Hibernian -V- ICT : matchday thread

[WYNESS101]

Just had a look at the bench and it is good to see Morrison back now

[Yngwie]

Pretty woeful passing display from most of the team today, and we ended up with a lot of hoofing and head tennis which is no way to bring an attacking threat like Doran into the game.

Hibs 1st goal was a belter but it came as a result of Hogg, under no pressure at all, passing the ball out for a throw in.

Yet another change in defensive line up, and unsurprisingly they didn't alway look comfortable, but they stopped Hibs creating many clear cut chances. Rossco was solid, my MOM.

First time I've seen Alex McDonald play and I liked his effort and running, he reminded me Keogh in his great season, buzzing about all over the place.

But what a waste of £22+ to watch that p1sh. :angry:

Edited February 26, 2011 by Yngwie

[ictchris]

I thought we did OK at the back - the first goal was a great hit, we could've closed him down quicker though, and the second was a deflected long ranger. Up front I thougth Rooney and Foran combined well. But in the middle, my goodness we were just abysmal. Eric looked lacking in confidence; Cox's first touch was horrible all day and he couldn't pick passes; Duncan worked hard and was the best of them and Doran didn't offer any threat whatsoever. We have a great front pairing but didn't serve anything up all day. Our distribution from the back was also very poor - Duff hitting numerous long balls to no-one and Munro also hitting a few aimless balls. To be fair to both neither are full backs so you can't expect them to do that job to the standard of someone who is used to playing there.

We really needed someone in the middle taking charge - perhaps we need to go back tothe more fluid 4-2-3-1 formation rather than 4-4-2.

With regards to Hibs they looked reasonably solid, far improved to some of the displays from them a few months ago. Their first goal was a humdinger and I also thought Liam Miller had a good game.

[+Wanderer]

?22 to watch that pish.

Pretty woeful passing display...

But what a waste of ?22+ to watch that p1sh. :angry:

What they said...all the way from Rotterdam to watch that crap. We were shyte...from back to front...no ideas...no thought to changing the meaningless punts to Foran/Rooney or the even more pointless punts towards the corner flag.

Hibs were rank as well...only less so. One of these days I really will instead go down to the municipal park and watch harum scarum talentless guff football like that played by 12 year olds...but at least it would be free!

Scottish football is hitting rock bottom.

[tm4tj]

Cheers for the feedback guys, good or bad.

I will be shot down in flames here, but Nick Ross is not my cup of tea, no matter how pretty a pattern he weaves around the park. In my opinion he should be rested, although that's difficult with our injury list. But, we need someone more streetwise powerpacked, dynamic and an eye for goal. It's not Nick.........yet, it will be one day, but he is not the quick fix we need. probably right not to fit Jonny in if he is out of sorts, we have more crucial games to come and he will play his part come time.

Hugely disappointing result, but we are never guaranteed points at Hibs so we have to grin and bear it. It sounded like yer typical home team on top game, probably like us beating St Johnstone last week.

The thing now though, Butcher needs to get the guys fired up and back to winning ways. Jonny Hayes back will be crucial to our improvement and let's hope he is back sooner rather than later.

My bad

[kencar]

We have a great front pairing but didn't serve anything up all day. Our distribution from the back was also very poor - Duff hitting numerous long balls to no-one and Munro also hitting a few aimless balls. To be fair to both neither are full backs so you can't expect them to do that job to the standard of someone who is used to playing there.

Munro was playing at left back today?

[Yngwie]

Aye, wasn't bad either for a novice.

How many different players have we had in that position this season?

[Guest Mahonio]

Despite today, i AM still confident of a Top 6 finish this season.

Dundee Utd have 3 tough games in hand against Rangers and Hearts so 2 draws or a win and a draw puts us clear of them.

Motherwell play Celtic at home tomorrow and with the way Celtic are playing, i expect a Celtic win so again a draw or win v them next week keeps us in touch with them.

The rest have games coming up against Old Firm and Hearts so will drop points as will we likely but as long as we keep picking up points here and there we'll be fine.

HAVE FAITH PEOPLE .

[Tichy_Blacks_Back]

13,841 at yesterday's game - not bad they managed to add another 2,500 - 3,000 onto their normal attendance against us - it appears their promotion worked - just think of all those extra pies and bovril that were sold....

Seriously though it looks like they got the response they were after....both on and off the pitch....

[SanMiguel]

just think of all those extra pies and bovril that were sold....

At over inflated prices!! Add to that the 95 min delay on the train = worst away game in a llllllllllllllloooooooonnnnnnnnnnngggggggggg time! CRINGE!

[Johnboy]

13,841 at yesterday's game - not bad they managed to add another 2,500 - 3,000 onto their normal attendance against us - it appears their promotion worked - just think of all those extra pies and bovril that were sold....

Seriously though it looks like they got the response they were after....both on and off the pitch....

Something we should try here?

[Pele_Is_God]

I actually thought the attendance was more than that...best atmosphere in Easter Road for a long, long time.

[Caley Stan]

That's as poor as we've been all season. It's pointless playing with two up front and two attacking wide players if the rest of the team is incapable of keeping possession. It's difficult to criticise Doran or Odhiambo when they weren't given the opportunity to play their natural game - the system we're playing requires more defensive minded wide players than we have at our disposal, and just like in Paisley, those two found themselves stuck in their own half for most the game, rarely finding space to penetrate in attacking areas. The most frustrating thing was that Hibs looked very ordinary, yet ran out comfortable winners.

