To summarise mcglynn and team

[Heartsfc_1874]

In my opinion mcglynn has his tactics all wrong. 4-4-1-1 in a home match is appalling we should be going 4-4-2 or

3-5-2 As we have resources to play this way. Got told he played the same at raith very ridig line ups no movement in team throughout season.

 

We don't need 3 holding midfielders

 

Best Team and team he should play(once fit)

 

Macdonald

 

Gowser. Zaulikas. Webster

 

Hamill Driver Taouil. Novikovas Grainger

 

Patterson Sutton

 

 

Your thoughts

[Geoff Kilpatrick]

And while Hamill isn't fit?

[Geoff Kilpatrick]

Oh and playing two wingers in centre midfield?

[The Great Khali]

You're worse than Mcglynn

[Heartsfc_1874]

Take hamill out until fit driver out wide holt slots in

[Gregory House M.D.]

If you're playing a 3-5-2 it'd have to be:

 

MacDonald

 

McGowan Webster Zaliukas

 

Paterson Taouil Robinson Barr Grainger

 

Sutton Smith

 

IMO. Don't think it'd work though and I'd rather see:

 

Macdonald

 

Gowser Webster Zaliukas Grainger

 

Paterson Taouil Barr Novikovas

 

Sutton Smith

[Gregory House M.D.]

Take hamill out until fit driver out wide holt slots in

Why would Holt get in ahead of Tapping and Robinson, both of whom have been better players this season for the u20's?

 

Holt blew it against Spartans.

[dougiejt]

Thought hamill looked better when he played in centre mid

[Statto]

I like the 4-4-1-1. As long as the forward gets enough support it's a good formation that suits the players we currently have.

 

Once Hamill returns, I'd play him at right-mid instead of Driver or Novikovas.

[way out west jambo]

You can't play 2 wingers at central midfield. You have 1 recognised CM in a midfield of 5. This wouldn't work.

[hmfc22]

Cometely agree with this thread. We have a great SPL squad but a manger who has got his tactics hopelessly wrong.

[BigAlim]

Gowser and webster have been under performing imo

 

They are much better than what they're showing

[The White Cockade]

Gowser and webster have been under performing imo

 

They are much better than what they're showing

 

Ryan has not been at his best since Hearts tried to offload him to Ibrox making it clear they would

rather have a few bob for him than have him playing for us

 

Not really surprising his form/motivation has dipped is it?

[Stuart McNeill]

Ryan has not been at his best since Hearts tried to offload him to Ibrox making it clear they would

rather have a few bob for him than have him playing for us

 

Not really surprising his form/motivation has dipped is it?

 

I thought Gowser was going to show his commitment to

Hearts and sign a new contract, We clearly do want him to be here.

[gashauskis9]

Jamie mac

 

Zal barr webster

 

Gowser mehdi stevenson robinson grainger

 

Sutton/paterson Novikovas/driver

 

No point playing wingers as neither of them can cross.

[jambonian]

I'd like to see the likes of Tapping, Holt, Prynchnenko(sp) and the like get a few outings off the bench, to start with anyway. It's pretty obvious the current team set-up isn't working to it's potential so McGlynn's job should be trying to change the team pattern. This playing poor Paterson upfront regularly isn't for me and never has been, the best i saw him play was right-midfield so although we can't afford to bring anyone in we have to utilise the squad we have, even if on the whole the squad isn't as good as we've been used to over 30 years. Sure we'll have the occasional bad squad but the way things are going we're on the slippery slope i'm afraid therefore we have no choice than to switch things around. With a fully-fit squad i'd go 3-5-2, some of the best games i watched was when Jefferies on his first time as manager went with a back 3 of McManus/Bruno/Ritchie with Locke/Flogel and Pointon/Naysmith bombing down the wings with a decent defensive midfielder covering at the back for them as they went, Salvatori for example. Going with the current squad we have to play this formation i'd have to go with:

