buster.

Football boils down to finding ways to win matches and/or finding ways not to lose matches. There is a great deal more involved than just formations. Teams that tend to win matches consistently enough to win league championships tend to have a solid base from which to work. That base is an infrastructure, also a financial and managerial ability to put together a squad with enough depth and quality from which to take on a season (lack of depth/quality is what is very apparent this month). It's as plain as the nose on your face that we haven't yet got that base. Neither is it really a secret because we are rebuilding and looking to improve much of the club. #Patience&Realism If we don't employ some patience, then my guess is we'll continually struggle to get to where want to go up until the point of severe financial problems.

Shinnie, on a Bosman would be good business (28th birthday next August) We need a better depth of squad.

Rangers 1 - 2 Celtic Morelos

Liverpool seem to be able to defend now. Makes a long winning run a lot more likely. Goals lost in their last eight league games.... 00010100 It's hard to believe that a player with Queens Park when we played them going through the leagues, is now highly rated at an elite level. Same goes for Van Dyyjk....you have half of the best defence in the EPL made up of ex SPL players.

Bring in time travel and take Gerrard and McAllister back 15 years then we've got a shout.

Agreed TB ! Add our injury situation to expectation levels and you'll probably find that there are a few of our players who would rather Saturdays game be played in Azerbaijan.

The ball that was pinged accross to their wide player was good, it was controlled and delivered quickly with quality into an area that was very difficult to defend against a player attacking the ball. From their POV, it was a well worked goal and from ours, the equaliser seemed to be coming as we defended deeper (clearance that led to goal only reached 30m or so from goal line). IMO the 'clearance' was the main reason if looking to apportion blame but really it was more a bit of quality from Hibs POV.

That's not going to happen in the real world, nor should it. Yes, any negotiated deal should come at a 'price' for PQ but we aren't in such a strong position to expect all our wishes granted. IMO we need to take any reasonable opportunity to normalise relations and build from there. The club need to reduce the number of fronts we are fighting on.

Almost immediate and constant expectation levels are next to impossible for anyone to deal with, especially players. We are a Big club but without Big players and the Big expectations are fine but should come with a realistic timetable. We have to be careful or we could fall into severe financial bother within a few years.

SG&Co need a seasons experience and 3 transfer windows before I'd expect a team to challenge for the title. I reckon we'll finish second over the 38 games.

With Arfield out, I agree and had Lafferty in my starting line-up for today. You could play him slightly deeper (between the lines), simply two up top or vary it during match.

I don't think there ever was tbh. We simply don't have a strong enough squad or a good enough quality of player in several positions to do so yet. We also struggle to beat the better teams in the league (see quality issue/creativity)

With the lack of creativity and steadily decreasing secondary options, there is no way we are going to play through teams at the moment. Goals scored Aug: 16 Sep: 15 Oct: 11 Nov: 15 Dec: 7

It's at times like this that a strong squad helps bring in points and a win is asking a lot of our walking wounded.

You could see an equaliser coming We're running on fumes, players are dropping like flies and we desperately need the winter break.

As expected, Jack's inclusion means Halliday goes to left back. I thought or rather hoped Lafferty would start instead of Coulibaly. Coulibaly seems to play regardess of form but Grezda plays poorly and isn't even on the bench when there appears no other wide options. Generally, players on loan seem to get the benefit of doubt before our own players. You never know what players may have niggles though and that may have swung decisions. Difficult to get excited about that team and the bench is lightweight. Over to them to prove they can do it................ --------- Hibs have a more attacking look to their XI with both Kamberi and McLaren starting. We'll have to keep a careful eye on Boyle.

If there is to be no fannying about, perhaps they should use a wallet.

Four months after it closed, our summer window business has lost it's shine, although better to wait until the end of the season before a more informed judgement can be made. Plenty of talk about Beaton/Saturday but haven't seen any mention on today's referee. It's Andrew Dallas, so we can expect pretty much anything except a good solid performance from the man in black. The only reason the SFA can fast-track Andrew Dallas is because the rest of the referees are of a poor standard.

