Saints vs Hibs LC Semi 30/01


David123
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I'd imagine it'll be a similar team to the one that lined up today with Mackay coming in, lets burst their bubble and get back to winning ways

 

COYS

We didnae miss Dave today. I would go with the same defence.  Scobbie had a very decent game today.

 

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Seems that Stokes is eligible for this game; I thought he was automatically cup tied at this late stage. Hibs + Stokes

                                                                                                                                                                Saints - MOH

Just makes my point even stronger that even considering bids for Mikey is ludicrous at this juncture.

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You have got to say that on paper things dont look very favourable for us going into this game. We have not won a game since the 5th of December and have only scored one goal since then as well. We have had constant speculation hanging over of our star player and now Tommy Wright has stated that Murray Davidson, Chris Millar and Dave MacKay are all extremely doubtful for this game.

In contrast to this Hibs, barring their recent defeat at Ibrox, have been in excellent form. They have been boosted by the recent signing of Anthony Stokes and dont seem to have any major injury concerns.

In saying all that though, this majestic team of ours never fail to surprise me and have upset the odds numerous times in the past few seasons. Also, we have more players with big match experience in our team. The likes of Mannus, Anderson, Easton, Wotherspoon, Macca etc have all played in European football and have experience of playing in semi finals and winning a cup. I look at the Hibs team and just dont see that same level of big game experience in their squad.

As always in these games, the first 20 minutes will be so crucial. When we played Aberdeen at Tynecastle in our last League Cup Semi Final, losing the goal after just 3 minutes left us facing an uphill battle and got their fans right behind them. I know we went 1-0 behind as well in the Scottish Cup Semi, but the atmosphere was no where near as vociferous from the Aberdeen support that day (a crowd of only 19,057 in a stadium that can hold 50,000). Hibs fans will be right up for this on Saturday and we cant give them anything to cheer about early doors. I hope that we try to frustrate them early doors and just hit them on the counter when the opportunity arises.

I personally would like to see us go:
 

Mannus,

Shaugnessy, Anderson, Scoobie, Easton

O'Halloran, Muzza (I think he will play), Lappin, Wotherspoon,

Cummins

MacLean

 

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You have got to say that on paper things dont look very favourable for us going into this game. We have not won a game since the 5th of December and have only scored one goal since then as well. We have had constant speculation hanging over of our star player and now Tommy Wright has stated that Murray Davidson, Chris Millar and Dave MacKay are all extremely doubtful for this game.

In contrast to this Hibs, barring their recent defeat at Ibrox, have been in excellent form. They have been boosted by the recent signing of Anthony Stokes and dont seem to have any major injury concerns.

In saying all that though, this majestic team of ours never fail to surprise me and have upset the odds numerous times in the past few seasons. Also, we have more players with big match experience in our team. The likes of Mannus, Anderson, Easton, Wotherspoon, Macca etc have all played in European football and have experience of playing in semi finals and winning a cup. I look at the Hibs team and just dont see that same level of big game experience in their squad.

As always in these games, the first 20 minutes will be so crucial. When we played Aberdeen at Tynecastle in our last League Cup Semi Final, losing the goal after just 3 minutes left us facing an uphill battle and got their fans right behind them. I know we went 1-0 behind as well in the Scottish Cup Semi, but the atmosphere was no where near as vociferous from the Aberdeen support that day (a crowd of only 19,057 in a stadium that can hold 50,000). Hibs fans will be right up for this on Saturday and we cant give them anything to cheer about early doors. I hope that we try to frustrate them early doors and just hit them on the counter when the opportunity arises.

I personally would like to see us go:
 

Mannus,

Shaugnessy, Anderson, Scoobie, Easton

O'Halloran, Muzza (I think he will play), Lappin, Wotherspoon,

Cummins

MacLean

 

would agree 100% with everything you said there.  With regards your team line-up I would rather Joe played CB rather than right back but if Cuptie is struggling which TW has alluded to then that will probably be the way we line-up.  Only change I would make is perhaps playing Liam on the left side of midfield.  Just feel that with this game being against Hibs we may get a huge performance out of him.  

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would agree 100% with everything you said there.  With regards your team line-up I would rather Joe played CB rather than right back but if Cuptie is struggling which TW has alluded to then that will probably be the way we line-up.  Only change I would make is perhaps playing Liam on the left side of midfield.  Just feel that with this game being against Hibs we may get a huge performance out of him.  

Liam before Lappin anytime.

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I wonder if the guy selling hats and scarves at the entry gate will have learnt how to spell St Johnstone on his clobber this time?

With all the back slapping between both sets of fans on here why not have a split scarf?

Eh naw.........I hope we absolutely pump them. my uncle and cousin are Hibees and could not cope with the abuse if we lost.

 

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Tommy apparently knows his team A B and C.. This is A for me

 

Mannus

Mackay, Shaugnessy, Anderson, Easton

Wotherspoon Davidson Craig

OHalloran MacLean Cummins.

 

Bluffing over seriousness of Muzz and Cuptie but Millar won't make it...

 

I thought it was bluffing too but Muzz did go off with a knock

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With all the back slapping between both sets of fans on here why not have a split scarf?

Eh naw.........I hope we absolutely pump them. my uncle and cousin are Hibees and could not cope with the abuse if we lost.

 

At least you will have the bragging rights when you beat them to the league. 

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                          Mannus

Shaughnessy  Anderson   Scobbie    Easton

MOH     Davidson   Wotherspoon   Craig

         Maclean      Cummins

 

come out the blocks like a rabid dog, kill the advantage of a bigger Hibs support straight away and really bully and harass their young ball players.

up front they won't have faced anything like that this season... Get the ball to O'Halloran early and let him run at the left back... Maclean to make front post runs all day, we have scored so many from him getting there and finishing a low MOH cross.  Zippy to attack the back post.

if we can come out flying and impose ourselves on them then we could really dominate.

4-1 Saints

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Mackay, Millar and Muzz were all described as "serious doubts" by TW yesterday, not convinced he's one to get overly deep into that style of mind game. Muzz is the biggest one to miss, but I reckon him and Mackay will find a way to play (pretty frustrating we never actually got told what sort of injuries they had though)

Being the optimist I am I'd line up...

Mannus

Mackay - Anderson - Joe - Easton

O'Halloran - Wotherspoon - Muzz - Lappin

MacLean - Cummins

I do prefer Craig to Lappin, but Lappin seems a "big game" player who'll be solid throughout, Liams passion could easily see him try far too hard to prove a point to Hibs and throw himself into something stupid. Would stress that Radford made a very good point on P&B that Hibs weakness is the centre halves who are both tragically slow, while the full backs seem told to push up, which is very similar to the weaknesses Rangers had, so O'Halloran up front might not be the most surprising thing. Would be interesting to see if we went with Thomson on the right in that case, or Spoony with Craig/Lappin central.

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I would add that we shouldn't underestimate Hibs, at all. Confidence is a huge leveller and they'll be full of it while we've not won in a while.

Never mind confidence, Hibs have a very good team full of players I would happily see at Saints. McGeoch, McGinn and Cummings are all exceptional players. Which full back will  MOH go up against? Lewis Stevenson? Nightmare for them IMO. They should do their homework there. 

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