McDonald

the three defenders being Barr, Webster, Zaliukas

wing-backs being McGowan and Grainger,

midfield three of Paterson(right)linking up with McGowan, Driver(yes,Driver! left) linking with Grainger and Hamill bossing the middle of the park,

Forwards Sutton and Smith. Others like Novi and Taouil would be useful coming off the bench, fresh legs and all that when tiredness creeps in. Also the young laddies should not play out of position and just come off the bench in a straight swap with whoever comes off. This would keep the team settled and everyone knows their bit. The coaching however definately needs to improve and if McGlynn's not up to it he should hold his hands up and walkaway, resign rather than eventually getting sacked which will happen soon enough, it's Vlad's way.

[McCrae]

I like the 4-4-1-1. As long as the forward gets enough support it's a good formation that suits the players we currently have.

 

Once Hamill returns, I'd play him at right-mid instead of Driver or Novikovas.

 

 

Why do you think it suits the players we have? Our results have been awful.

[Statto]

Why do you think it suits the players we have? Our results have been awful.

 

I'm thinking no other formation would really suit our squad.

 

4-3-3 would be the closest with the player behind the striker in the '4-4-1-1' playing deeper and the two wingers playing higher up the pitch. Other than that, what can we do. We don't have good enough players to go three at the back, harsh but probably true.

 

I feel with the limited options we have in centre mid, if we played a flat-two up front, we would be too exposed in the midfield area, dominated three to two in that area against 80% of the teams in the league. By playing the 4-4-1-1, it gives support to both the central midfielders and the striker.

 

My preferred team would be;

 

MacDonald

McGowan Webster Zaliuaks Grainger

 

Paterson Taouil Barr Driver/Novikovas

Stevenson

 

Sutton

 

It's almost the same as we've been playing but with Paterson up front and Novikovas in the team instead of Sutton.

 

 

In terms of our recent results, we've not been playing badly. If you take away some of our early season performances, McGlynn was just finding his feet in the job, experimenting with the squad, Paterson right back, McGowan midfield etc. most of our recent performances have been good enough to win pretty much all of our games, if we could just take our chances. I can't remember if I posted on this thread or another, in our last three home games, we have had 44 attempts, the same number as Celtic have had in their last three home SPL games. It's not as if McGlynn isn't set the team up to create chances, we just can't get the ball on target and score. That is down to the players, not McGlynn. I've read that the management have the players practising their shooting in training, it's now a case of waiting until it comes to fruition on the pitch on a matchday.

[McCrae]

I think we should change the formation depending on who we are playing.

 

Yesterday it was crazy playing 4 at the back when Glen played as the sole striker.

 

Against better teams you may want to go 5 at the back.

[Statto]

I think we should change the formation depending on who we are playing.

 

Yesterday it was crazy playing 4 at the back when Glen played as the sole striker.

 

Against better teams you may want to go 5 at the back.

 

When we are against teams that are playing the lone striker, we need to be pushing our fullbacks up the pitch, at least one of them. We're at risk to a counter-attack but that's where we need our two midfielders to cover when that happens.

[Bob Fossil]

We played 4-2-3-1 yesterday.

[Dr. Sheldon Cooper]

I think we should change the formation depending on who we are playing.

 

Yesterday it was crazy playing 4 at the back when Glen played as the sole striker.

 

Against better teams you may want to go 5 at the back.

 

Can you imagine the outrage from some on here if we played 5 at the back? We get told anything apart from 4-4-2 is negative, never mind playing with 5 in defence!

 

Would 4-4-2 really solve our problems? We don't have two strikers capable of scoring regularly and the supply from midfield is so poor that it would make no difference having an extra body up there. We are playing the right system currently and due to our lack of goalscorers, it makes sense to try and dominate the midfield by playing 3/5 in there and trying to work the ball forward once we have it.

[Gregory House M.D.]

Can you imagine the outrage from some on here if we played 5 at the back? We get told anything apart from 4-4-2 is negative, never mind playing with 5 in defence!

