So that went … okay. At least in terms of the result. The performance was awful, again. Turgid, slow, unimaginative, panicked towards the end. The lethargy that characterised the first half of the season was not shaken off, nor left behind, in the Dubai sun.
This is a team still struggling to hit the heights of the last campaign.
And yes, those were some heights … but this today should have been so much better. Hibs are a combative side, but we gave them too much respect and they created too many chances. Better teams await us. Tougher challenges. We need to be much better than this.
And Leigh Griffiths … Jesus H. Pray that isn’t a bad injury. Pray that he’s not out for weeks. Because right now he’s our most potent striker. With Moussa still struggling we need Griffiths fit and ready. The apparent injury to Gordon concerns me less, but we cannot afford to have our talismanic striker – now just a handful of goals away from the magic 100 – out for long.
Still, there were positives. The manager made changes. He adapted the line-up. He changed the playing system – joy of joys. And it worked in the first half, but the second was simply awful. It was interesting though … this is a team that’s going through incremental changes. Lustig was left out … the manager is on the same page as us on that one too.
But performances need to improve dramatically. We still play too many balls backwards, which frustrates the Hell out of the supporters. If we manage to close the Musonda deal that will certainly help because with Rogic and Armstrong still out we lack that creative spark going through the middle. That would take some of the pressure off Scott Sinclair who’s miss characterised his off-on season thus far.
You know what though? We did what we had to do today. We’ve gotten the victory on a tough afternoon. Aberdeen came back to win so they are back in second, but we have that double digit lead Brendan said was so important.
It’s up to other people to keep on winning in a bid to play catch-up and as long as we keep putting the points on the board all of the pressure is on them.
In that end, points on the board are what it’s all about and tonight we’ve secured another three.
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