Do you drop Morelos ? Do you change formation just to get Hardie into the team ? Do you start parking the bus and playing counter-attack so as to suit Hardie's game ? Do you bring him back to sit on the bench/ in the stand and then say goodbye in the summer not knowing if he can hack it in the top flight over a number of months ?

Give the guy a break, I think he's played more minutes than anyone. His only game off was the Ayr United League Cup tie He's played in all of the League matches (the full 90 minutes in 17 of them plus a combined 84mins of the other two) He's played every minute of the European campaign ....and despite running on fumes,.... he still gets up the pitch in the last minute to swing in an excellent ball for Morelos to score at St.Johnstone. ie. he deserves plaudits, not stick. Maybe Eck was right. Perhaps defenders (opposed to strikers) prefer a 'dead ball'. Free-kick or penalty spot, Tav has proven to be excellent but he couldn't even make contact with the moving ball (within a metre of penalty spot) last week at Easter Road. The one penalty I recall him missing was after extra time in our triumph over Celtic in 2016. It looked a tired strike, hitting it over the bar.

SG knows who he'd like to have playing but injuries mean he can't. Formation wise, it'll be the usual four.

The games keep coming thick and fast and the latest has Hibs visiting Ibrox on Boxing Day with a 3pm KO (UK time). Like the previous game and the one to follow, this sees another hugely important and significant 3 points at stake. After our crucial and notable late comeback at St. Johnstone, it would be typical of this December if we were to drop points in the next match because we don't seem able to do consistency. This game is where that needs to change if we want to harbour any hopes of providing a title challenge. The first half of the season has seen a gruelling but welcome non-stop timetable of games, with 3 International breaks providing some respite for some in the squad. It is now ending with a particularly heavy block of fixtures and it's therefore no surprise to see an extensive injury list going into the final two games of 2018. In short, over the next 2 games Steven Gerrard & Co need to get more out of a squad of bare bones than they previously have from a fuller squad. - Tav is looking tired but gives 100% and still provides creativity. - Central defence has become an issue and just when we seem to settle on a partnership, McAuley gets injured. - The Barisic injury is a huge blow IMO and you now have Boyle and Forrest licking their lips. The midfield and wide areas have taken a real hit. On top of the long term injuries and departures, we have at least question marks over Arfield, Jack, Kent, Rossiter, Grezda and Coulibaly for either injury, poor form or a lack of gametime. It's just as well that we have Morelos and Lafferty up front. Any debate over formation/playing them both may be decided due to lack of midfield options. For all the criticism Alfredo gets regards his discipline, you have to marvel at how over a heavy season and a half at Ibrox he doesn't seem to pick up injuries; the guy is a machine. Steven Gerrard mentioned an adaptable approach and one option is to play Lafferty and being able to switch between a deeper role and one closer to Morelos (only an option if the Ulster Gazelle is fully fit). If Jack is fit then he'll surely start and that may in turn push Halliday back to LB. McGregor Tavernier - Goldson - Worral - Wallace Candeias - McCrorie - Halliday - Middleton Lafferty Morelos Hibs haven't been playing that well of late and we should have taken all 3 points from Easter Road last week. However they often raise their game at Ibrox and I'd expect them to again. Recent history has seen this fixture providing goals (except for last week) and no team with a clear upper hand regards wins. In my opinion, it's one of those games that could go any way, but if we can up our conversion rate then I think we win. Prior to the 2 goals in 25 minutes on Sunday, we'd scored 2 in 550 minutes; hopefully, we have turned a corner. Certainly Lafferty is due a goal. Am I right thinking he's started to celebrate goals in the last three matches, only to be halted by a bad offside decision at Dundee, a great save by the Hibs keeper and a somewhat unfortunate deflection and save at St. Johnstone? I call upon the footballing gods to give big Laff a deserved break!

There was nothing controversial about the red card of Simunovic. Tabloids starting the 'Long wind-up' early doors.

Good listen with the 'Sensible Dream Team' of Franklin & Fraser. You could market yourselves as the alternative FF Much appreciated for getting it out so fast, thank's !