LA-Don

Hibs aren’t as strong as last year and last week we finally showed some promise. Sadly I think DM will be overly cautious and fuck this up but I’d go with Lewis Logan Devlin Considine Hoban Ball Shinnie GMS ferguson Wright May If he doesn’t fuck this up it’s a 2-1 win, sadly it will be 1-1, May

Definitely an interesting one. Don’t remember much about him other than he scored a few cracking goals, and I’d have thought he could have done better than Thistle. I’m certainly not writing off Wilson but I’d have been more excited if we’d signed this guy. Him and Molumbu were two I’d love to have seen walk through our doors this summer.

I’d think somewhere between 100-200k. Absolute bargain from what I’ve seen so far. Certainly doesn’t play like an 18 year old.

We know enough about Considine, I don’t think you can give a fair assessment of Hoban yet. Played two games in a week after being signed the day before the first Burnley game. Baptism of fire to an extent. Time will tell.

You’ll remember Russel Anderson being pretty shit for a period too, when we played him at right back. Considine is no left back but gets away with it when we play the weaker teams. I expect Hibs, Celtic, Rangers, maybe Hearts too, to expose him yet again. Can’t fault his effort and commitment, plus many are blinded by the fact he scored a hat trick, but I still think he’s the weakest link in our team. As a central defender I can’t really comment, can’t even remember him being given a decent run there.

We can agree to disagree. My opinion is that Considine is shite. And from what I saw in the very limited playing time from Hoban is that he is faster and more skilled than Andy. There have been many a right footer at left back, that point means little, although Hoban certainly looked solid with his left.

I think we lost the following regulars - McLean, Christie, O’Connor, arnason, and that’s it, maybe Stewart. Gleeson Ferguson and forrester replace the midfielders, with Hoban and the impressive Devlin replacing the defenders. Rooney is replaced by Wilson, stockley by cosgrove, Maynard, Chidi storie and storey are replaced by Anderson, Campbell McClellan, and frank Ross. Happy that youth are the fringe players this year. My only disappointment is that we didn’t sign a permanent left back as I think Considine is our weakest link. While I see Hoban as cover for all defenders I think he’ll be our left back when fit again. Pretty much the same sized squad as last year, the only difference being that youth is being given a chance and I think that’s a good thing.

Only concern is we were linked with him. Free agent soon, hope not!

Was going to praise Ball too but changed my mind, didn’t want to cause an argument on a good day! He’s been pretty solid all season to date.

You had an issue, started your email with it stating your gripe!

Devlin is quality, strolls through games. Strong in the air, tackler, skilled on the ball, passer, what’s his weakness? I also think that while he’s still relatively young he will have a good influence on mckenna too. If McKenna is Scotland quality where does that leave Devlin? Definitely red tinted spectacles but who else is better for the right central defensive position? As for today, should have been 8 or 9. They were shit but we certainly played our best game in a while. No consgrove meant we just didn’t lump it up the park and played some nice attacking stuff. I liked the liveliness of Wright and Ross too, add GMS and that was a pacey and threatening attack. Almost prefer them to having McGinn who, to me, is past his prime. Good win!

I think you are wrong with both. I think it’s the form and play of Ferguson. Forrester was injured and Ferguson has performed to where he shouldn’t be dropped.

It’s an interesting one. Brother went down south and his career went to shit. Shinnie is Aberdeen captain and sniffing around the Scotland squad. He can definitely make more money elsewhere.

I’d take Allen but wouldn’t want Christie or Hayes back. Let’s move forward.

Both shite but I'd take either over Nicky Maynard, Josh Parker, or Scott Brown (the wank keeper!)

Scott Wright needs to go out on loan or leave. The new Peter Pawlett.

Hope this helps clarify. I suppose I mean inspirational or exciting foreign signing. Subjective I know. I don't mean anyone from Britain or Ireland, and I don't mean the foreigners who float around the lower leagues and non league of England like Josh Parker or Calvin Zola. Arneson was exciting first time around but not the second to me. He'd been here before and was a known 34/35 year old. Cerny was at Thistle, the recent defender Nowak had been at Hearts. Gilhaus, Zero, Bisconti, Stavrum, I mentioned Ferne Snoyl on loan from Feyenoord, Peter Kjaer, Snelders. Even Van der Ven. Van Der Ark was wank, so was Solberg, so it's not all great, but they brought intrigue/excitement. Nicholas Fabiano was a dud if I recall, but was on loan from or had just been released from PSG. All of these created some enthusiasm. While Mulumbu was at Killie he was a class above them and only came up here because of his EPL experience with Clarke. Quality player that would bring positivity and a bit of enthusiasm. I'm just sick of trolling the lower English leagues. I think that's lazy and we could do better. I know foreign doesn't guarantee success either. We paid 20k for Cosgrove, could we have found someone better for that money using connections we have all over the world? Perhaps. Could we have spunked the 400k Stevie May money elsewhere? I think our club is being narrow minded.

I’d say I mean a legit starting 11 foreigner, not a cheap squad filler.

It appears Mulumbu is still without a club. Makes me wonder if we ever considered or spoke to him given we don’t sign foreigners.

Yes and no. Settling in is overrated. We're not a foreign country, climate, language issues etc. However, the speed of our game is different. I think you are harsh on Gleeson. You may be right in the long run, but he's played two league games with a makeshift defense and different formations. I HATE saying this, but he's a Ryan Jack type. Will never do anything glamorous or spectacular but will sit in the gap between defense and midfield, pick off passes, receive a simple ball, and give it to a more creative player. He always looks for a short pass like Jack or even McLean did, even Flood. I think he's the guy that fills a hole - never McLean's real strength and Shinniie certainly likes to get forward. He looks less clumsy than Ball and more technical, but I think Ball is more physical. Haven't seen him tackle, don't know if he can, but he'll need to do so to establish himself in our starting 11.

Yes worth it but not in terms of progress in Europe. It’s competitive preseason games which I think has had us better prepared for our league season. While I don’t know specifics, pretty certain we benefit financially despite the cost of travel etc to far off places.

Is this logan’s last game out or is the suspension only for league games?

I’d also even argue McInnes is more of the ian cathro type (but with an appealing personality), very up with modern methods regarding sport science, nutrition, match preparation and analysis, scouting and opponent analysis etc, but actually lacks on the footballing front.

Speculation from me (and hope) but I do see a different style of play from us moving forward. I think Burnley was treated as David versus Goliath and we’d be long ball defensive, especially with limited forwards available. I don’t think it was intended to be a long term style of play. It continued into the rangers game because we hadn’t signed a forward, but even versus Dundee I predicted we’d see 2 up top and we saw a slightly different approach. I think the plan was to start forrester and Gleeson but Gleeson picked up a preseason knock and we signed ball. Low risk McInnes continued with Ball because he knew what he’d get. The spanner in the works is Ferguson, who has over achieved to date and made it hard to be dropped. Forrester was injured too and Ferguson took his chance, and tough to drop him now.....but I expect it to happen at some point. I think eventually we’ll see a central midfield of Gleeson Shinnie and forrester behind Wilson, similar in approach to Shinnie McLean and Christie. Regarding mcinnes, I see his strength as his respect and professionalism. From the tea lady to the players he’s a classy and respectful guy. The players aren’t treated as kids but he is respectful and honest. He, doc, and Robson have created a very positive work environment where the players enjoy coming to work and chemistry is high. McInnes has learned well about man management, not in the JC best mates way, but in a well crafted professional manner where players have been respected and even empowered. Modern approach. Motivation is different, I think he struggles to get the highest levels of performance and consistency from many of our players.

Ha, you beat me to it! Odds of an appeal going in?