 

Would 4-4-2 really solve our problems? We don't have two strikers capable of scoring regularly and the supply from midfield is so poor that it would make no difference having an extra body up there. We are playing the right system currently and due to our lack of goalscorers, it makes sense to try and dominate the midfield by playing 3/5 in there and trying to work the ball forward once we have it.

 

How do you know that? You've never seen Sutton and Smith play together so how do you know that they can't score together? They've spent about 4 minutes on the pitch together and scored 1 already.

 

We're playing worst possible system for this team currently. A lone frontman who has to drop deep to collect the balls and relying on Darren Barr, Taouil and Stevenson to get into the box because the frontman is too busy flicking it on to the winger. We don't have a lone striker at the club. Beattie wasvthe only striker who could play that role effectively last season. 4-4-2 is by far the better option.

[davie1980]

Cometely agree with this thread. We have a great SPL squad but a manger who has got his tactics hopelessly wrong.

 

which is exactly what we'd all be saying, if the manager had been playing the formation/line up in the OP, all season!

[Dr. Sheldon Cooper]

How do you know that? You've never seen Sutton and Smith play together so how do you know that they can't score together? They've spent about 4 minutes on the pitch together and scored 1 already.

 

We're playing worst possible system for this team currently. A lone frontman who has to drop deep to collect the balls and relying on Darren Barr, Taouil and Stevenson to get into the box because the frontman is too busy flicking it on to the winger. We don't have a lone striker at the club. Beattie wasvthe only striker who could play that role effectively last season. 4-4-2 is by far the better option.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'd be interested to see what would happen if we were to try it but the supply from midfield is my major concern. Effective 4-4-2 systems require wingers being able to get past the full backs and deliver a good ball into the box for the front 2 to attack, but we don't have wingers who consistently put a good ball into the box and our moves break down far too often because of this.

 

Ryan Stevenson and Scott Robinson are two guys who are more than capable of making runs into the box to support a lone frontman and pick up a few goals for us but it's just not happening. Why? I can't answer that but this formation will work for us if the players can get a bit more creative freedom in the final third. Performances haven't been that bad this season, which suggests to me that the players are comfortable in the current system.

[Gregory House M.D.]

Don't get me wrong, I'd be interested to see what would happen if we were to try it but the supply from midfield is my major concern. Effective 4-4-2 systems require wingers being able to get past the full backs and deliver a good ball into the box for the front 2 to attack, but we don't have wingers who consistently put a good ball into the box and our moves break down far too often because of this.

 

Ryan Stevenson and Scott Robinson are two guys who are more than capable of making runs into the box to support a lone frontman and pick up a few goals for us but it's just not happening. Why? I can't answer that but this formation will work for us if the players can get a bit more creative freedom in the final third. Performances haven't been that bad this season, which suggests to me that the players are comfortable in the current system.

 

Novikovas has a very good cross compared to Driver. Paterson also has a better cross than Driver. Driver would be nowhere near my 442. Novikovas likes to swing his crosses in from the edge of the area into no mans land betwee the keeper and the penalty spot you're far more likely to convert these crosses with two strikers. McGowan and Paterson play low drives into the same area. Again you're far more likely to convert these with 2 strikers. IMO, Gordon Smith and John Sutton both have a strikers instinct and can find that space they need. When one runs to one position it'll draw at least one defender away from the other thus increasing their chances of scoring. Whereas now Paterson/ Stevenson (whoever gets into the box first) are having to beat 2 CB's to the ball just to get a shot away. The wingers will have to play pin point crosses in between the two CB's and just too far from the keeper to have any chance of an attacker scoring.

 

I've said it from the first time I saw him and I'll stick by it: Gordon Smith will score goals. Especially with a partner.

 

Scott Robinson couldn't hit a cows arse with a banjo and he's 5ft **** all with his hands up. He'd change absolutely nothing. Stevenson looks like he spent his time at Ipswich inhaling butter as well. Neither one will ever fill the Rudi role.

