wondering if you might be over generous to some of our under performing/limited ability players?

FWIW we're almost over the line. 9 pts clear, big goal differerence, and games running out for them below us. Cant wait to hirple out this shan league.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
 
wsamcrowe said:
Personally I don't think daz had to make that Challenge. He was never gonna get the ball and Marciano was favourite to save a shot from there cause of the angle. Disagree with gray I thought he was poor, beat too often and needs to calm down and take a touch rather than trying to boot it first time all the time.Don't think it was a pen for us either Boyle's smashed it from about a yard away the defender couldn't really have got his arm out the way. Less of a pen than dunfermlines last weekApart from that I agree. We miss shinnie as he is our most creative player.
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I agree with you mate McGregor didn't have to make the challenge - he should have jockeyed the Morton player however I disagree on our penalty claim - I thought it was a stonewaller
 
Green Sleeves said:
Like many Bouncers yours is the first and often only match report I read after each game. I mainly go to home matches so its extra useful for the away ones I cannae make.

This one makes me scratch my head. Your individual player ratings dont tally up with that summary at the start. If we were that poor and turgid which it sounds like it, and is the norm under Lennon, how come almost everyone apart from Boyle gets pass marks. I'm wondering if you might be over generous to some of our under performing/limited ability players?

FWIW we're almost over the line. 9 pts clear, big goal differerence, and games running out for them below us. Cant wait to hirple out this shan league.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
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Thanks for the feedback. Not sure you are correct in the pass marks comments. As you all will have noted, I never score the players, i.e. give them 5 out of 10 for having shiney boots and a cool haircut.

If you read it over again, you will maybe note I thought Dylan gave us little (wasted in the position he is played in recently???) Bartley the same, both done enough, no more. And Jason and Graham done almost nothing second half, other than for Graham to miss a sitter. The defence did play pretty well, Morton were a handfull at times and John McGinn was by far our best player. Two of the subs were wasted substitutions, the third too little too late.

The way we play isnae pretty, that isn't always about player performance. Neil is getting us promoted, but its not good too watch and we set out to defend 1-0 leads way too much for me.
 
Our penalty was a stonewaller, two hands on the ball. Daz didn't need to make his lunge for their penalty. Second half we came out as if the game was over. I'm not sure if we are trying to win the league with the most draws and least amount of goals, but it is hard to to understand the players mentality or desire. This is the part of the season where league winners should be that - winners at all costs.

There is no way Gray is fit, my feeling is that he is playing through pain.

Next season looks like we need 6 new attack minded players.
 
Hibeewilly said:
I agree with you mate McGregor didn't have to make the challenge - he should have jockeyed the Morton player however I disagree on our penalty claim - I thought it was a stonewaller
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Fair enough I've not seen it back but my initial thought and how it looks from where I was sitting was he's just smashed that against him for close range and it would be harsh to give a pen
 
Duns_Hibby said:
Think the changes need to be much more fundamental than that, starting with the dug-out and our head of recruitment?
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I am tired of reactive changes. Lets sack a manager that wins us the league??? Nonsense.
 
We need to build on what we have, we have a lot of building to do, NL deserves the chance to use his experience and skills to develop us. He needs to have better transfer windows which means better backing from the board. Fans have done their bit
 
Duns_Hibby said:
Ok apart from his 'hatred of the Huns' and 'Chequebook Management' at Celtic (even Delia won a fn title), what attributes on the playing side of the business has he displayed to get the job and demonstrate our frustrations (yours included) will magically be sorted on promotion?

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Yip I get that but what 'skills & experience' has he demonstrated in a p*sh league - it's just far too easy to blame the board -maybe they have doubts? I agree our Head of Recruitment has under-delivered.

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Sorry, but we should have sacked Bertie fn Auld and we didn't - what followed was turgid, defensive sh*te....this campaign is very much on par with the Ormond / Auld promotion.....dearie me - remember Peter Welsh followed that! grandpa
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I rarely see a positive post from you about Hibs. Sacking the manager after he wins us the league, away ye go and stop your slavering.
 
Duns_Hibby said:
That's your stock answer when your challenged. I've been watching the Hibs for many a year - this year has been on a par with most of the 7 year decline.....since when did an opinion become slavering? When you don't agree and have no answer - dearie me....
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My stock answer??? Sorry I think you are a slaver, and unhappy with Hibs/ life/ whatever. Take me to one of your postive posts about Hibs, any one.
 
Duns_Hibby said:
That's your stock answer when your challenged. I've been watching the Hibs for many a year - this year has been on a par with most of the 7 year decline.....since when did an opinion become slavering? When you don't agree and have no answer - dearie me....
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How about: how would a club that sacked a league winning manager appear and appeal to prospective replacements ?

