buster.

A Rangers striker has just put side into lead at Easter Road. Latest:........ Hibs 0-1 Livingston, (Ryan Hardie)

That sounds encouraging but they will probably have Christie to take his place.

The crux of all this will be if/when the legal process between Celtic and the Victims goes to court.

If Celtic bothered that much at a human level they wouldn't have the name of a bookie on their shirt.

The difficulty for him is dealing with what I'd call unreasonable expectation levels. So far I think the general impression is that he has delivered on those expectation levels (EL group qualification put a lot of credit in that particular account). Hence, he has stayed ahead of the curve. The real test for dealing with the media would come if the curve overtakes him.

I don't think we'll be able to the type of business that will instantly instill the necessary consistency of winning league matches and you have to be careful to spread limited budgets between winter/summer windows, as well as keeping an eye on the wage bill. We can forget about the reported 50K p/wk on Pena & Herrera but the club needs to pay it or the pay-offs. Now is when the football operation (recruitment) need to show their worth because we will obviously need to address the middle to front issue. I think we also need to work harder with the players we've already got. IMO Lafferty and Grezda both are currently lacking confidence and could step-up considerably. There was a moment in the game at Easter Road when Grezda picked the ball up around the half-way line and started towards the goal (not unlike some of the highlight Utube videos from Osijek days) but he got to the last third and instead of trying to make something happen, he stopped and passed the ball backwards. As for youngsters, IMO McCrorie should be a regular starter.

Just a footnote but IF you sell Tav so as to fund a creative player, you have to be conscious that in losing Tav, you lose a big part of the teams current creativity.

It would make sense in terms of bringing in money, if we are thinking of a relatively substantial outlay in January.

I'll believe it when I see he's not in the team. You can guarantee that attempts will be made to persuade the AFF otherwise.

We need a better consistency of result before we want to seriously challenge for the title. We have improved and we haven't. In terms of points, probably not but the fact it's generally more difficult to pick up points in the top flight this season IMO makes our haul worth more than recent previous seasons. ie. we are currently in Second place and despite inconsistency, find ourselves still very much in touch with Celtic. There are no easy answers or viable quick solutions regards achieving a better consistency of result. I'd caution anyone from thinking we'll be able to just nip out and bring in a creative Number 10 who'll slot right in and be a gamechanger or that we'll bring in a centre forward of the necessary quality to make a big difference. Yes, strengthen as much as we can but we also need to get more out of some the players we already have. The fact is that we go into the window at a financial disadvantage and what it actually presents is an opportunity for Celtic to open their biscuit tin and widen the gap between sqauds in terms of wage bills. It would remain to be seen how much of a difference that would bring to the park. Bottomline, we are still a Work in Progress that is steadily improving and on course (within reasonable timescales). The frustration is that Celtic are relatively struggling and it would be a goodtime to suddenly click, not for the odd decent performance or result but consistent wins. IMO we are still a fair bit away from that. More specifically, there is a game on the 29th, an opportunity to lay down a marker and create belief going forward. They will be up for it but we need to start winning at least some of those games, regardless.

Agree with all those points and would add............ - Proactive tactical set-up was spot-on However, wanting it,......... isn't enough. You have to do it.

AT's tweet and it's 'style' is that of a fan rather than a journalist. That in itself tells a story and is as close as I've seen, to him letting slip an important part of the underlying motives behind his 'determined & rolling coverage' of events surrounding Rangers.

Last night was very much one of those games you have to win if you want to maintain a challenge. It turned into a condensed illustration of where we currently are. We have improved markedly but are still an important step away #Hope&Frustration

Good strong performance but.............frustrating not to take full points. Injuries mounting up ain't good

Might have something to do with a niggle that I think McCrorie may have have picked up in the first half on Sunday. Might not............

Not happy that McCrorie is replaced by Coulibaly Hibs: No changes from starting XI that beat Celtic Marciano, Whittaker, Porteous, Ambrose (c), Stevenson, Slivka, Mallan, Hyndman, Horgan, Shaw, Kamberi Subs - Bogdan, Milligan, MacLaren, Boyle, McGregor, Mackie, Allan

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double post

Short Highlights (2 mins) Longer version (12 mins)

The challenge going forward is to successfully negotiate summer qualifying to get access to group stages. We could have a better squad but simply get an unlucky draw.

Last team to beat them by 3 goals at Easter Road was Morton, nearly 3 years ago. Last team to best them by 4 goals was Rangers, 2-6 with Tav and Halliday scoring crackers (July 2015)

Hibs have 4 games in 11 days (Rangers, Livingston, Rangers, Hearts) and can't realistically play the same high intensity game in all of those. You add that to our creative weakness when up against an organised defence and Hibs ability to counter-attack with speed and precision and I think they'll probably spend chunks of the game soaking up pressure and looking to counter. I think the first 10-20 minutes will be about a Hibs attempt at a high press. We have to try and make use of the space in behind them early doors. -------------------- IMO Morelos has to start (Lafferty has lost confidence in front of goal and will probably start on the bench.

Whatever the exact number, it's a relatively substantial sum of money which is very welcome. It wouldn't have been budgeted for but I suspect it'll actually be very much needed and won't prevent a net loss next year (barring a substantial incoming transfer fee).

Molde to Manchester United, nae bother ! At this stage, it's about man-management and putting square pieces in square holes. I think he'll get an upturn in results.