Mini Slump?

[Guest]

Last 3 results have seen us 'drop' 6 points. You could suggest we've been the better side in all 3 games, but thems the stats.

 

Anyone else think this is maybe an after effect of the cup final win? Reynolds for example, has been a wee bit off form in defence. Considine looked a bit shaky against Ross County.

 

I was thinking a lot about this... how well McInnes has done to get the maximum out of his players this season. We only need to see a drop of 5-10% in any individual player's own performance level, for it to have effect. These guys are only human after all and none of them are super high quality, where, even with a 5-10% decrease in performance, you'd still get a very good consistency.

 

I'm not having a pop at anyone, but I think it's to be expected that we suffer a slight dip in form. This is annoyingly around the time when Motherwell/Utd seem to be having a good run. But as McInnes is saying in the paper today - no one else has been fighting on 3 different levels (well perhaps ICT were but are no longer). There must be a huge pressure on these lads to deliver that 100% performance each week.

 

I also see the 2nd half of this season as a time when we rarely see such high scoring games. Pitches have weathered in, squads may be nursing injuries, there's more to play for now as the business end of the season looms large. Sides will obviously tighten up and look to perhaps take a low scoring draw away from home, instead of coming out and stamping their brand of free flowing football. This doesn't really faze me, as long as we're scoring one more goal than the opposition. At this stage of affairs, I'd take a scrappy 1-0 win to til May.

 

The focus is on each game - or so we're told. But I really think the euphoria of the cup win has worn off now and the team need to refocus their energy. It'll take some doing to raise their game for the semi final.

 

My only hope is that we see both Utd and Motherwell have a similar dip in form. St Mirren fighting for their lives - let's hope they can take points from them.

[360]

Drivel

[spamspamspam]

I blame the parents

[ebbe]

Sounds like a pop to me.

 

We've had a terrific season and have a relatively thin squad in terms of quality. We're/we've been struggling a bit without the creativity and pace of pawlett and Hayes. Yet we're still dominating games. We'll be fine.

[a don in oz]

Definitely a drop in form but absolutely NOT to be expected. They're professionals paid to kick a ball about a park.

 

Injuries yes, they're to be expected. Individual loss of form? Like hell. Any pansy that falls back on that needs a boot. Maybe with a sports psychologist on the other end of it but a boot nonetheless.

[K-9]

Since the cup win at Parkhead we have not been on top of our game.

 

Sneaked a 1-0 win from lucky pen at St Mirren, followed by raping at Partick. Played well against Celtic in first half then tried to throw it away against 10 men, then two 1-0 wins at home against St J and Dumbarton. Final we won despite offering little in 120 mins and thankfully Inverness were worse.

 

Thought we played very well against Kilmarnock when we all worried where our attacking was coming from with no Hayes or Pawlett, then mixed bags in 1-1 draws at Ross County then home to Utd. Never saw game at Hearts but sounded same as last 2.

[Guest]

Sounds like a pop to me.

 

We've had a terrific season and have a relatively thin squad in terms of quality. We're/we've been struggling a bit without the creativity and pace of pawlett and Hayes. Yet we're still dominating games. We'll be fine.

 

I wouldn't go as far as to say we're dominating games. We're looking the more likely to win the game, but it's closer than it was at the beginning of the season. Others have said, perhaps managers are sussing out how to set themselves up against us more now. Certainly come up against a more packed defence than we did in the 1st half of the season. This is back handed compliment in a way.

[caledonia]

Agree we have not played well since the cup final

 

Even the cup final we did not play that great

 

 

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[K-9]

Certainly need more options in wide areas to unlock defenses. Got Hayes & McGinn and that is about it. Pawlett and Robson normally in middle but can do some damage but not much in reserve.

 

With Hayes and Pawlett out we had little to get in behind defenses and certainly need decent options in wide areas. Not everyones cup of tea but Josh would have been handy at times, even if coming off bench.

[Guest]

Definitely a drop in form but absolutely NOT to be expected. They're professionals paid to kick a ball about a park.

 

Injuries yes, they're to be expected. Individual loss of form? Like hell. Any pansy that falls back on that needs a boot. Maybe with a sports psychologist on the other end of it but a boot nonetheless.

 

It's very easy to say that though - that they're professionals. They will give their all, but I think it's natural that they have a slight dip in form. We don't have the devine right to expect to win every game, but what we were seeing early doors, was a team that carved open teams. I'm not sure if it's a subconcious thing where the players are a bit more reluctant to give the ball away. They know there's a lot riding on the outcome of the next few weeks.