I'd suggest : like mental case fannies.
 
Duns_Hibby said:
Why don't you answer the original points that prompted your response?

Under Lennon Hibs are poor and there has been no demonstration of any ability to improve.

I agree my view on Hibs at the moment is negative but where is the evidence for optimism under Lennon? In my opinion he's a dud.
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In response, we are top of the league by nine points, a league we will win, we are in the semi final of the Scottish Cup, we skelped Hearts. Not a dud.

Now, I have answered you, pay me the courtesy of answering mine, "Take me to one of your postive posts about Hibs, any one'.
 
16 wins in 32 league games to date is extremely disappointing, however we are going up and have a semi final soon. Be interesting to see how Lennon does in premier league but not bothered if he decides to leave in the summer.
 
Duns_Hibby said:
There would be no shortage of excellent candidates for the Hibs job....
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You think?

- 'How will I be measured in this role'?
- 'oh don't worry about that, even if you achieve any targets, we'll ignore that anyway'

Second question; we are club with a record of talented but temperamental playing staff, with a long established tendency to buckle when the going gets tough and chuck the towel in when things don't suit, and which is just coming out of a near decade long ice age that started with a manger sacked for trying to challenge this culture.

How do you think our players would respond positively to the sacking of a manger who has called them on this, and improved our best young talent by hard discipline? Those players are legends but they also threw away chance after chance over the last two seasons before this one. I'm not persuaded that sacking a manager that got them over the line would help continue the toughening of Hibs which Stubbs began and Lennon has continued.

Maybe some really would prefer the warrior poets schtick over achieving results: I think that's what we'd get from the lunacy of sacking a league winning manager.
 
There's no doubt we should have done better this season and the fitba hasn't been great.
It's all about getting out this division which looks to be happening.
Major changes will be needed next season if there isn't then I'm sure we would all be worried , can't really say to much against Lennon he's doing /done what we needed.
 
EGB - who was the manager sacked for attempting to change the culture?

Collins? He left in the huff as I recall.
 
egb_hibs said:
You think?

- 'How will I be measured in this role'?
- 'oh don't worry about that, even if you achieve any targets, we'll ignore that anyway'

Second question; we are club with a record of talented but temperamental playing staff, with a long established tendency to buckle when the going gets tough and chuck the towel in when things don't suit, and which is just coming out of a near decade long ice age that started with a manger sacked for trying to challenge this culture.

How do you think our players would respond positively to the sacking of a manger who has called them on this, and improved our best young talent by hard discipline? Those players are legends but they also threw away chance after chance over the last two seasons before this one. I'm not persuaded that sacking a manager that got them over the line would help continue the toughening of Hibs which Stubbs began and Lennon has continued.

Maybe some really would prefer the warrior poets schtick over achieving results: I think that's what we'd get from the lunacy of sacking a league winning manager.
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What young players has Lennon improved and how?
 
egb_hibs said:
That's who I meant. Ok, you're right not sacked, but driven away.
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Not wishing to labour the point, but his beef was that he wasn't given enough of a budget. I'd say most managers feel that way but have to get on with it.
 
tricky said:
What young players has Lennon improved and how?
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Jason Cummings.

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Sir Shrink said:
Not wishing to labour the point, but his beef was that he wasn't given enough of a budget. I'd say most managers feel that way but have to get on with it.
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You don't think his undermining had anything to do with it? One way or the others the primadonnas came out on top, we never won a Scottish cup we should have won and squandered a glorious chance to become top dogs in Edinburgh to spend best part of another decade as whipping boys.

To me it's inarguably that if Lennon wins the league he gets a season to build his own team and see how he does. I think it's really a bit bonkers to suggest otherwise - as a serious proposal vs blowing off understandable frustrated steam.
 
Sir Shrink said:
EGB - who was the manager sacked for attempting to change the culture? Collins? He left in the huff as I recall.
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A major factor in Collin's 'huff' was the board's refusal to give him a moderate sum of money to buy a player. This refusal was despite the fact we had just won the Cup and were sitting top of the League ( admittedly for only 24 hours'). I reckon that's a good reason to be in the 'huff'.
 
southfieldhibby said:
That's a stretch. Cummings is on pretty much what he's been on for the last couple of seasons, and he's hardly a young player in the sense of a youth product.