Contrary to what tm4tj has posted above, i actually think that Nick Ross could be the solution to some of our problems. He's a very tidy midfielder who retains possession. I'd like to see him back in a deep lying midfield role alongside Russell in place of Lee Cox who gave the ball away constantly yesterday. That way, we might actually get some service to allow our attacking players to show what they can do.

[davie]

Pretty much one of the worst games of football I've paid money to watch. We were rotten and Hibs were not far behind us. Fine day out though.Dare we hope for anything from Tuesday?

[TopSix]

13,841 at yesterday's game - not bad they managed to add another 2,500 - 3,000 onto their normal attendance against us - it appears their promotion worked - just think of all those extra pies and bovril that were sold....

Seriously though it looks like they got the response they were after....both on and off the pitch....

Something we should try here?

Would Hibernian FC revenue's been up yesterday? I believe it's also Lindlay catering who provide the 'catering' at Easter Road. Do they pass a cut of profits on? The prices of the catering at Easter Road is shocking. Out to fleece fans IMO.

It's a pity there's not higher attendances at TCS. I think TB could do with more funds to sign players to get a bit of depth about the squad.

Dundee Utd should be beatable though.

[Naelifts]

Can only agree with most of what has been said. We need Charlie back in the middle of the park

[Johnboy]

Pretty much one of the worst games of football I've paid money to watch. We were rotten and Hibs were not far behind us. Fine day out though.Dare we hope for anything from Tuesday?

If we have a fit and raring to go Jonny Hayes back in the side, and possibly Kenny Gillet restored to L.B I'd be confident of a win.

Also agree with Stan (above) that Nick Ross performs best in a central-mid role, and should replace Cox.

[ictchris]

That's as poor as we've been all season. It's pointless playing with two up front and two attacking wide players if the rest of the team is incapable of keeping possession. It's difficult to criticise Doran or Odhiambo when they weren't given the opportunity to play their natural game - the system we're playing requires more defensive minded wide players than we have at our disposal, and just like in Paisley, those two found themselves stuck in their own half for most the game, rarely finding space to penetrate in attacking areas. The most frustrating thing was that Hibs looked very ordinary, yet ran out comfortable winners.

Contrary to what tm4tj has posted above, i actually think that Nick Ross could be the solution to some of our problems. He's a very tidy midfielder who retains possession. I'd like to see him back in a deep lying midfield role alongside Russell in place of Lee Cox who gave the ball away constantly yesterday. That way, we might actually get some service to allow our attacking players to show what they can do.

Disagree with you on the first point - both Eric and Doran didn't do anything right all day and performed terribly whenever they got the ball no matter what position. Perhaps if they'd had the chance to get in possession further up the park they'd have done things differently but I think they'd probably just have given the ball away further up.

Agree with you on yoru second point. Nick Ross played deep in midfield in the 2-1 win against St Mirren and was excellent. He can carry the ball forward and pick a pass. Russell can grind things out, I'd like to see him and NIck given a shot in the middle.

[TopSix]

Here's some pics of the game a hibee took. They've captured the sequence of both goals. Not sure if you want to see them though.... Great point-blank save from Esson too. I thought he did well yesterday.

https://picasaweb.go...OGC-v29iN3R6wE#

Edited February 27, 2011 by Top Six Next Year

[HumbersideDude]

As everyone has said bad, bad day at the office yesterday. Have to say though, after the bad press the stewards got the last time we were at Easter Road, I thought the stewards were great yesterday. Warm welcome outside ground happy smilling faces inside ground. Allowed to stand for full game and I can't remember any steward comming to "have a word" with anyone

[davieB]

Thought we just about shaded the first half...and then proceeded to be crap in the 2nd.

Anyone be bothered to look up our record and split it into games where Hayes has played, and the ones he's missed?

[kilda]

Terrible display by us yesterday. Hibs were very busy about the park and their two goals in the second half were both well taken. I couldn't see a goal coming in the first half from either team and it was significant that both second half goals were long range efforts.

Our central defence worked hard, Ross Tokley in particular but full backs were woeful. Midfield were always under pressure and in my opinion, played too deep. Dorran worked hard but was left with too much to do and too far down the park when he got the ball. Passing throughout the team was very poor with Duff in particular playing the ball either directly to Hibs or off for a throw-in, throughout the game. Eric was a total waste of oxygen and should have been hooked in the first five minutes

All in all a poor performance from Inverness. Hibs were not that much better, looking nervous at the start but worked harder and took advantage of our poor passing and all the space we left them.

Probably a one goal win would have been a better reflection on the efforts and abilities of both teams. It was very disappointing to see the number of Inverness supporters who walked out after the second goal.

Great to see such a full house though and for the first time this year we heard the Hibs supporters singing. Of course they had something to sing about.

Edited February 27, 2011 by kilda

[PaderbornCaley]

Was a good day out but awful awful performance. Stewarding was brilliant - on par with killie earlier in season. What a change around since our last visit! We just didn't get in to the game at all and at 0-0 at half time, i was thinking a 0-0 draw would be the best we could hope for. Inevitably, the goals came. Really good first goal but Hogg was responsible for the build up. In saying that, I thought the rest of the game, he was quite strong for us.

[Yngwie]

Anyone be bothered to look up our record and split it into games where Hayes has played, and the ones he's missed?

My calculator tells me that we've earned 1.45 points per game when Jonny has featured (top 6 form), and just 0.57 ppg when he hasn't (guaranteed relegation). So extrapolating being without him for a full season, we'd end up with a Gretna-esque 22 points.

[starchief]

We really needed someone in the middle taking charge - perhaps we need to go back to the more fluid 4-2-3-1 formation rather than 4-4-2.

4-2-3-1 is a good away system. The problem is playing that system at home, when trying to dominate. I'd be in favour of varying it.