 

I'd like them to go out and have a bit more freedom to express themselves without fear of reprisal. I certainly hope that's the message that comes from Deek.

 

Could do with a moral boosting performance and victory against Hibs though. As Kaino said, it's been a while where I've seen the team play and been blown away by the performance.

[Byrne Baby Byrne]

I thought we were playing shite but grinding out wins before the cup final

 

Since then we've played well against Killie, United and Hearts but not got as many points as you'd hope for.

[Tord31]

My thoughts for the league currently are that we'll take 2nd and probably only need 2-3 performances out of the 6 matches to do it.

 

If Celtic win 6/6 (very doubtful I know) I see it being finished in our favour before the last game - they could be the key with them playing United and Motherwell next

[barassie_afc]

Team are exhausted, mentally and physically , Mcinnes has already stated that the squad isnt good enough and what you are seeing is a manifestation of that.

[spamspamspam]

I thought we were playing shite but grinding out wins before the cup final

 

Since then we've played well against Killie, United and Hearts but not got as many points as you'd hope for.

 

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

Our performances have been a lot better since the cup final but results havent.

 

Utd was a brilliant game of football

We battered Hearts for the first 45 last night without capitalising on it.

 

No drop in form, just a slight lack in the final ball with half of our creative force injured.

McGinn is back playing with his head up again though

Pawlett is coming back from injury

Hayes, 4 weeks away, could do with that being halved.

Cant rely on Robson all the time, the man is 35, he's bound to get a bit tired and fade away when we're playing 3 games in 7 days.

 

Nothing to worry about IMO.

[Henry]

No wonder the lad's having a slump, he's not worked in a year and he can't gamble worth a fuck.

[Henry]

 

It's very easy to say that though - that they're professionals.

 

You are the expert on that front.

[a don in oz]

I can work all hours, be physically exhausted, mentally exhausted and still get judged on my performance. On call 24/7, get calls at 2am, 3am, and still am at work at 7-5. That applies to everyone out in the world. We all get judged on performance. No excuses get made. Perform or get a kick.

 

They meanwhile kick a ball about a pitch. Let's not treat them as delicate wee blossoms here doing tough work where allowances need made. Sure the manager can do that, because he has the glad hand them to not break them.

 

180 minutes of game time a week, and 3 or 4 days of varied training if they're unlucky.

 

A sports shrink to sort out the head if needed. No other excuses.

 

This again excludes injured players but those left behind have no excuse to just because a player is out stop performing. Shit, in the real world that's when you're supposed to up your game.

 

btw this isn't me having a go at our players. It's me disagreeing with the idea of making allowances or expecting a drop in form.

[a don in oz]

McGinn is back playing with his head up again though

 

 

I really hope the goal he got the other day gets him going. for the last 6 plus 2 cup games (right? right?)

[Dynamo]

 

I really hope the goal he got the other day gets him going. for the last 6 plus 2 cup games (right? right?)

 

Yeah people have said 'he just needs a goal', but he got 2 goals against Thistle at home (4-0) and he didn't come onto a game, he got a goal away to Caley..and never came onto a game, and he scored at the weekend and last night he was poor.

 

Just not having a good season.

[a don in oz]

Maybe he needs to go away on holiday this close season and NOT party with his Celtic brothers to keep his heid focused.

[RUL]

I thought Reynolds had a good game

[Hewitt1983]

When Hibs won the league cup in 2007 they only won once more in the League and were knocked out the Scottish Cup semi-final by Dunfermline.

 

I hope we can get it together for a very tough run of games coming up.

 

FWIW, I think we'll finish in the top 3 and reach the SC Final at the very least.

 

COYR!

[Guest]

I can work all hours, be physically exhausted, mentally exhausted and still get judged on my performance. On call 24/7, get calls at 2am, 3am, and still am at work at 7-5. That applies to everyone out in the world. We all get judged on performance. No excuses get made. Perform or get a kick.

 

They meanwhile kick a ball about a pitch. Let's not treat them as delicate wee blossoms here doing tough work where allowances need made. Sure the manager can do that, because he has the glad hand them to not break them.

 

180 minutes of game time a week, and 3 or 4 days of varied training if they're unlucky.

 

A sports shrink to sort out the head if needed. No other excuses.

 

This again excludes injured players but those left behind have no excuse to just because a player is out stop performing. Shit, in the real world that's when you're supposed to up your game.

 

btw this isn't me having a go at our players. It's me disagreeing with the idea of making allowances or expecting a drop in form.

