What do we do if Locke continues to struggle?

[shaun.lawson]

That was an awful season, for sure, but there were at least a couple of good results that made it more bearable:

 

We absolutely thumped Rangers at Tynecastle, papped Celtic out of the League Cup and we actually beat Hibs. I do remember the truly harrowing periods were we'd go months without winning but this season we've not had a good result against anyone of significance to cling onto.

 

Liverpool away?

 

I'm not really disagreeing though. I think this season is way worse: partly because we're heading for an even lower finish (our lowest in 30 years); partly because this is the worst Hearts squad relative to the rest of the league since promotion in 1983 (really, since the yo-yo years which preceded it); and much more than that, because in 07/8, the problem was Vlad and only Vlad.

 

Back then, there was still the belief that if only he'd appoint a proper manager and leave him to get on with it, we could go places; but right now, what is there? Uncertainty, anxiety, the prospect of losing even more players in the summer from an already terrible squad with no goals in it, no clue at all over who the next owners will be, and the replacement of a failed 1st Division manager with... someone who's never previously managed anyone. Anyone at all.

 

Dark days. And unlike in 07/8, those times seem set to continue for several years ahead. That makes this different from maybe any other time since promotion too.

[amadjambo]

 

 

Liverpool away?

 

I'm not really disagreeing though. I think this season is way worse: partly because we're heading for an even lower finish (our lowest in 30 years); partly because this is the worst Hearts squad relative to the rest of the league since promotion in 1983 (really, since the yo-yo years which preceded it); and much more than that, because in 07/8, the problem was Vlad and only Vlad.

 

Back then, there was still the belief that if only he'd appoint a proper manager and leave him to get on with it, we could go places; but right now, what is there? Uncertainty, anxiety, the prospect of losing even more players in the summer from an already terrible squad with no goals in it, no clue at all over who the next owners will be, and the replacement of a failed 1st Division manager with... someone who's never previously managed anyone. Anyone at all.

 

Dark days. And unlike in 07/8, those times seem set to continue for several years ahead. That makes this different from maybe any other time since promotion too.

 

On the other hand Shaun the summer could see us offload the high earners and sign some talented free agents on sensible money. After all, we will probably still have the 2nd highest wage budget in the SPL.

 

The market will no doubt be full of talented players in the summer desperate for a club, especially as financial problems are becoming increasingly common across Europe.

 

A wee return for Rudi would also be much welcome.

 

There is uncertainty about the coming months, but there could also be great opportunity too. I certainly don't subscribe to the idea that we will lose lots of players and not sign anyone.

[Snake Plissken]

Liverpool away?

 

 

Like I said, anyone of significance.

 

[shaun.lawson]

Like I said, anyone of significance.

 

 

[Budgie.]

 

 

Somebody else has probably already commented on this but remember that it was JJ that brought in Taouil, Sutton and Grainger on 3 year deals on inflated wages. I find it hard to see what he'd be able to offer the club in a DoF role.

 

The club okayed the wages and obviously thought they were sustainable at the time so not JJ's fault.

 

His experience and contacts as DoF would be invaluable

[Francis Albert]

The club okayed the wages and obviously thought they were sustainable at the time so not JJ's fault.

 

His experience and contacts as DoF would be invaluable

 

He could have spent the money more prudently?

 

I am not sure JJ's record in transfer dealings within a realistic budget (not those of CPR and Vlad's days) is anything to write home about.

 

Get a manager with experience and his own contacts and drop the DoF nonsense.

[amadjambo]

 

 

He could have spent the money more prudently?

 

I am not sure JJ's record in transfer dealings within a realistic budget (not those of CPR and Vlad's days) is anything to write home about.

 

Get a manager with experience and his own contacts and drop the DoF nonsense.

 

We already have a manager. Give him a chance.

[Budgie.]

 

 

He could have spent the money more prudently?

 

I am not sure JJ's record in transfer dealings within a realistic budget (not those of CPR and Vlad's days) is anything to write home about.

 

Get a manager with experience and his own contacts and drop the DoF nonsense.

 

To be fair to JJ we were all as delighted as he was to get Sutton. It just hasn't worked. Grainger and Hamill played important parts in the cup win.

 

In terms of signings, JJ signed a few crackers for Killie under a tight budget not to mention spotting talent like Mccann, Cameron, Weir in lower league teams for us.

 

.

.