[Dr. Sheldon Cooper]

Novikovas has a very good cross compared to Driver. Paterson also has a better cross than Driver. Driver would be nowhere near my 442. Novikovas likes to swing his crosses in from the edge of the area into no mans land betwee the keeper and the penalty spot you're far more likely to convert these crosses with two strikers. McGowan and Paterson play low drives into the same area. Again you're far more likely to convert these with 2 strikers. IMO, Gordon Smith and John Sutton both have a strikers instinct and can find that space they need. When one runs to one position it'll draw at least one defender away from the other thus increasing their chances of scoring. Whereas now Paterson/ Stevenson (whoever gets into the box first) are having to beat 2 CB's to the ball just to get a shot away. The wingers wikk have to play pin point crosses in between the two CB's and just too far from the keeper to have any chance of an attacker scoring.

 

I've said it from the first time I saw him and I'll stick by it: Gordon Smith will score goals. Especially with a partner.

 

The bit in bold, I can't argue with.

 

I just think that at this moment in time, 4-4-2 is not right for us. Novikovas definitely has the best delivery in our squad but we can't solely rely on him to be the man creating the chances. Our central midfield 2 would need to be creative and imaginative with the ball but sadly, it's a weak area of our team and we would suffer by sacrificing someone from the middle of the park.

 

I've not seen enough of a delivery from Paterson (mainly because he's not been played in a wide position enough to prove he can cross a ball) and I think McGowan's crossing is one of the weakest aspects of his game.

 

I completely get what you're trying to say but until we get a real creative talent in the middle of the park, we won't improve any by playing 4-4-2.

[Gregory House M.D.]

The bit in bold, I can't argue with.

 

I just think that at this moment in time, 4-4-2 is not right for us. Novikovas definitely has the best delivery in our squad but we can't solely rely on him to be the man creating the chances. Our central midfield 2 would need to be creative and imaginative with the ball but sadly, it's a weak area of our team and we would suffer by sacrificing someone from the middle of the park.

 

I've not seen enough of a delivery from Paterson (mainly because he's not been played in a wide position enough to prove he can cross a ball) and I think McGowan's crossing is one of the weakest aspects of his game.

 

I completely get what you're trying to say but until we get a real creative talent in the middle of the park, we won't improve any by playing 4-4-2.

 

I have to disagree on McGowans crossing. McGowans low first time deliviries are inch perfect IMO. The lack of strikers make his crosses look bad. You watch MOTD and balls like Gowsers get eaten up by strikers on a weekly basis.

[Dr. Sheldon Cooper]

I have to disagree on McGowans crossing. McGowans low first time deliviries are inch perfect IMO. The lack of strikers make his crosses look bad. You watch MOTD and balls like Gowsers get eaten up by strikers on a weekly basis.

 

I actually think McGowan is better at the getting to the byline and cutting it back to the edge of the area, I recall him setting up Skacel this way against St Johnstone at the end of last season.

 

First time deliveries are always threatening, but the difference in class between SPL and the Premiership means that there is much better movement in the box and players are always more likely to get on the end of balls into the box.

[Eddie]

I'm sorry but are people seriously saying we should start with 3 at the back?

 

[Heartsfc_1874]

3-5-2 would work a treat I would say

[JamboX2]

3-5-2 needs a lot of work to pull it off imo. We'll play this way all season. But i can see why people might opt for it.

 

McDonald

Barr Zaliukas Webster

McGowan Stevenson Robinson Hammil Grainger

Sutton Smith

 

Would personally try;

McDonald

McGowan Zaliukas Webster Grainger

Driver Robinson Barr/Hammil Novikovas

Sutton Stevenson/Smith

 

Before going for a untested system with our team. One thing we must do is develop a way to play, stick to it and get all teams in tge club playing it so youngsters can be developed for our style amd can slot in and out. 4-4-2 may be the traditional british default but with intelligent midfielders and technically gifted players you can make it good to watch and successful. Not a chunt and run.

