Post by Stu on Jul 30, 2010 9:00:28 GMT
NK Maribor 3 Hibs 0
It's not so much much the result - more the manner of it. I think we understood that this would be a difficult tie for Hibs, particularly as the Slovenians are a few games into their season whilst this was merely Hibs' first competitive game. On that basis alone I certainly didn't expect a victory.
I see the Hibs fans are receiving another kick in the privates this morning from Hughes though. He claims that 'we can turn this round'. Sorry, I'm always ready to be optimistic about Hibs but that is complete BS. It's also an insult to our intelligence.
It's being said all over the place ad nauseam but what the hell was the manager thinking of with that team selection last night? We have two lethal goalscorers in Stokes and Riordan and he leaves them both on the bench? I'd say the Maribor manager's job was made infinitely easier with that piece of stupidity. I'm sure Hughes' argument will be that he wanted to keep things tight and frustrate Maribor, but really - away goals in Europe are like gold dust and he should have had the good judgement to understand that and give us the opportunity of getting one and leaving us in with a shout in the second leg at Easter Road. In spite of the regular sound bites about his 'vision' etc, etc. I think he is extremely naive.
It would have potentially taken just one set-piece strike from Riordan to give a whole different complexion to this tie - a tie which is now a complete dead duck.
For five months at the end of last season, Hughes laboured to get a result. He got lucky with one isolated good result at the fag-end of the term which won him a reprise. Depressingly, I think he has learnt little though and whilst hoping I'm wrong, I believe we will be looking forward to more of the same this season.
It's not so much much the result - more the manner of it. I think we understood that this would be a difficult tie for Hibs, particularly as the Slovenians are a few games into their season whilst this was merely Hibs' first competitive game. On that basis alone I certainly didn't expect a victory.
I see the Hibs fans are receiving another kick in the privates this morning from Hughes though. He claims that 'we can turn this round'. Sorry, I'm always ready to be optimistic about Hibs but that is complete BS. It's also an insult to our intelligence.
It's being said all over the place ad nauseam but what the hell was the manager thinking of with that team selection last night? We have two lethal goalscorers in Stokes and Riordan and he leaves them both on the bench? I'd say the Maribor manager's job was made infinitely easier with that piece of stupidity. I'm sure Hughes' argument will be that he wanted to keep things tight and frustrate Maribor, but really - away goals in Europe are like gold dust and he should have had the good judgement to understand that and give us the opportunity of getting one and leaving us in with a shout in the second leg at Easter Road. In spite of the regular sound bites about his 'vision' etc, etc. I think he is extremely naive.
It would have potentially taken just one set-piece strike from Riordan to give a whole different complexion to this tie - a tie which is now a complete dead duck.
For five months at the end of last season, Hughes laboured to get a result. He got lucky with one isolated good result at the fag-end of the term which won him a reprise. Depressingly, I think he has learnt little though and whilst hoping I'm wrong, I believe we will be looking forward to more of the same this season.