Saturday afternoon didn’t quite go to plan for Marink Reedijk as he led his Hibernian team for the first time. A 1-0 loss against Dundee United gave the Dutchman much to ponder as he takes on the challenge of his new job.
Here are five things we learned from the Hibees trip to Tannadice.
Hibs Fans Full Of Optimism
Speaking with the away support upon arrival, a renewed sense of optimism for this new era was clear. Hibs have become the latest in a line of Scottish Premiership clubs to appoint a manager with previous success overseas, taking special inspiration from city rivals Hearts in hiring from the Belgian leagues.
Excited fans outside Tannadice were pleased with the new direction, rather than targeting somebody with domestic experience like previous appointments David Gray and Shaun Maloney. The general feeling was that they’d seen success at the likes of Motherwell going down the foreign manager approach, so why couldn’t this translate itself to Hibs?
Change In Formation – A New Dynamicism To Hibernian
As many expected, Reedijk started his side with four at the back, a significant change from how David Gray lined up towards the tail of his tenure. Iredale at left back slotted alongside the centre-back pairing when Hibs were on the ball, allowing Felix Passlack the freedom to roam down the right-hand side.
A feature of the away side across the 90 minutes was fluidity in positioning. At times, Owen Elding on the right would cover for Passlack’s freedom, Ante Suto seemed to drop deep to receive the ball and play wide, while Miguel Chaiwa found himself covering near enough every blade of grass with the number of different positions he took up.
It would be fair to say that Reedijk’s outfit won’t be predictable. There was enough on show in defeat at Tannadice to suggest the players will be encouraged to express themselves and play with some creative freedom, far away from the structure we’ve come to expect from the Hibees under David Gray.
A Midfield The Same… But Different
It was no surprise to anybody that Miguel Chaiwa and Josh Mulligan were named in the starting eleven against Dundee United, but while the personnel in midfield might have remained the same, the way it set up couldn’t have been more unique.
Instead of a standard flat midfield two, where the pair line up alongside one another in front of the defence, Chaiwa and Mulligan formed a vertical line up the pitch. The Zambian screened in front of the defence and dropped deep to take and progress the ball, while Scotsman Mulligan played directly in front of him, usually around 15 yards more advanced, joining in with link-up play amongst the front four that Hibs created.
This created heavy overloads in and around the Dundee United penalty area, but left a lot of space in the middle of the park between the Hibernian pair, allowing standout Lyall Cameron time on the ball to put in the stellar performance he did.
Hibs too often found themselves under pressure through the midfield creativity Jim Goodwin’s side possessed, and because of the shape of their own midfield, couldn’t limit the space they had.
Showing Signs of Threat, but Chances Hard To Come By
Dundee United defended very well against several of Reedijk’s forwards. The visitors produced some intriguing passages of play leading them into good areas throughout the game, but suffered from poor individual decision-making and a lack of finishing touch at times.
Particularly while trailing the game in the second half, Hibs spent large periods playing around the edge of the opposition box, but rarely found ways to break through and test Jack Walton.
Speaking after the game, the Dutchman said it was “hard to see that what we trained on over the last few weeks, especially over the final third, doesn’t come to life here in a real match”.
Rabbi Matondo A Bright Spark on Debut
The Welsh international was introduced at Tannadice ten minutes into the second period, and within minutes found himself through on goal with a fantastic chance to level the score. While you could argue he should do better, he instantly took the game to the hosts in a way Hibernian struggled to do before he came on.
He provided Hibs with pace, the option to be direct and take a full back on, and a little bit of skill at times too. Matondo couldn’t do enough to completely change the game, but Reedijk’s outfit grew into the game once he brought the winger on and will no doubt have left the travelling support excited to see more at Easter Road next weekend.
