ranger_syntax 3,751 Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 Another two points dropped needlessly against a team that appeared to be inferior in many ways. On many occasions we have been left with a what if to consider. What if Alfredo Morelos had played 90 minutes on the first day of the season? What if Connor Goldson had not slipped in Motherwell? What if Joe Worrall had not gifted the ball to a forgettable Kilmarnock striker? The list goes on in Scotland and in European matches too. Now we have yet another regrettable episode to consider. What if Daniel Candeias had tracked Florian Kamberi instead of watching the ball? After tracking back from the Hibernian box Candeias stops and watches the ball. He doesn't even glance at Kamberi who is completely unmarked on the left side. James Tavernier is tracking back. It's too much to expect Tavernier to get back in time but he is also watching the ball and paying no attention to Kamberi. Perhaps if he had been looking at the vacant right back area he could have warned Candeias about the danger in enough time. After enough what ifs pile up over the season you start to realise that it is no longer about unfortunate accidents. A better explanation is an overall lack of quality. Tavernier has made a key contribution this season. Despite a couple of recent blips he has been a reliable penalty taker and repeatedly plays a key part in goals with assists. He still manages to confound with slack defensive play against average spfl sides. Candeias has also played a major part in our success, such as it is, this season. He presses, tracks back and often provides a quality ball in to the box for Morelos to finish. Yet he also provides a fair amount to complain about. Admittedly, in his case, it is more often poor quality crossing rather than poor decisions or a lack of effort. It might seem strange to spend all this time complaining about two players that are arguably among our best. The nature of the mistakes make me suspicious about an underlying problem. Do such mistakes keep happening because we don't have winners in our team? When I say winners I mean players that don't switch off at key moments. Players who don't crumble under pressure. It's something that is more difficult for a spectator to identify. We can easily point to these two players and see the undeniable contribution made to play. Is it possible that what we need is something less spectacular but more reliable? 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete 2,494 Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 Candeias actually was bent over with his hands on his thighs when Kamberi received the ball. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buster. 4,808 Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 7 hours ago, ranger_syntax said: It's something that is more difficult for a spectator to identify. We can easily point to these two players and see the undeniable contribution made to play. Is it possible that what we need is something less spectacular but more reliable? The Tav & Candy right hand side is pure net synergy that nine out of ten teams can only dream about. If they didn't make errors, they'd be worth more than we could pay. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rousseau 9,310 Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 I think we need some Man City style shithousery. Any sniff of a counter and we should be getting stuck-in with niggly fouls. To be fair, none of our players have any real experience of a 'winners mentality' -- outwith McGregor, which I have relished; the saves, the fouls, the time wasting etc. How do you buy that? Can you buy that? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buster. 4,808 Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 Just now, Rousseau said: I think we need some Man City style shithousery. Any sniff of a counter and we should be getting stuck-in with niggly fouls. To be fair, none of our players have any real experience of a 'winners mentality' -- outwith McGregor, which I have relished; the saves, the fouls, the time wasting etc. How do you buy that? Can you buy that? A winners mentality stems from having enough quality in a squad. We lack creative quality. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie 8,136 Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 I think we're getting there, slowly but surely. It's difficult to see so many silly points dropped but we're not far off being a very decent team. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMAA 3,603 Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 10 hours ago, ranger_syntax said: Perhaps if he had been looking at the vacant right back area he could have warned Candeias about the danger in enough time. If you watch the replays Goldson spotted Kamberi and shouted at Candeias and pointed at Kamberi and he was raging at Candeias when the goal went in. Candeias didn't move at all after the shout so can only assume he didn't hear him or know what he was saying but he shouldn't even have needed to be told really. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 3,219 Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 A bit strange that players want a right winger doing a CD's job ... after running himself into ground week in and week out, and in this game too. Defending is primarily Goldson's, Worrall's, Tavernier's, Halliday's, Kamara's and Jack's job. Who knows what Candeias thought in that moment or whether he was simply knackered or carried a knock? That said, watching it again, Candeias actually looks to the ball - as does Kamara - not Kamberi nor Goldson, while both Hibs attackers are bordering on offside. And in saying that, when the cross comes in, Goldson looks to the ball and does not check what is behind him either. On a sidenote, if Tavernier was half as good at defending as he is in penalty taking, we'd have a massive player at our hands. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tannochsidebear 2,306 Posted March 11, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted March 11, 2019 I agree with the OP's "what if" but I keep asking myself "What if" we had fair-minded, competent, referees. Any number of huge game-changing incidents on Friday. What if McGregor had been correctly sent off after only 8 minutes. What if Morelos was awarded the stonewall penalty? What if Gray had been rightly sent off for his viscous assault on Morelos in the second half? What if the referee gives us a free kick for the clear foul on Tav that leads to their goal? There were 5 major decisions for the referee to make on Friday night, the 4 above and also the over-ruling the linesman's flag for an offside because Hibs were in a great position to score. I bet McLean was absolutely livid that not only did Hibs fail to take advantage of his cheating and fail to score, but we went up the park and scored on the breakaway. I also get to asking myself "what if" the referee gives a clear penalty for the handball last time round at Easter Road in the last minute of a goalless game? What if Morelos is not wrongly sent off at Dolly in a game we dominate and drop 2 points in the last minute? What if Scott Brown was correctly red-carded at rugby Park for an awful assault in a game where he goes on to score a last minute winner? These are just the first ones off the top of my head, this season, that if the what ifs had gone the correct way, would see us level on points at the top. There are more, plenty of them. What if indeed! 10 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,387 Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 31 minutes ago, Tannochsidebear said: I agree with the OP's "what if" but I keep asking myself "What if" we had fair-minded, competent, referees. Any number of huge game-changing incidents on Friday. What if McGregor had been correctly sent off after only 8 minutes. What if Morelos was awarded the stonewall penalty? What if Gray had been rightly sent off for his viscous assault on Morelos in the second half? What if the referee gives us a free kick for the clear foul on Tav that leads to their goal? There were 5 major decisions for the referee to make on Friday night, the 4 above and also the over-ruling the linesman's flag for an offside because Hibs were in a great position to score. I bet McLean was absolutely livid that not only did Hibs fail to take advantage of his cheating and fail to score, but we went up the park and scored on the breakaway. I also get to asking myself "what if" the referee gives a clear penalty for the handball last time round at Easter Road in the last minute of a goalless game? What if Morelos is not wrongly sent off at Dolly in a game we dominate and drop 2 points in the last minute? What if Scott Brown was correctly red-carded at rugby Park for an awful assault in a game where he goes on to score a last minute winner? These are just the first ones off the top of my head, this season, that if the what ifs had gone the correct way, would see us level on points at the top. There are more, plenty of them. What if indeed! Spot on! sour grapes! stand by for the ''we can't blame the ref for not winning'' brigade!! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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