Tactics Zone: Montgomery brings his Mariners Plan A to Hibs

New head coach Nick Montgomery stamped his mark on Hibs immediately in the draw at Kilmarnock

Nick Montgomery went straight to page one of his Central Coast Mariners playbook in his first game as Hibs boss, taking bold early steps to implementing the sort of system that led his Aussie underdogs to a surprise A-League title.

The new head coach, with only four training sessions at East Mains under his belt before the weekend trip to Rugby Park, wasted no time in switching to the 4-4-2 formation – very compact out of possession but almost a 4-2-4 with the ball – that had served him so well Down Under.

And, while it’ll take time for players to get to grips with every aspect of Montgomery’s game model, there were encouraging signs. Especially in a first half that saw the strike pairing of Christian Doidge and Dylan Vente rotate with inverted wingers Martin Boyle and Elie Youan in a fluid four-man attack.

Straight from kick-off, we could see how Hibs intended to line up when Killie had the ball, with wingers Boyle and Youan – on the left and right respectively – tucking infield to create a narrow midfield four that forced their opponents to play around an organised block.

That was the shape they fell into immediately (see Photo 1). And it very nearly resulted in a goal inside the opening 15 seconds.

Youan and Boyle move inside to block up passing lanes

What was interesting about events once Boyle had intercepted the ball in that instance was the movement of Doidge (see Photo 2), bending his run to the left and opening up space for the winger to go straight through the middle.

Photo 2: Doidge pulls wide so Boyle can run at space.

Doidge’s movement was key to a lot of what Hibs did in the first half. Much more than just a target man, the centre forward – who went off just before the break with a nasty-looking eye injury – often dropped deep or drifted wide to create space for right-footed Boyle to cut in from his starting position on the left (see Photo 3).

Doidge pulled wide to free up Boyle

The willingness of both Doidge and Vente to drop deep was an invitation to both wide men, in fact, with Photo 4 showing Youan and Boyle – who had switched sides - combining on the counterattack. There isn’t a striker in the frame. But both have played their part in generating an opening.

Photo 4: Youan and Boyle exploited space left by strikers dropping off

Montgomery’s Mariners used their wide men as auxiliary forwards at times. Encouraged to drive infield or roam in search of weak spots, they were key to what he achieved with a team hampered by having the smallest budget in the division.

There were definite hints of that game plan on Saturday, with the second goal coming from a throw-in that saw all four attackers come together in a cluster (see Photo 5)

All four Hibs attackers were involved in the second goal

Sharp movement by substitute striker Adam Le Fondre and a neat pass from Youan, who had come all the way across from the right wing, set up Vente for a sneaky finish.

So far, so good. So very good, in fact. So how did Hibs end up squandering a 2-0 lead?

Well, the one risk with this formation is that gaps appearing in midfield, with Jimmy Jeggo and Joe Newell asked to cover a lot of ground – and a lot of runners. They need a bit of help from their team-mates, at times.

Looking at Photo 6, most coaches would want Rocky Bushiri to be closer to the danger area marked out. The central defender has been dragged out to the left back position moments before – but Lewis Stevenson has now recovered and has his man tightly marked, with Newell also close at hand.

If Bushiri drifts five yards closer to Jeggo, he’s still in a good cover position in case Stevenson is beaten. But he probably stops Brad Lyons from getting in the shot that leads to Kyle Vassell’s goal.

Bushiri could tuck into mark the space

Newell and Jeggo played well, as rule. They just occasionally found themselves forced deep, giving up dangerous space in front of the penalty box (see Photo 7).

Photo 7: Hibs midfield forced deep - giving up a shooting chance.

Conceding an equaliser to a set piece is any coach’s least favourite thing, of course. But at least it’s something Hibs can work on this week.

What might be just as concerning for Montgomery was how frantic things got in the closing stages of Saturday’s game; Photo 8 is NOT a good picture, from a Hibs perspective, and they were lucky that Robbie Deas couldn’t hit the target from this chance.

Photo 8: Hibs scramble to deal with danger.

Overall, though, there were positive hints and clear indicators of what Montgomery wants from his Hibs team.

For spells during the first half, their speed of passing and movement had Killie in a spin.

With a three-game week around the corner, the head coach will undoubtedly spend the next few days ironing out the kinks exposed by Kilmarnock. And getting his new players ever closer to something resembling the Plan A that delivered such success for him in Oz.