[Rudy T]

IMO - we would be talking about Locke in entirely different terms had Zaliukas been fit - we most likely would have won the cup final for a start.

 

While Locke may not have been everyone's first choice, I'm glad when the decision was made that it was a permanent appointment with a decent length of contract - had he been appointed until the end of season then we'd still be busy talking about who we want in the summer and the players would see him as a stop gap. He'll get us through to the end of the season and frankly aside from the derby no other game has any significance so he can mess around with the team.

 

Preseason he has to get the players - new and old to play the way he wants and use the friendly's wisely to get the team playing to his expected standards - there's no doubt locke wants to win every game for Hearts and will ensure the players know what it means, I just hope he has the tactical knowledge to combine with his passion.

 

IMO getting an experienced coach would help him, not an ex-manager but an experienced number 2.

[Dr. Sheldon Cooper]

Responding to that as it's a response to me.

 

Your point that having two up front cancels out not taking chances makes no sense. We had 2 strikers on, neither has the instinct right now to take chances. Ngoo seems to lack any instinct what so ever. He never took a chance, he never tried to, he's a decent player, but he's no good to us beyond May (Sutton has to go too. Nice guy, but not working for him). Watch the highlights and watch him, he's always a step behind the ball, he never lunges at it in hope either. Not singling him out, but he's not got it yet.

 

The youngsters? Well I think we have all collectively talked them up a lot more than need have been. Walker, Holt, Tapping, King, McKay and Mullen are still really raw. McHattie is the only one who looks ready for 90 mins non-stop. Out of them I think Walker, Holt, Tapping and McHattie will actually last the term. The others just don't seem to have much about them. Young players run around a lot, but that doesn't mean they do much productive, and from watching them, and guys like Novi, they run around a LOT but add little. Sadly I think that is actually the case. They need to up their game next year. If you are good enough to break into the team, then you need to act like an older player and do more. Some are acting like they've already made it.

 

Look, as I've said formations have to go with tactics. 4-5-1 under McGlynn was crap at tactics and couldn't cope with things not working. Locke is playing 4-4-2 because he feels two upfront is better to get more out the team. I can see his view based on our squad. I don't think 4-5-1 will do much for us based on the team we have. We have 2 wide players, the rest are central mids. So I can't see why we'd chose to go that way and limit our options on the bench. If Mullen was fit I'd much favour a 5-3-2 if I'm honest as McHattie and Mullen seem to like going forward. But hey, I'm not gaffer, I don't get to pick. I think changing formation will do sweet F@#!? all to be honest. Our squad is so poor it wont help us.

 

I didn't make my point very well in relation to the cup final. I sort of meant that you contradicted yourself a bit with your statement. One thing that is clear though is that Ngoo and Sutton doesn't work as a partnership.

 

I do agree with you saying the youngsters have been talked up, but it's clear that some of them do have natural talent and if they are going to be the future of this club then we need to start playing to their strengths. Jason Holt is supposed to be the best player the academy has produced, and it's evident that he is best suited to playing in a midfield 3 and this is one of the reasons why we should be playing 4-5-1/4-3-3, imo anyway.

 

In terms of our squad, it is full of central midfielders and is another reason why we should be playing five in midfield. Look at the players in our squad who can play in the middle of the park: Stevenson, Taouil, Barr, Holt, Robinson, Tapping, Prychynenko, McGowan, Hamill. That's nine players, and I may have missed players out. Granted some of them can play in other positions but if we're considering their strongest position then it's in the middle of the park. Why would we not utilise our strongest (used loosely) area of the team?

 

Changing formation won't matter if we don't change the tactics, which clearly aren't working at the moment and need tweaking sooner rather than later.

IMO - we would be talking about Locke in entirely different terms had Zaliukas been fit - we most likely would have won the cup final for a start.

 

While Locke may not have been everyone's first choice, I'm glad when the decision was made that it was a permanent appointment with a decent length of contract - had he been appointed until the end of season then we'd still be busy talking about who we want in the summer and the players would see him as a stop gap. He'll get us through to the end of the season and frankly aside from the derby no other game has any significance so he can mess around with the team.

 

Preseason he has to get the players - new and old to play the way he wants and use the friendly's wisely to get the team playing to his expected standards - there's no doubt locke wants to win every game for Hearts and will ensure the players know what it means, I just hope he has the tactical knowledge to combine with his passion.

