DC92

Last year's defensive issues seem to be this year's midfield issues. Absolutely no idea what we're going to do in there tomorrow given we've left Grant out of the squad. Do we have to play Halliday?

A dreadful result. Hamstrung ourselves with the initial team selection and did absolutely nothing first half. Started the second half well on top after the subs but conceded from an absolute clownshoe moment (and a great finish TBF). Midfield was, unsurprisingly, a huge issue. Sibbick isn't a midfielder and I've not really seen anything from Denholm to explain why he's gone from warming the East Fife bench to starting games for us. Fair enough, we had 3 players out and probably correctly rested Devlin, but Grant is still a better option than those who started. Definitely an area in which we need to add imo. When you couple a midfield that can't turn and play the ball in tight areas with CBs who are only capable of making safe passes, you get the goal we conceded. Rowles possibly plays the wrong pass, but an experienced and competent midfielder doesn't turn straight into trouble like Denholm did. The result and performance were shite, but it wasn't completely free of positives. Boyce and Lowry looked really good in that spell between half time and the goal and we created a fair few chances second half. On another day, the changes at half-time would have won us the game. Going out of Europe on Thursday should mean we can stop fannying around with rotating players. Hopefully we'll never see that midfield setup again.

Johnson's league record against teams with 11 men: P30, W6, D5, L19. That's relegation form. Johnson's league record against teams with 9 or 10 men: P11, W9, D2, L0. That's league winning form. Pretty clear that Hibs just have to get back to doing what they do best (having more players than the other team).

Humphrys wasn't a target man at all - no back to goal game whatsoever and very rarely used his physicality. He was a decent finisher and had a bit of pace but that was about it. Boyce frustrates at times when he hangs onto the ball too long but he's a smarter player and much more likely to make the ball stick up front than Humphrys.

On that evidence, a potentially winnable tie that we have fucked. Oh well. Midfield selection was poor, subs were poor or too late, failure to keep the head after scoring was poor. Theoretically still in it, but the second leg will be a different game and we'll probably get dicked.

Broadly agree with your post, and they certainly weren't Klopp's Liverpool, but they were probably only slightly below average compared to their last 30-odd years imo. They started a strong team at Anfield featuring some very good players who went on to nearly win the title the following season. It's worth saying we were also pretty gash that season and finished 10th, although we had a fairly solid defence, which is the bare minimum you need to make it respectable in these kind of games.

Looking forward to this but not massively optimistic, really. In the last couple of years we've been a team that's generally good at beating worse sides, but is basically no use against better sides. You'd have hoped last year's European experiences could have stood us in good stead, but injuries meant there was too much upheaval to build any sort of confidence or useful rhythm for these types of matches. Midfield feels like a bit of an issue with Beni and Haring not ready/unavailable and Nieuwenhof not having featured much yet. No shame on him, but I don't think Denholm showed enough last week to start and there were a few moments where he might have cost us. Kind of expecting Sibbick to start in there for his pace and ball-winning abilities, but there isn't much "football" in a Devlin and Sibbick midfield unless Cammy is really on his game. If he wasn't clearly on his way out, I'd actually have liked to see Grant start as he's comfortable on the ball and I think his better performances for us have came in Europe. I get the feeling it might be a nervy start tomorrow. We need to make it through that period to give ourselves a chance as we definitely can't afford to start like either of the Rosenborg games.

I was saying this 7 or 8 weeks ago when he was "linked" to us and Aberdeen fans were agreeing.

To be clear, I think he's good in the air because I've seen him 6 times now and he has looked good in the air, not because the stats said so. But those stats are the quickest way to get that point across to someone who hasn't seen him, and they're still impressive even if he doesn't sustain an 84% win rate (which would be exceptional). He also won every single header in that game while Rowles only challenged for 6 and won 1(!) which emphasises the point that this is definitely something we didn't have last season when Halkett was out.

Just noticed we've only been awarded two penalties since the 5-0 win against Aberdeen in January. Shankpen's return must have dried right up.

Not had much defending to do so far, but Offiah looks very good

Douglas Ross with one of the worst offside calls I've ever seen there.

Some of his long balls out the park in the first half were horrendous, but I can't remember him doing anything wrong defensively in any of his games so far aside from the goal the other night. He's also won 17 of 19 headers in the two league games which is exactly what we were missing last season.

