Melker Hallberg: Why 2020/21 season will be vital for Hibs midfielder

Less competition for places could hand Swede gilt-edged chance to cement starting position

Melker Hallberg will be hoping to nail down a regular starting slot in the Hibs midfield this season

Three Sweden caps, Europa League experience, and gametime in four of Europe's top-flight divisions - Melker Hallberg looked like a shrewd acquisition by the Hibs recruitment team when he arrived on a three-year contract last summer.

One thing evident from his previous clubs was his versatility. In just over 100 matches for Kalmar FF Hallberg had been deployed in no fewer than seven roles, although more than half of those games were in central positions.

Less clear was how he would fit into a team that already had six or seven players capable of playing in the middle of the park. His first couple of appearances were on the right of midfield in back-to-back defeats by Kilmarnock and Hearts as Paul Heckingbottom opted to play Josh Vela and Stevie Mallan as his central midfielders.

Hallberg holds off Aberdeen striker Sam Cosgrove during a Scottish Premiership clash at Pittodrie

Hibs experienced an upturn in performances when the 24-year-old was shifted into a more central role, often anchoring a midfield diamond or partnering Vykintas Slivka in defensive midfield in a 4-2-3-1 formation

When Jack Ross succeeded Heckingbottom in mid-November, he quickly adopted a 3-4-1-2 set-up in a bid to get the most out of the players available to him.

This allowed Scott Allan to continue as a number ten, providing ammunition for a two-man attack after neither Christian Doidge nor Florian Kamberi had worked out as lone strikers, as well as making the most of Martin Boyle’s pace on the right.

The midfield personnel could be tweaked depending on the opposition but in the second half of the curtailed season, January loan arrivals Greg Docherty and Stephane Omeonga were often picked in the engine room with one of Steven Whittaker or Slivka alongside them.

Hallberg was limited to just 196 minutes of gametime in 2020, completing the full 90 minutes on just one occasion and making brief substitute appearances.

Energy and dig

Even when Hallberg was still playing catch-up in terms of match fitness and overall sharpness his stamina and drive was clear to see, although understandably he drifted out of games in the early stages of his Easter Road career.

Lung-busting runs to support the attack became something of a trademark and his two goals in green and white - one against Celtic at Hampden in the League Cup semi-final, and the other a consolation in the final Edinburgh derby of the season - were the result of such runs.

Six yellow cards suggested he wasn't afraid to get stuck in either, while his range of passing from deep gave Hibs an extra dimension.

Jigsaw and tactics

After the departures of Marvin Bartley and Mark Milligan in the summer of 2019, the general consensus from fans seemed to be that the former was on the wane, while Heckingbottom was eyeing "something different to play in that position".

A string of deputies were tried out in the number six role, while Bartley shone for Livingston in a similar position.

The arrival of Alex Gogic this summer looks like one of the final pieces of the jigsaw has been located and dropped into place. With the Cypriot on board, Ross will be able to send his team out in his favoured 3-4-1-2, 4-4-2 diamond, or 4-2-3-1 formations.

Hallberg is the obvious choice to partner Gogic in the dual holding roles in the 4-2-3-1 arrangement. In the other two formations, he will likely be battling with Mallan and Newell for one of the two central berths.

Alternatively, Mallan's attacking nous could hand him a chance to challenge Allan at the tip of the diamond, or as a ten in the 3-4-1-2 formation, paving the way for Hallberg to make one of those central positions his own.

Make-or-break

With five of his rivals for the coveted central roles now departed – Slivka, Omeonga, Docherty, Whittaker and Vela – the Swede has a real chance to stake a claim for a regular spot in midfield this term.

Hallberg will be eager to avoid a similar scenario to the one experienced by Slivka, whose versatility perhaps hampered his impact at Easter Road.

The Lithuanian internationalist was capable of fulfilling a number of midfield roles as a utility man of sorts when players were out through injury or suspension, but was unable to really make one position his own.

The calibre of some of Slivka's team-mates during his three-year stint in Edinburgh, such as Dylan McGeouch and John McGinn, didn’t make things easier but with less competition in the middle of the park, Hallberg has a golden opportunity to cement a slot in the starting line-up and build on a promising, albeit shortened, first season in the Capital.