 

IMO getting an experienced coach would help him, not an ex-manager but an experienced number 2.

 

Zaliukas was suspended for the final anyway, so it wouldn't have mattered if he was fit.

[Debut 4]

Michael Ngoo scored 3 goals in 4 games playing as a lone striker. He has scored 0 goals in 5 games playing in a front two. Not worked? Come on now.

 

As for "twisting everything to suit my preferred formation", I'm able to realise that 4-5-1/4-3-3 or whatever you want to call it has its benefits and that 4-4-2 does not solve all the problems.

 

 

 

You make some good points but I'm not sure about the bit in bold. You might have more bodies in the box but they might not have the intelligence or the movement to get in front of a defender and put a chance away. Your point about having 2 up front cancels out your point about us not taking our chances in the cup final, but you are spot on in saying we can't take our chances in general.

 

Again I agree with you about our lack of creativity, it's been a big problem for us all season but I think the young lads are capable of injecting that into the team if they can find some form.

 

As for your last point, I do agree that 4-5-1 wasn't really working for us but it was down to the way we played it. The lone striker was always isolated and with a bit more ambition in the opposition half we could have maybe have turned defeats into draws and draws into wins.

 

 

 

The semi final was one of our best performances this season. We matched Inverness in midfield but our central 3 had more footballing ability and it allowed us to spread the play and run at their full backs. Obviously we couldn't win it in 120 minutes but we were definitely the better side that day. We got a couple of breaks but we deserved to go through.

 

Like I said previously, we were too cautious with 4-5-1. There are so many ways to play it and we have the ability in our squad to get the ball down, work it through midfield and feed a lone front man providing he's willing to work hard and create space.

 

I will turn your question round and ask it to you. Why are so many people adamant that we play 4-4-2?

People were wanting a change because we were struggling to score ....simple.

 

People wanted to see us get at defences quicker and put them under more pressure......There`s is absolutely no doubt we looked more dangerous and started scoring a bit more regularly when we changed to two upfront. Even in defeat we still look more dangerous and if i had the time to work it out, i`d put money on the goals to games ratio being better with two up as opposed to 4-5-1.

 

Thing is, we have still lost games. This isn`t down to tactics or formation.....we simply lack quality experience all over the team and too much pressure has been put upon the young players. The rot started months ago with McGlynn`s dithering and panicking.

 

I remember some of the early games where we threw away a few points but i thought to myself.."just leave the team, let them settle because as least we are scoring and creating".....but he totally panicked and changed the team and we slowly declined. The points we threw away was agonising but he couldn`t see the positives in the displays.

 

Lets be honest too, we`ve lost alot of players to injury or had to sell and even a club like Hearts couldn`t handle that never mind others who i think would suffer tremendously because we at least have a base of some terrific young players there.

[TheOak88]

People were wanting a change because we were struggling to score ....simple.

 

People wanted to see us get at defences quicker and put them under more pressure......There`s is absolutely no doubt we looked more dangerous and started scoring a bit more regularly when we changed to two upfront. Even in defeat we still look more dangerous and if i had the time to work it out, i`d put money on the goals to games ratio being better with two up as opposed to 4-5-1.

 

Thing is, we have still lost games. This isn`t down to tactics or formation.....we simply lack quality experience all over the team and too much pressure has been put upon the young players. The rot started months ago with McGlynn`s dithering and panicking.

 

I remember some of the early games where we threw away a few points but i thought to myself.."just leave the team, let them settle because as least we are scoring and creating".....but he totally panicked and changed the team and we slowly declined. The points we threw away was agonising but he couldn`t see the positives in the displays.

 

Lets be honest too, we`ve lost alot of players to injury or had to sell and even a club like Hearts couldn`t handle that never mind others who i think would suffer tremendously because we at least have a base of some terrific young players there.

 

I think this is exactly it. Under both 4-5-1 and 4-4-2 we created chances (more so with 4-4-2 IMO) but we have contiually lacked players with the quality and composure to take them. There was a period under McGlynn back in November/early December where we were losing regularly as we couldn't take our chances - I think this caused him to panick and go to an ultra-defensive 4-5-1 which was utterly painful to watch and created very few chances. I think that period is where the distrust and seethe for 4-5-1 was born. Especially when it then became contrast with a brief purple patch around Xmas under 4-4-2. We know that with decent players 4-3-3 can work, as it worked under JJ when we went on a great run back in 2010/11. We just don't have those sort of players anymore.