[Guest oldcastlerock2012]

I don't think John needs to fear for his job reading this thread!

 

He's mostly played two formations this season - 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 - and I think he's dead right looking at the strengths of our squad. We don't have a good finisher in the team though and have dropped points accordingly.

 

However, having good strikers doesn't guarantee success either - look at Dundee Utd just now.

[Snake Plissken]

4-4-2 with our squad

 

For a start we don't have two decent strikers to play together.

 

More importantly, we don't have a midfield good enough to lose an extra man from. We'd get overrun every game if we had Barr and Taouil or Barr and Stevenson in the middle. We simply don't have the quality up front or in midfield to make this work.

[vlad on the tyne]

When hamill comes back I would expect him to play ahead of Barr. He would offer the same defensively but would offer a bigger threat offensively with his shooting. Persisting with this formation the hope it clicks one day is costing us points. Giving Holt and Gordon smith a chance must be considered by Mcglynn.

[rossthejambo]

People suggesting 3-5-2 are simpletons IMO.

[cyprushearts]

People suggesting 3-5-2 are simpletons IMO.

cyprushearts weve no got 1 really good player on our books.

[Debut 4]

We've become the opposite of what we used to be.

 

For years, Hearts got the essentials right. We hurt teams in the last third on a regular basis and we were never and over elaborate side who had loads of possession, we just had efficient players who done the main things right.

 

I remember people used to moan we didn't dominate enough , even though we were winning regularly!!!

 

Now we seem to boss games but don't have the end product to go with it.

 

However, it is good to dominate they way we are, as long as we are working hard to improve on the key parts of the game.....but how long do you wait before you decide something has to change?..do we stick with it for a while yet to see if we finally produce the goods?...or do we need a change of style or ultimately a change of manager?..

[Sydney]

To summarise, after 11 league games he has:

 

Managed one less win than Csaba and two less than Jim or Paulo

Scored one less goal (11) than either jim, Csaba or Paulo (all with 12)

A better defensive record (11 conceded) than either Csaba (17) or Jim (15), but not as good as Paolo (8)

 

And he has done it with a lot smaller, cheaper and less talented squad.

 

So get off his ******* back, stop moaning, and buy some shares. Or at least a ticket. Or an extra pie.

[rossthejambo]

To summarise, after 11 league games he has:

 

Managed one less win than Csaba and two less than Jim or Paulo

Scored one less goal (11) than either jim, Csaba or Paulo (all with 12)

A better defensive record (11 conceded) than either Csaba (17) or Jim (15), but not as good as Paolo (8)

 

And he has done it with a lot smaller, cheaper and less talented squad.

 

So get off his ******* back, stop moaning, and buy some shares. Or at least a ticket. Or an extra pie.

 

All 3 of those managers would have had a game against Rangers to contend with rather than a second game against a promoted team, as well as other teams in the league being better than they are now.

 

Just saying.

 

It's funny really that well thought out and perfectly fair criticism of McGlynn gets met with such derision from people on here yet when Paulo or Csaba were getting pelters they were nowhere to be seen.

[hmfcjamie]

go 3-4-3 , i would like us to try this, barr or gowser in CB along with webster and zal.

 

what is the point of not going for the kill. i would rather lose 3-2 than 1-0.

 

 

no need to worry though it wont happen

[Sydney]

All 3 of those managers would have had a game against Rangers to contend with rather than a second game against a promoted team, as well as other teams in the league being better than they are now.

 

Just saying.

 

It's funny really that well thought out and perfectly fair criticism of McGlynn gets met with such derision from people on here yet when Paulo or Csaba were getting pelters they were nowhere to be seen.

 

You're right about the game against Rangers missing, but the criticism of him here by SOME posters is OTT.

 

Points gained per pound spent, he's probably the most successful manager we've had since Craig Levein (which doesn't mean I'm saying he's successful).

 

Robertson, Csaba, Frail, Malofeev and others have all been comparably worse than McGlynn.