Hibs transfer priority is staring Nick Montgomery in the face and it's closer to home than he might think - Tam McManus
The January window is wide open and HIbs are on the hunt for up to four players - our resident Easter Road expert gives his opinion on what's required.
Nick Montgomery should take a look in the mirror over the next few days - and he’ll see the type of player who should be his priority in the January window.
The Hibs boss won’t mind me saying this but he was a right hardy b*****d as a player. A real midfield destroyer. And someone of his own ilk would make a massive difference to this Hibs team who, I’m afraid to say, appear to be slipping towards average again. Put blunty a third place finish is gone already. Unless Hearts sell Lawrence Shankland then I don’t think anyone is catching them never mind Hibs. And it pains me to admit that.
The derby at Easter Road last week was vital and to lose that and be 11 points behind is not a good look at the midway stage. Hibs need a New Year kick because there doesn’t seem to be a lot of excitement about the team at the moment, a bit of apathy is washing over the place.
It’s been two years of mediocrity and it goes back long before Montgomery took over. The manager is rightly getting a bit of leeway from the fact Hibs have punted three managers in quick succession. He needs to get his own players in.
But the jury remains out and he needs to make sure his first transfer window is a good one. They might not have Bill Foley’s cash injection this month but they do have the million pounds from the sale of Elias Melkersen and Montgomery needs to go and add quality.
Tuesday night’s draw with Motherwell showed that the old problems are still there - primarily leaking goals. Add in the missed chances and it’s not a good combination. But one thing that could help both ends of the park for me is the addition of that midfield enforcer cut from the same cloth as the boss himself.
I played with Nick in the Scotland Futures team many moons ago and then watched his career from there on in. Just a week training with him let me know all about his ability to break things up in the middle of the park, put his foot in and do the dirty work for his team.
Someone like that in a midfield three would make the world of difference to this side. Joe Newell and Dylan Vente are two very good players but Montgomery’s rigid 4/4/2 system is not doing them any favours. They are being outnumbered in the middle of the park and Vente is having to drop too deep when he should be concentrating on being in the box scoring goals.
I’d love to see Joe playing further forward to concentrate on threading balls through. Putting a third man in the middle of the park would free him up to do just that.
When Vente first came in he looked the business. But I’ve said for weeks now that he’s doing far too much of his work outside the box. The system is blunting his threat and one goal in his last 14 games isn’t great.
Every game when the ball goes wide he is dropping off to link up with a winger or when a midfielder is on the ball he drops to link play. I don’t know how many times the other night Jair Tavares and Elie Youan put balls across the box and he was nowhere to be seen.
I remember doing a lot of donkey work when I was younger then when the ball came in I wasn’t in the box where I should have been. But when I started to lose my pace as I got older I realised strikers are judged on goals and I stopped doing that and concentrated on getting in the box.
I genuinely think the addition of a quality defensive midfielder as a third man in the engine room could solve problems at both ends. It would also help if Martin Boyle and Lewis Miller were on the first flight back from the Asian Cup later this month! No offence to the Socceroos but I hope they get pumped in their group stage .. only with my Hibs hat on of course.
On a positive note it was fantastic to see Harry McKirdy come off the bench the other night. I’ve been critical of the player since he arrived in Leith. He came north with a big reputation and Hibs pushed the boat out to get him but he never scored a single goal last season.
But he’s had a major health scare and to fight back from that and be back on the park five months later says a lot for Harry. He’s a real character and maybe Hibs need a bit of that. The fans certainly gave him a great reception the other night.
When you’re a striker going through a barren spell then the goals seem to shrink and for him last season they must have looked like a match box. But hopefully he can get off the mark and maybe one goal would kick start a scoring run.
Hibs certainly need it. They’re desperate for a Bojan Miovski or Lawrence Shankland - someone to score 20 goals a season. Right now nobody looks capable of that. Finally, I’d like to wish by old mucker Stephen Dobbie all the best for his well-deserved testimonial on Sunday. Dobbs certainly knew the way to goal with 236 of them across his career.
He was a top team mate at Hibs 20 years ago and the big man went on to carve out a wonderful career down south after a remarkable spell at Queen of the South. In two spells in Dumfries he hit 166 goals in 283 games. Incredible! No wonder he’s known as the King of Queens. I’m sure he’ll get a right good turnout for his testimonial at Palmerston on Sunday.