RicoS321

Lovely finish Watkins

Lovely goal from McRorie, who's also been pish all game! What's with the immediate sitting in after both goals? We changed to a back three before we scored allowing Duk to push up, but after both goals he's been pulled back into a weird 5-4-1 thing.

Fair play to Robson. He changed it up about five seconds before the goal, with Duk going further up.

What a fucking finish. Pish all game, then that. Amazing.

Interesting half. They started well and we're unlucky not to be in front. We got back into it and it's been tight from that point on. Duk wasted out wide, and terrible defensively (positionally). Duncan and McRorie not linking up particularly well either, it's like their not quite sure what the other is about to do. Fletcher has been a handful for the two centre backs, but they've come back into it fairly strongly. I think the shape isn't quite working but I don't see any changes at halftime.

Great to see Duncan rewarded with another start too. Would have been incredibly harsh to drop Mackenzie, and it's great to see the same team two weeks in a row.

Yes there is.

You can't just write a list and then not use it. Blatant ecocide.

Fantastic news. Looks a great player. Probably not got the legs for 90 minutes yet, he doesn't seem to be able to get up and down as well as others, but hopefully he'll get lots of minutes before the season is out. Thought he might end up leaving for nothing. Would like to see him given a chance on the left to see what he can do there too.

A decent chauffeur would have sneaked Goodwin out in his boot, instead of making him walk across Easter road.

That sounds like something you already know the answer to. Yes. No wins in three.

Yes, I think he asked Jim to help with his shoe laces once.

It'll be interesting to see if the pressure to play entertaining football had any effect on the way he sets up teams. I expect we'll see little passing out from the back, and a concentration on keeping things tight, whilst hoofing to Fletcher. Could easily work out well for Goodwin. I'm surprised they allowed him to take thon gormless laddy with him as number two though.

One thing's for sure, he'll quickly sort out that leaky defence. That's the easy part.

Asghar follows fox out the door at utd. Paving the way for a Levein, Lennon masterclass.

Expect there'll be a big home turnout if Levein rocks up with his free flowing fitba.

In fairness, it sounds like he chucked it some time ago.

I'm guessing that the reason Lennon has been in about the radio shows is that he got a heads up about this one being available. Would be a good appointment for them, it's not like they've been hurt by former Hibs managers recently. Hopefully they won't have anyone in place by the weekend.

Agree with most of that. Duk had some brilliant moments - that back heel in the first half was insane - but out wide he just holds the team back in my opinion. Everything gets slowed down and he rarely produces anything at the end of the move. Similarly, Duncan on the right (the goal aside) was quite ineffective due to the inverted wingers pish. McRorie has an abundance of energy with no direction and I suspect he is difficult to play ahead of. MacDonald would be a fantastic signing if we can get him and McKenzie was very good as you say. Good to see Shinnie getting stuck in to his brother too. This feels very much like a cautious McInnes side, with caution and structure very much the priority and attacking football second. I'm fine with that, but it'd take a fair turnaround from the chairman to accept I expect.

The problem with that is two of our players don't play particularly well as two parts of a three! Maybe a four?

You bloody post-modernists will say that anything looks like anything. Is nothing sacred anymore? Can't even draw a 4-3-3 these days without it being being gender fluidised into a 4-1-4-1 or a 4-1-2-2-1. There'll be kids seeing this filth online and going home to tell their parents that they're no longer a midfielder, but a false 8.

That's not even a formation. It's bad enough that 4-4-2 is no longer the only formation, you don't have to go bringing in 4-1-2-2-1s (why didn't you play it safe with a 4-1-4-1?). For me, I'd just play Clarkson ahead of the two (I know Robson won't) and keep it simple in a 4-2-3-1. However, I guess the point was that it seemed on this thread that we were all fairly confident in a switch to a four occurring. Much as I like the idea, I just don't see him dropping one of Duk or Miovski (at home, specifically) to accommodate it. I was hoping someone would come up with a setup that included both, had a back four, and didn't include a compromise worse than Coulson at wing back! I just don't see a setup that is better than a 3-5-2 if we're playing the two guys up front. That's why I think Robson will stick with the three at the back.

It's not really the defence that's the issue though, it's what you do ahead of them. Who do we play and in what formation?

Sorry, I shouldn't have asked what the reasoning would be, I do know the advantages and disadvantages! I meant was there anything in particular that happened during the Tim game that made the three, which worked against Motherwell, redundant? In relation to us, specifically. Of the three you mention, none would feature in moving to a four. Duk would almost certainly be given a wide spot in a 4-2-3-1, and a 4-4-2 would likely see us overrun in midfield. Personally, I'd like to see us drop one of the forwards and play a 4-2-3-1, but I think that leads nowhere if Duk is shoehorned in out wide.

I didn't see the Celtic game, but what would be the reasoning behind changing from that? Worked reasonably well at home in the last game, and got round the issue of having no good fullbacks. Switching Coulson in for Hayes would be beneficial, and that leaves Kennedy as the weak link, who could be swapped with a lamppost or McRorie (if McKenzie was okay at left centre back). Three at the back wouldn't be my preference all things considered, but our personnel limitations, the insistence on playing two strikers and Robson's preference for Clarkson as a number six would suggest it's our best setup. I think anything that results in Duk out wide is a disaster.