Hibernian v Motherwell 02/08/2026

[WellHighlander]

Understandably there's been pessimism leading into this campaign.

JBA goes, then Ward, Watt and Just follow Slattery out of the door- four players integral to what the club achieved last season - and a manager who gave us some of the best football we've seen as fans.

Throw in injuries to the likes of McGinn, O'Donnell and Maswanhise and you can see why doubts were creeping in.

No recognised striker in three competitive games so far - no problem.

HB were dispatched with relative ease, but to go to Easter Road and take three points on the back of a tricky European tie away from home only three days earlier, is perhaps beyond the start we could have hoped for.

First half, there was very little in it. Controlled possession and Hibs offered little. As an attacking threat, neither did we until a smart passage of play resulted in the penalty.

Second half, we looked alright until the mistake gifted Hibs a way back in. After that while not quite backs to the wall, Hibs looked the more likelier to find a winner until that stunning late breakaway goal.

First game I've watched in full and my initial thought is that the style looks to be similar to last season, which is pleasing.

What I'm most impressed with is how quickly he's bedded in virtually a new back four (or five if you include goalkeeper). Paulsen will need to learn when he picks and chooses to come for crosses as opponents will identify this and employ tactics to block him, but his shot-stopping was decent, while he looked comfortable with the ball at his feet.

Williams was, in the main, solid aside from his poor pass that lead to the Hibs penalty. However, the standouts were Moorman and Girdwood-Reich. Moorman looks a proper centre half, demonstrated perfectly by sensing the danger when twice clearing from the line. He can play a bit too. Girdwood-Reich was composed as well. To bed these two in so quickly is impressive work.

The departures of Watt and Slattery have been offset by keeping Fadinger. Think once in the second half he gave the ball away. Apart from that, he was faultless. He is absolutely pivotal to what we do and how bigger clubs haven't picked up on him yet I'll never know. His partner Priestman was decent too. Needs to break the lines more, but when he does he's very effective as shown by the penalty.

Further forward, Charles-Cook and Longelo flitted in and out. The Williams-Longelo partnership showed little bits of promise on the left. Charles-Cook had moments and should have scored, but I think he may have been offside.

Vogt showed some neat close control at times. I'd be interested to get others thoughts, but to me he looks a little off the pace. Would have said he was the player most on the periphery yesterday.

Said, as many will agree, frustrates the life out of you, none more so than in the second half yesterday where he had three Hibs players toiling to get the ball off him, only to then hit a simple 10-yard pass out for a throw.

He'd absolutely be the first player at the club you'd pick for your five-a-side team. There's no doubting the talent. Johansson's job is to make it more productive and I thought he took the goal really well given it's an area he's not renowned for.

Don't know if it's too much of a stretch to say with Just gone, Said can take up his mantle? Time will tell.

What I did like is the transitions between the front four, making it difficult for Hibs defenders to know who to pick up.

Like many, a forward (or two) is needed, but Johansson's decision to focus on building from the back is paying early dividends. Having solid foundations is key and his recruitment, at this stage, appears impressive.

I think we're really up against it on Thursday. Best we can hope for is to give ourselves a fighting chance going into the second leg at Fir Park.

Regardless, it's been a start with more positives than negatives. It's not been perfect, but I think we can all agree at this stage, we've got valid reason to hope for another good season.

[joewarkfanclub]

I hadnt actually thought that the replacement for Just may already be in the building. 

But if you think about it, Said has all the attributes.

Great close control, gets us up the pitch, brings other team mates into play with neat lay offs. Incredible work rate getting back into position to defend.

Just (pun intended) needs to work on the assists and finishing, but yesterday was a very good start.

[star sail]

Couple of slightly negative comments looking at the highlights. 

Firstly, I don't think that is a penalty for Hibs. Saw 50/50's like that all the time in the WC that were waved away ( McGinn included). Boyle played for the penalty and got it.

Secondly, Paulsen coming for two crosses and dropping both.  I like the idea of him coming for those balls (Dijkstra style) but you have to get them. On another day we would have been punished both times. It will be interesting to see if he perseveres with this.

