Coventry Saint

I guess if you have a genuinely great reader of the game in the middle of the park, who could potentially do the work of two players in breaking up play and moving the ball on, then you might be ok. *Strokes chin and side-eyes JDH* It'd probably mean playing McGrath as an inside-out winger on the left hand side, but that's not an issue if you've got a proper out-and-out winger down the right. Connolly - JDH - Erhahon - McGrath ------------Obika - Brophy ------------- There'd be less cover for the defence, but it could work.

Lovely stuff, that's really useful, cheers. Interesting re the 4-4-2 stuff. I think the fact is, that suits a lot of strikers, but doesn't necessarily suit the modern game, and it's a relatively easy formation to nullify. Fans will always call for it to be used, and managers will occasionally respond, but it almost always gets binned again pretty quickly.

Can you expand on that at all? Like, what the other reasons might be? That remains my only nagging doubt is that, given it's fair to say we're operating on about the same level this season, why he hasn't been an automatic starter and why he's not scored many when he has played.

Yeah, let's be real: a long deal protects him, but the sort of fees we tend to command wouldn't prohibit him from getting the upper-end move he's said he is after. I don't see how anyone loses, tbh.

Sorry mate, I missed that. Apologies. I know this much: a club that plays with one up front doesn't need four out-and-out strikers, plus Morias. Ah well, we're investing in the squad and planning ahead. I'm not complaining.

Something else to bear in mind is that we don't know what's going on behind the scenes with the likes of Obika. He might have privately made it clear he's not signing an extension; perhaps we've not even asked him to. Maybe he wants to head back down to England.

Agents using the media in this way is usually something that works 'up' the chain, but there's no reason whatsoever why his agent might not have chucked you, Hibs and 'England' in at the last stage of negotiations to squeeze a couple extra hundred quid out of us.

When was the last time we signed a striker with anything like a track record at this level? Thommo? And he obviously had reasons for joining. We have to bear in mind that, if we continue on this trajectory, it won't just be our players that bigger clubs are looking at. Whether this pans out or not remains to be seen, but as a show of intent, and as a gesture of support for Goodwin, this is an exciting move.

Bloody hell, yes. I read it as if we'd put a renewed, different offer on the table. As others have said, you'd hope the pandemic might play into our favour slightly with players who might be unsure what position they'll be in next summer. Probably applies to Connolly more than JDH, I'd say - the latter will easily get a gig.

A 'new' offer?! When did we start crapping money? Don't get me wrong, I'll w**k myself into a coma if we make these two deals happen.

Does Jim definitely know he's Scottish?

Shhhhhhh!

People being ridiculously harsh on Rogers here. There's a solid keeper in there somewhere and Killie should give him at least to the end of the season to get his head straight.

I can't believe Jake Doyle-Hayes won't sign that four year contract. Edit: naw, it's stopped working.

Livi are the team that I'm most afraid will sign our cast-offs and turn them into world beaters. Erwin, as you mention, or perhaps Morias...

I didn't mean for us

If crowds are allowed by April, which I suspect they could be, then 11th and a couple of big games could actually be desirable.

Shame; his contributions over the past few weeks have probably been about as good as they've ever been. As an option from the bench to help the ball stick up front, albeit not one that was ever going to worry the opponent's goal, he was alright. I assume we'll be releasing him, then? He's on contract to the end of the season, right?

Might be controversial, but I wouldn't be surprised if we had another centre mid coming in January. Ethan has been a revelation, but is prone to a bit of sloppiness. We need to remember he's only 19 and a little break might do him good. Goodwin clearly doesn't trust Cammy for whatever reason, and Foley is really just a CD. Ideally Flynn would be back and would solve the problem. Ethan has a big future ahead of him, hopefully with us, but a few errors - misplaced passes, not tracking runners - are creeping in.

He's never a winger, but played well in a defensive wing role against Rangers so will be played there forever now. My feed packed in so I can't see that goal line decision, though. Open All Mics guys are all split.

One of the weirder free kicks I've ever seen given against us.

They checking it's still plastic?! FFS.

I guess, when you've been proven as wrong as you have, then the 'I was pulling all the strings' defence was the only route open to you. That or admitting you were wrong.

Google knows. The evidence is fair mounting up. Almost enough for a dossier, I reckon.

It's the only reason Barry Lavety joined Hibs. Niche joke, that.