 

The fact is at the moment we just don't have the quality to win football matches at this level. Having watched the highlights of the Aberdeen game it looked like we created just as many clear cut chances as Aberdeen did but we still couldn't score due to bad luck and a lack of composure.

 

I think the Ross County game on Saturday will be interesting for Lockie. It's a game realistically we should be targetting a win. I will be interested in the reaction from the fans if he leads us to 3 losses from 3 games.

[Dr. Sheldon Cooper]

People were wanting a change because we were struggling to score ....simple.

 

People wanted to see us get at defences quicker and put them under more pressure......There`s is absolutely no doubt we looked more dangerous and started scoring a bit more regularly when we changed to two upfront. Even in defeat we still look more dangerous and if i had the time to work it out, i`d put money on the goals to games ratio being better with two up as opposed to 4-5-1.

 

Thing is, we have still lost games. This isn`t down to tactics or formation.....we simply lack quality experience all over the team and too much pressure has been put upon the young players. The rot started months ago with McGlynn`s dithering and panicking.

 

I remember some of the early games where we threw away a few points but i thought to myself.."just leave the team, let them settle because as least we are scoring and creating".....but he totally panicked and changed the team and we slowly declined. The points we threw away was agonising but he couldn`t see the positives in the displays.

 

Lets be honest too, we`ve lost alot of players to injury or had to sell and even a club like Hearts couldn`t handle that never mind others who i think would suffer tremendously because we at least have a base of some terrific young players there.

 

Bit in bold is an excellent point. First game of the season against St Johnstone I thought we played very well in an attacking 4-3-3. Templeton was a constant threat and their back four couldn't cope. The display against Hibs the week after was poor but we worked hard to earn a point and then the Inverness game after that was two points most definitely thrown away. There were some promising signs in the first couple of months this season but our performances began to decline rapidly.

 

I think this is exactly it. Under both 4-5-1 and 4-4-2 we created chances (more so with 4-4-2 IMO) but we have contiually lacked players with the quality and composure to take them. There was a period under McGlynn back in November/early December where we were losing regularly as we couldn't take our chances - I think this caused him to panick and go to an ultra-defensive 4-5-1 which was utterly painful to watch and created very few chances. I think that period is where the distrust and seethe for 4-5-1 was born. Especially when it then became contrast with a brief purple patch around Xmas under 4-4-2. We know that with decent players 4-3-3 can work, as it worked under JJ when we went on a great run back in 2010/11. We just don't have those sort of players anymore.

 

The fact is at the moment we just don't have the quality to win football matches at this level. Having watched the highlights of the Aberdeen game it looked like we created just as many clear cut chances as Aberdeen did but we still couldn't score due to bad luck and a lack of composure.

 

I think the Ross County game on Saturday will be interesting for Lockie. It's a game realistically we should be targetting a win. I will be interested in the reaction from the fans if he leads us to 3 losses from 3 games.

 

Lack of composure in front of goal has killed us all season. A lot of our goals came from midfielders at the start of the season and now even they're drying up. Our biggest goal threat at the moment is a midfielder and it looks like when he can't get forward enough to stick the ball in the net, the other players in the team either don't have the confidence or the intelligence to score goals regularly for us.

 

Locke's made us a lot more open and it's maybe what some fans what but it's killing us right now. Our defensive line is stupidly high and it's cost us a few times this season, especially recently. It wouldn't be great to watch, but we need to tighten up at the back. The back four aren't getting much protection and a couple of sitting midfielders with an attacking 'front four' might be the way to go in the split. Obviously this may take away the element of two strikers but a major strength of ours at the beginning of the season was our defensive solidity and now we've lost that.

[TheOak88]

We have lost our defensive solidity due to personell not because the midfield has changed. I do agree that we can't keep playing a high line in defence though. We don't have the pace, intelligence or experience at the back just now to get away with a high line.

[Dr. Sheldon Cooper]

We have lost our defensive solidity due to personell not because the midfield has changed. I do agree that we can't keep playing a high line in defence though. We don't have the pace, intelligence or experience at the back just now to get away with a high line.

 

I'm not saying it's down to a change in midfield, we still have two excellent centre halves at this level who are way off their game at the moment. I'm not a huge fan of high defensive lines in general, too much room for error imo.