Looks a good signing. Handful of appearances for the first team and just been given a new contract. I'd have said we're done now, but Denholm starting last night and then being replaced by Cochrane suggests to me that Naismith wants another midfielder and I'd agree we could do with one. Early days, but Nieuwenhof seems to be getting the Kuol treatment.

I'm always saying this.

Honestly thought the team selection and subs were fucking shocking. Devlin brilliant, Shankland and Boyce a great front two. Brilliant result. Need a far better approach v PAOK to even make a game of it though.

A 19 year old who couldn't get a start at East Fife in ahead of a £200k player who has yet to play in his proper position, meanwhile a left-back starts on the wing. What is Frances McAvoy cooking?

Based on the last couple of games, Rosenborg will sit deep and look to hit on the break through Nypan and Nelson, while we'll pass the ball slowly and unthreateningly between defence and midfield. You'd hope the atmosphere will naturally raise the tempo and I'm not sure Rosenborg are as defensively solid as Killie, although they are definitely more threatening on the counter and we'll be chasing the game from the start. Rowles has been fine defensively but he's been one of the main culprits for slow buildup. I'd be tempted to put Kingsley in his position since he's better at bringing the ball out and should be better at executing quick switches out to Oda on the right. Midfield also needs a rethink. Haring would be the one guaranteed starter but it looks like he might be out with an ankle injury. If Grant is available I'd be tempted to play him and Devlin and hope they can recreate their Zurich performance last season (without the cheating obvs). Nieuwenhof would be an obvious choice but the fact he didn't feature on Sunday suggests he won't play. Hopefully Boyce is ready to start. He's looked good in his cameos and their defence didn't enjoy playing against him and Shankland last week. Tagawa to come on later on when the game is stretched. Overall, definitely a winnable tie but we've made it a lot harder for ourselves after the first half last week. Time for Naismith to show some tactical acumen please.

They're very well equipped for playing the OF, Hearts/Hibs/Aberdeen away, etc. I'd just question whether they have the creativity to say they're a stick-on for taking 3 points consistently against the bottom 6. Not to say they aren't, but it's early days yet. For us, much more worrying. Most teams we play will sit back, let us have the ball and play on the counter. Even Rosenborg at home did this. We don't look like we have the answer to that so far.

This is the archetypal "could play all day without scoring" performance. Absolutely shite. Kilmarnock are a b*****d of a team to play against and will definitely pick up a few points against the supposed "bigger" clubs this season, but our buildup play is just so slow and lacking ideas. On the evidence we've seen so far, we'll really struggle against anyone setting up to play deep and hit on the break. Only positive is Boyce once again looking sharp after coming on.

Also McKay, who is still easily a first pick for me as things stand, even if that isn't the majority opinion. I don't think there's any great mystery about the "playing shite for the first hour" thing. Shankland isn't a lone striker, Nieuwenhof isn't a 10, Forrest isn't the required quality. Options maybe dictated that we played that way, but hopefully that won't be the case again this season and we should be able to field a strong and balanced front 4 from the start (McKay, Oda, Shankland, Tagawa) with varied options off the bench (Lowry, Boyce, Vargas). One slight concern at the moment for me is midfield. If we can't move the ball quickly and incisively enough then we're not going to make the use of those attacking options. Hopefully Beni can get back to his best and Nieuwenhof is able to smash the "decent option" ceiling the other Aussies have run into and become a key player.

Mitov (St Johnstone) Strain (St Mirren) Goldson (Rangers) Shaughnessy (Dundee) Souaré (Motherwell) Levitt (Hibs) Shinnie (Aberdeen) Dhanda (Ross County) Armstrong (Killie) Kyogo (Celtic) Nouble (Livi) Very much a case of having one player and one club to choose from for one of these

I'm not sure that's the case. I think we have to string it out until Naismith can enroll on the pro-licence course (January?).

He is a tackler and a runner typically. I think he had the most tackles in the league the season before last, or close to it. Him and Baningime consistently turning possession over by winning the ball back was a big factor in us easily finishing third that season. With the ball, he's erratic. In the Zurich home game last year he was brilliant at making space for himself, keeping it simple and and keeping us on the front foot until the red card, but we haven't seen that enough from him, particularly recently.

Yeah, you can only make two changes in the week before the game and that'll have been Tagawa and Lowry.