[0762]

This looks like a challenging fixture v a team that has just won the Scottish League Cup after previously easily showing up Hibs as a real "soft touch" in a semi-final at Hampden Park that embarrassed lots n lots of Hibs fans. So they are on a natural "high" while Hibs have just endured a similar embarrassment at home v a team, Motherwell FC, that was being previously "duffed up" by lotsa other Scot Prem clubs. Hibs bizarrely have a vg away record so far this season. So that gives me a slight hope that they could "show up" v St Johnstone on Saturday. I'd expect these players to be motivated against them esp after losing out in that terrible semi-final!! Surely they have some kinda pride to "right a wrong" or are they just a better team than Hibs after all, a side that has found its true form???? I'd luv to see Hibs really give them a "good doing" after what happened at Hampden Park but have no idea what we are gonna get in this match. We are in a 3rd placed position in the Scot Prem - surely another good reason for the players to "show up" and try to win this match. For starters I think JR should definitely drop Doidge and replace him with Kevin Nisbet. Nobody delivering regular goals except Martin Boyle. Therefore change it and demand that someone "steps up to the plate" and start converting the goal opps that are clearly being created. Also deploy a tough marking strategy to nullify the movement of their right wing back Rooney, their key player in recent games - absolutely imperative we do this and do it well!! I hope that Doig also returns as I thought we missed his movement on Hibs left flank although Stevo did reasonably well v M'well. C'mon Hibs.

GGTTH

[HerefordBull]

Cannot add much to that 0762, perfectly put.

GGTTH

[0762]

Hibs already losing 1-0 after a Liam Craig goal on 18 mins!! IMO game already over - that didn't take long eh!! The reason I say that is because Hibs stats show they are incapable of fighting back after going a goal down - never done it this season! Time to do some gardening as I have no belief in our manager, Jack Ross (the plan A man!) doing anything about this losing position and, as said previously, Hibs have never overcome that negative situation in 90 mins!! Time to sign off already.

[hibeejim21]

Think we've been the better side 2nd half without looking likely , but Newell and McGinn have both been rotten in particular today.

[BouncingHibees]

Once Hibs go behind we are pretty much guaranteed to lose, looks like that again today, strikers awful.

[0762]

I'm just back in from my garden just to see the expected confirmation of Hibs latest loss. The game was over in 18 mins and Hibs can "huff n puff" as much as they like but there was never gonna be any comeback because 1. We don't have a manager who can turn a game tactically (Lenny used to do it for Hibs because he is a better manager than Ross!!) 2. He doesn't have great motivational skills or any plan B. What irritates most is the fact this is an issue that keeps cropping up time and again with a manager who can't do anything about difficult matches and esp the ones where they go behind. I believe we don't have the requisite decent spread of players to do it but strategically Ross has a lot to answer for Hibs hitting these kinda lapses in form and ultimate defeat. Thankfully Aberdeen FC drew their match with Hamilton. So we are still in "pole position" in third place but it is becoming precarious leading in to the "split". We can only hope that certain Hibs players start realising that it's time to "waken up" and start playing seriously as there is a third place prize "up for grabs".

[HerefordBull]

Same old , same old......................very predictable.

[0762]

I still regard one of the biggest player losses in the past couple of years is John McGinn - Hibs loss on the pitch and Villa's gain as we've witnessed in many of AV's matches during their successful season in the Premiership. Got millions of quid for him but we've never replaced him with anything close to a similar mid player - a "battler"/driving force with goals in him, who was clearly a player of a higher standard than anything on offer up here in Scotland and, more importantly, proved it in the Premiership. He has been badly missed and I don't believe we would've lost some of this season's games v really average to poor opponents with John battling the midfield area in his usual way. That doesn't dismiss the fact we need a decent striker to start scoring consistently but John Mac would've definitely improved things.

[hibeejim21]

We are not playing like a club going for 3rd spot and European football.

Take away our league standing for a minute and think about how many of our performances have actually been satisfying this season ? The midfield just looks wrong, players miles apart ,sideways and then a long ball up the park. No pace whatsoever.

Apart from a spell at the start of the season we genuinely have been pretty patchy this season and some good away results have done the damage.

I still think its touch and go for third, and with the season Aberdeen are having thats saying something.

[0762]

I must be frank about this foootie season in general - IT HAS BEEN PISS POOR OVERALL AND THE GENERAL STANDARD HAS BEEN RANK ROTTEN no matter how pundits and commentators like Macintyre, Young and others have tried to "tart it up". Even at the top of the Scot Prem for example we have one footie club massively ahead of a group of other footie clubs that appear to have hit another lower level of standards than before - it is an embarrassment and a huge indicator of a deeper-lying prob in the game up here, one that is conveniently ignored too easily!! Of course the COVID crisis has definitely not helped one jot!! That is a fact, and it refutes some of the rhetorical remarks from journos, footie pundits and others who utter eg "it is the same for all footie clubs"!!! No it aint and there is a "mixed bag" of issues that affected some footie clubs more than others and also the surreal nature of matches in empty stadia is again a "mixed bag" of probs/issues incl financial hardship in some instances plus mental ones as well. One can move away from Scot footie altogether and listen to critical comments from footie coaches and players spread across Europe and there is a common theme of "trying to adjust to the surreal nature of footie at this particular time" and just attempting to be consistently motivated and driven in a ghost-like footie environment that nobody has ever experienced before and it won't change any time soon either - full stadia at any sporting or entertainment events are a long way away and rightly so too for obvious reasons!!