 

So, if you're up all hours, working your tits off, then you wouldn't expect any form of understanding from your employees if you were slightly 'under par'?

 

Are you, or have you ever been a modern day professional footballer? If not, then how do you know what goes into their working careers. Do you know that most of our players hit the gym outwith AFC training?

 

Of course you can expect fluctuations in form. Every single professional sportsman around the world sees dips in form. This can equally be due to mental fatigue as anything else.

 

The basis of my question was, have we seen a slight slump in form in recent weeks and if so, what is the reason for that. I'm not looking to lay blame at anyone's feet. I was looking for answers so we could perhaps come up with what the solution may be. Just throwing it out there!!

[dave_min]

We were playing utterly shite upto and including the Final, it was just masked by the fact we kept sneaking wins.

 

Since then I recon we've been playing a lot better, but we've not been getting the breaks - hence less points.

 

It's nothing to be too worried about, we're still fucking miles ahead of where anybody thought we'd be at the start of the season.

[The Hulk]

Team are exhausted, mentally and physically , Mcinnes has already stated that the squad isnt good enough and what you are seeing is a manifestation of that.

 

Succinctly put, that's about the size of it. Need some more depth or else need our young players (Smith, Low et al) to really step up. Ryan Jack also needs to be more dynamic in midfield. I'm worried we might be calling him the crab before long...

[oilcat]

Christ look back to where we were a couple of years ago and look at the progress. Yas, results in the past three games havent been what we wanted but apart from a wee dodgy spell in all games we have battered teams and not capitalised.

 

Cup semi final and then hopefully final are the big games now, if we won the Scottish cup and finished fourth would that still be a "bad" season?

[strachanmcgheegoal]

Team are exhausted, mentally and physically , Mcinnes has already stated that the squad isnt good enough and what you are seeing is a manifestation of that.

Correct, to which I'd add we are somewhat out of practise where every game in April May is a biggie, and that goes from the tea lady right through to the playing squad. I'm not saying they're switching off, far from it, Mcginn for instance seems to be trying too hard at times like in injury time last night, but like you say the lack of depth that a consistent top three side would have is telling on them. It makes Motherwell's performance for the last four seasons all the more impressive. I'm cutting them some slack till the semi, get that hopefully out of the way and then see what they're made of. Can't decide if the tougher run in (big three games last, 2 away) will help or hinder in this respect.

 

What I would observe is an old firm team would look to have these games won in the first 20 minutes before the tiredness kicks in, not the last 20.

[a don in oz]

 

So, if you're up all hours, working your tits off, then you wouldn't expect any form of understanding from your employees if you were slightly 'under par'?

 

Pretty much. It's an extreme real world case and I don't think most places make too much allowance for it. I've certainly not had allowance made for it in my career so far. You get on with it and produce.

 

 

Are you, or have you ever been a modern day professional footballer? If not, then how do you know what goes into their working careers. Do you know that most of our players hit the gym outwith AFC training?

 

What does it matter if I'm a "modern day professional footballer"?

 

I'd expect them to do extra training, that's excellent. It shows commitment to their careers.

Of course you can expect fluctuations in form. Every single professional sportsman around the world sees dips in form. This can equally be due to mental fatigue as anything else.

 

The basis of my question was, have we seen a slight slump in form in recent weeks and if so, what is the reason for that. I'm not looking to lay blame at anyone's feet. I was looking for answers so we could perhaps come up with what the solution may be. Just throwing it out there!!

 

The solution is maybe what I said in my first post. A boot is needed, but it might be a boot worn by a sports psych.

 

If they're not right in the body, the phsyio and sports medicine dude look after them.

If they're feeling delicate otherwise, then a sports psych should get involved.

 

Doctors work all hours, surgeons guys can pull 10 or greater hour cases, always on their feet, doing precision work with almost zero tolerance for failure. Do we allow them a slump in form? (Just an example because I currently work in healthcare related work and see the kind of stuff those guys do)

 

No, they're not surgeons. They're footballers. They kick a ball about a park.

 

Dips in form happen, but that doesn't mean we should excuse it as a 'these things happen' moment.

[spamspamspam]

I can work all hours, be physically exhausted, mentally exhausted and still get judged on my performance.

 

 

To be fair the girl in your basement isnt exactly going to score you low for having an off day.

 

 

I'm sure she knows better than that by now.

[a don in oz]

We need it all to click against Hibs I think to give us a boost before the run-in. A few goals past them, something to re-energise them and get some belief back.

 

Then in the close season McInnes needs to speak to Milne to get in someone to look after their heads as well as their bodies.