Lennon has dabbled with Martin and Crane, but not much.
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His work off the ball and in supporting others has been streets ahead of where he was previous two seasons imho.
 
egb_hibs said:
His work off the ball and in supporting others has been streets ahead of where he was previous two seasons imho.
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Still consider it a stretch, especially considering how he was treated late 2016. Not falling for the line of 'tough love' making him better either. Cummings is a talent, he should probably have more goals, but for Lennon thinking Boyle was a better option, but I can mind you justifying that move previously so no point going over that old ground again.
 
southfieldhibby said:
Still consider it a stretch, especially considering how he was treated late 2016. Not falling for the line of 'tough love' making him better either. Cummings is a talent, he should probably have more goals, but for Lennon thinking Boyle was a better option, but I can mind you justifying that move previously so no point going over that old ground again.
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Had he not dropped him earlier in the season I think the league would have been won by now.
 
I would be happy for Lennon to be our manager next season whilst getting the chance to shape his own team. The league campaign has not been pretty but then again, it's not a pretty league.Three defeats,with the only one we deserved was St Mirren away, in the league all season, easy to forget how difficult to beat we are which goes a long way to winning titles.

On paper we have lots of goals in the team, quite simply many have not delivered whilst being given ample chances, is that really Lennons fault?

We are getting out this league, that's all that matters, plenty time to fret about next season and we will fret, no matter what, it's Hibs after all.
 
Smurf said:
Had he not dropped him earlier in the season I think the league would have been won by now.
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Aye probably. Setting up too defensively early in the season with 3 centre backs, wings backs and a holding midfielder wasn't ideal either.
 
Smurf said:
Had he not dropped him earlier in the season I think the league would have been won by now.
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That period was when our goal scoring rate was its highest all season (11 from 6 games) apart from our opening few games (12 from 6 games).
 
Smurf said:
From memory we dropped points when he was dropped?
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We took 11 points out of the 6 games versus 3 from the 5 before that (go back beyond that and you're into our great opening burst). Only our start and the Kris Commons period were more productive.
 
egb_hibs said:
You don't think his undermining had anything to do with it? One way or the others the primadonnas came out on top.
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No I don't think so. Ultimately JC got rid of the troublesome players, I don't see how any of them came out 'on top' unless you count Broonaldo's eventual move to the Smellies.

Mags said:
A major factor in Collin's 'huff' was the board's refusal to give him a moderate sum of money to buy a player. This refusal was despite the fact we had just won the Cup and were sitting top of the League ( admittedly for only 24 hours'). I reckon that's a good reason to be in the 'huff'.
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Exactly my point. It was parsimony that 'drove him away' not player power.



By the way, I'm in the keep Lennon camp - just to be clear.

:thumbgrin
 
Sir Shrink said:
Not wishing to labour the point, but his beef was that he wasn't given enough of a budget. I'd say most managers feel that way but have to get on with it.
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I heard from a reasonable source at the time JC went to Rod/the board and asked for more money to buy a couple of players but didn't know who or how much. Rod asked him to come back with more details. JC never did and walked a few days later.

...

I expected us to win this league by now and with a bit of style.

I've not been at every game, not even every home game, but I think it's quite easy to see why that's not been the case.

The number of teams that have come to ER not to play football has been disappointing, all but one or two. Dunfermline at home springs to mind. The rest have hacked, cheated and stifled the life out the match to get a point. It makes for turgid eye bleeding stuff.

It's compounded by consistently really bad refereeing.

How can we be expected to play free flowing football in these circumstances?

I have little doubt most teams in the top league apart from maybe one or two will be much more open, more capable, more willing to come to kick the ball about rather than the players.

I still expect crap referees and for them to be assisted by even crappier ass. referees.

It's almost as if we'll be playing a different game next season. I think Lennon will be able to express our club much better in the higher league.
 
egb_hibs said:
His work off the ball and in supporting others has been streets ahead of where he was previous two seasons imho.
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Jasons work off the ball is nearly non existant, hes a lazy ****. He scores goals and thats no down tae Lennon. Lennon leaving him out earlier in the season probably cost us winning the league about 2 months ago.
 
hibbybilly said:
Jasons work off the ball is nearly non existant, hes a lazy ****. He scores goals and thats no down tae Lennon. Lennon leaving him out earlier in the season probably cost us winning the league about 2 months ago.
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See my post above to Smurf - the period JC was benched is one run of games, along with first five games and commons period, why we're going to win this league - in terms of when points were accrued.

First 5 games 15 pts, 6 games Jc benched 11 pts, 5 games with commons 11 points. 37 points from those 16 games, 24 from the other 16. The 4 games prior to JC being benched we took 3 pts - relegation form.

Finally, we have taken 13pts from the last 10 games. The criticism Lennon took over the benching doesn't look to be borne out by the stats.

JC is not the best off the ball for sure , but much better now than in previous years.
 
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