Two small negatives that in the end did not matter. Loving Lowry's contribution for the 2 Nd goal. I am going to stick with the Stephen Hughes analogy with him for now, (ex Rangers bad boy come good) and it could have been a McGhee team Version 1 goal we were watching yesterday. 

If Lowry has the same impact that SH had in McGhee's free flowing Motherwell team then we have a success on our hands. 

 

[joewarkfanclub]

10 minutes ago, star sail said:

Couple of slightly negative comments looking at the highlights. 

Firstly, I don't think that is a penalty for Hibs. Saw 50/50's like that all the time in the WC that were waved away ( McGinn included). Boyle played for the penalty and got it.

Secondly, Paulsen coming for two crosses and dropping both.  I like the idea of him coming for those balls (Dykstra style) but you have to get them. On another day we would have been punished both times. It will be interesting to see if he perseveres with this.

Two small negatives that in the end did not matter. Loving Lowry's contribution for the 2 Nd goal. I am going to stick with the Stephen Hughes analogy with him for now, (ex Rangers bad boy come good) and it could have been a McGhee team Version 1 goal we were watching yesterday. 

If Lowry has the same impact that SH had in McGhee's free flowing Motherwell team then we have a success on our hands. 

 

Ive not been 100% sure about Paulsen so far (mostly because of his distribution), but Im going to defend him here (caveat being you've only seen the highlights).

He did come for a few cross balls before the ones he dropped and caught them all, so was obviously feeling pretty confident that he could catch everything by then.

I guess he just needs to work on his judgement/decision making.

I thought it was an encouraging performance by him with 3 really good saves, a couple of really good catches and distribution much better.

I think/hope like most of the team, he will only get better with games and the understanding that will develop between him and the rest of the defence.

I agree re Lowry. Small sample size, but he looked very comfortable on the ball and his involvement in the goal is exactly what we need going forward.

[couttsy]

Fantastic result! 2nd half performance a little bit disappointing but the winning goal was a thing of beauty! Considering the important players that have left and the amount we have out injured at the moment it makes the result even better!

Let’s hope we have a midfielder or two in the building soon, we are asking a huge amount of Priestman and Fadinger, wouldn’t like to see how we’d cope without 1 or both of them!

Minor irritation but how hell did Preistman get a yellow card for giving away the penalty when Mulligan didn’t for a much more reckless challenge?! 

[weeyin]

1 hour ago, star sail said:

Secondly, Paulsen coming for two crosses and dropping both.  I like the idea of him coming for those balls (Dijkstra style) but you have to get them. On another day we would have been punished both times. It will be interesting to see if he perseveres with this.

 

Paulsen also caught some crosses, and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on the second has hit collided with his own player.

I'm not sure we would have been punished on another day any more than any other keeper mistake over the years. However, as I mentioned elsewhere on here, I'm not sure why a new keeper receives more criticism for a mistake or two while settling in compared to new outfield players. In the second HB game, established players made a few bad mistakes (like a backpass that sent the HB forward clean through on goal), and barely a comment made.

 

[numpty]

1 hour ago, couttsy said:

Minor irritation but how hell did Preistman get a yellow card for giving away the penalty when Mulligan didn’t for a much more reckless challenge?! 

Presumably, ref considered Priestman's challenge to have prevented a direct goalscoring opportunity, so downgraded from red to yellow when the penalty was awarded. Mulligan's must just have been considered a (non-reckless) prevention of a "promising attack" due to the number of other defenders in the vicinity, so downgraded from yellow to no card when penalty given.

[grizzlyg]

Starting xi most cosmopolitan seen in ages.  Injuries plus young boys on bench only reason no Scots started.

2 aussies

2 Austrians

2 English 

1 welsh

1 kiwi

1 nigerian 

1 Grenada 

1 Brazilian/swiss

And a team spirit which is a sight to behold.  The new guys look they have settled in so quickly.  Existing squad plus management a big factor for that

[star sail]

33 minutes ago, weeyin said:

Paulsen also caught some crosses, and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on the second has hit collided with his own player.

