2-0 now
Wee Gio clinging on
I’d say he will be gone tomorrow
GVB is too nice a man to be managing that club
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That’s a disappointing outcome in the end. Thought we’d have a more positive goal difference swing over the weekend but the consolation means it was just a 3 goal swing.
He’s an interesting one.
On the one hand…
- they’re only one point worse off after 13 games than they were at this stage last season. We have improved by 10 points in that period
- he got them to a European final
- he got them to the CL group stages via a challenging qualification path
- they had a tough CL group draw
- Bassey is a big loss for them
On the other hand…
- his tactics seem very conservative.
- some players (Kent, Kamara, Morelos) have deteriortlated starkly under his coaching. Maybe not all his fault because all 3 probably have attitude problems but he hasn’t managed them well
- his defensive gameplan is badly exposed without Bassey.
- it’s even worse without Goldson who isn’t a world beater but masked a lot of their defensive frailties.
- he’s not really accepting any responsibility for anything going wrong. I guess that can be true of most managers but he’s full of blame for external factors in a manner not seen since Lennon and Gerrard left town.
It seems the drab style the support doesn’t like as much as anything.
Lennon shouldn’t be brought into this conversation. Edit, apologies, I read you wrong.
I think the drab style is nonsense. They loved Walter Smith playing the same drab style and they were delighted with their defensive efforts when they got to the Europa League final.
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That’s the key point … Ange has built a squad that he can make 7 changes from midweek and still get job done …rangers don’t have that …
Are both Morelos and Kent gone for free next summer ?
Yep
Very odd…There was a stage where they reckoned they’d get near €40m for selling the two of them …
Yeah and probably wasn’t too far fetched.
Kent has one goal in 2022 I think. He looks very flat. They probably should have cashed in but they cashed in on Bassey and didn’t do anything with the money (except pay back the directors’ loans I guess).
And Morelos is a sub and not a very impactful one. He’s a caricature at this stage.
Think they have badly mismanaged their budget. Celtic probably suffered from putting too much stock in resale value and upside gambles but it has helped put them on a sound footing. And hopefully the new gamble is on securing annual Champions League revenue so there will be sales but they won’t be needed to balance the books - just to invest in the team.
The Huns have had some terrible deals. The likes of Ramsey sticks out - a lot of dead money. Even if he’d won the league it was a very expensive short term solution.
The German media reported that Matondo joined the Huns in the summer because Leeds couldn’t match his wage demands. So he’s probably on big money. And he’s been brutal. Tom Lawrence too - though they’ve been unlucky with his injury.
They spent about €10m on Matondo and Yilmaz in the summer. Yilmaz has started one league game - a ridiculous return on their €6.5 spend. A left back they probably didn’t need anyway.
Ben Davies hasn’t looked great for the money they spent either. And Souttar has had personal problems but looked brutal when he played and has a long injury history.
Add those incomings to Ramsey and Diallo and Zukowski who all signed in January. Only Davies is playing - and even then he’s been on and out of the team until Goldson got injured.
The summer of 2021 they brought in Juninho Bacuna for a couple of million and he barely played and left (for nothing I think) in the summer of 2022. Not the biggest transfer error - but indicative of a signing policy that is delivering no players for them.
In short - they may get rid of the manager but their recruitment guy - Ross Wilson - has been spectacularly bad in the last 18 months or so.
2 Likes
You love to see it.
Most normal folk (and it’s hard to include the huns in this) will accept average results if the style is there (look at the ongoing adoration for bielsa at Leeds), but combine drab results with drab football and it’s no good.
I reckon GVB can’t be putting up with Morelos who plays and behaves like a pound shop modern day Ronaldo, but a good manager should still be able to knock a tune out of him at spl level.
The huns were trapped by their own arrogance tbh.
That 12 million deal for the young lad who Gerrard signed, who doesn’t seem to have seen the light of day since, looks highly hooky also.
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Gio seems to nice a person to manage the huns
4th round draw for the Scottish Cup
Alloa Athletic v Falkirk
Arbroath v Motherwell
Celtic v Morton
Cove Rangers v Ayr
Darvel v Aberdeen
Dundee United v University of Stirling
Elgin City v Drumchapel United
Hamilton v Ross County
Hibs v Hearts
Inverness v Queen’s Park
Kilmarnock v Dumbarton
Linlithgow Rose v Raith Rovers
Partick Thistle v Dunfermline
St Johnstone v Rangers
St Mirren v Dundee
Stenhousemuir v Livingston
Early fireworks at Ibrox
Hibs take the lead through Porteous.
Mr Beale looks shell shocked
Scenes
1-2 Hibs