I'm not sure we would have been punished on another day any more than any other keeper mistake over the years. However, as I mentioned elsewhere on here, I'm not sure why a new keeper receives more criticism for a mistake or two while settling in compared to new outfield players. In the second HB game, established players made a few bad mistakes (like a backpass that sent the HB forward clean through on goal), and barely a comment made.

 

It is only because it is more obvious. The consequences of their mistakes are generally more terminal. We saw a few examples of that last year with goalkeeping mistakes in games against Celtic in particular. It is the challenge that comes with the GK's position on the field.

I think people are aware of the added risk associated with goalkeeper mistakes and I don't think the criticism is greater as a result. Reasonable people can see the increased jeopardy.

On the highlights there were two instances of him missing crosses. Against better opposition who have the composure to pick a spot ( in European football for example) you would often lose two goals from those situations. We may have been punished on another day, we may not. You certainly can't say we would not have been.

I don't think pointing this out equates to goalkeepers getting more criticism than outfield players. It is simply a comment on two important moments in the game. Unfortunately for goalkeepers, mistakes carry a higher risk. It's just a reality of the game .

Outfield players get plenty of criticism on here for their mistakes ( but then you know that 😉).

[andalg]

9 minutes ago, star sail said:

It is only because it is more obvious. The consequences of their mistakes are generally more terminal. We saw a few examples of that last year with goalkeeping mistakes in games against Celtic in particular. It is the challenge that comes with the GK's position on the field.

I think people are aware of the added risk associated with goalkeeper mistakes and I don't think the criticism is greater as a result. Reasonable people can see the increased jeopardy.

On the highlights there were two instances of him missing crosses. Against better opposition who have the composure to pick a spot ( in European football for example) you would often lose two goals from those situations. We may have been punished on another day, we may not. You certainly can't say we would not have been.

I don't think pointing this out equates to goalkeepers getting more criticism than outfield players. It is simply a comment on two important moments in the game. Unfortunately for goalkeepers, mistakes carry a higher risk. It's just a reality of the game .

Outfield players get plenty of criticism on here for their mistakes ( but then you know that 😉).

By coming for everything he forced Hibs to change their corner taking plans and they ended up putting the ball further out with every corner 

[joewarkfanclub]

I think on a fans football forum its entirely fair to point out mistakes and discuss them, just as it is with great pieces of play like the second goal, otherwise whats the point of the forum.

However, Ive just finished listening to the latest Motherwell Daft Podcast, and they make a very pertinent point.

Within the squad/coaching team we are encouragaing a more blameless/criticism free envornment to try and encourage bravery and confidence on the ball.

The example used was Williams passback which led to the penalty. If he had been absolutely slaughtered for that (as he no doubt would have been in the past), then would he have then had the confidence to burst forward to provide the assist for the winning goal? Or would he have played it safe and sat back in position and let someone else take the responsibility?

Its something Jens was very strong on (see Calum Ward) and it would seem something Alfred is continuing.

If you listen to Alfred and David Gray after the game, the difference is quite stark.

Gray totally focuses on mistakes and being better. Alfred swots away any talk of mistakes and focuses on the positives.

I think its definitely a mindset game that we seem to be getting much better at as a club/team.

 

 

[Richie]

Paulsen has done well and even at the pen was pretty close to it.

The goal-line clearances were pretty powder puff and we had a few people covering.

Not overly concerned about him coming for crosses, the main issue yesterday was his own players in the road. If it was opposing players 9/10 times a foul will get given.

Mentioned before, but forget the pen, how O'Hora wasn't booked for pulling down Maswanhise is ridiculous.

Soft, but he would have been running into the box.

[grizzlyg]

Also not mentioned as much but only whyte done great for 2nd goal hassling hibs player to make mistake.

Williams looks a great signing.  Yes made mistake for goal but brilliant fir 2nd.