Top until the winter break? ( merged )

[gnasher75]

Craig Levein is quoted as saying "If we can get through to the winter break and still be top of the league I'll be absolutely thrilled."

 

With Celtic only a point behind and with a game in hand, I thought that was just wishful thinking.  But then I looked at the fixtures.

 

Celtic don't play their game in hand until the end of January.

 

And, if our December looks busy with 7 league games, Celtic's is even worse with a League Cup final and a Europa League match as well as 7 league games, culminating in away games at Pittodrie and Ibrox to be played between Christmas and New Year.

 

Hearts league games:

Kilmarnock (H)

St Mirren (A)

Rangers (H)

St Johnstone (A)

Motherwell (H)

Livingston (A)

Aberdeen (A)

Hamilton (H)

Hibs (A)

 

Celtic league games:

Livingston (A)

Hamilton (A)

Motherwell (A)

Kilmarnock (H)

Hibs (A)

Motherwell (H)

Dundee (H)

Aberdeen (A)

Rangers (A)

 

Clearly other teams may be in the mix as well but unlike us they all have to play Celtic.

 

So could we still be top in January?  It's not impossible.

[hearts00]

It’s not impossible but it is very very unlikely. And indeed irrelevant. We have no chance of winning the league but definitely have a good chance of finishing 2nd. 

 

Results against Celtic are not going to define the season. Games like next week against Killie and away to St J almost certainly are. 

 

Really not sure where the goals let alone the chances are going to come from in the next two months but remain hopeful. 

 

A great effort to this point no matter what. 

[Dusk_Till_Dawn]

We’ll be second in a week’s time 

[Debut 4]

Probably need 4 from 4 at home at least.

 

Going to be tough away with a depleted squad.

[south morocco]

Think if we can stay in touching distance until players start coming back after the break we'll have an exciting end to the season and decent scottish cup run

[EastSideJambo]

We certainly need to get some goals from somewhere. Creation of a meaningful chance after 270 minutes without one would be a start 

[Mac80]

5 minutes ago, Dusk_Till_Dawn said:

We’ll be second in a week’s time 

What makes you think that

[DH1986]

6 minutes ago, Dusk_Till_Dawn said:

We’ll be second in a week’s time 

 

Thats the spirit.

[Victorian]

How dare Craig Levein suggest the possibility of winning games?     He should STFU and whinge like a pathetic wee jobby instead.    

[Hector Riva]

7 minutes ago, Dusk_Till_Dawn said:

We’ll be second in a week’s time 

? How"s that?

[Eno]

9 minutes ago, Dusk_Till_Dawn said:

We’ll be second in a week’s time 

That's the spirit.......

[William H. Bonney]

Celtic won't lose a domestic game again this season. 

[AlphonseCapone]

16 minutes ago, Dusk_Till_Dawn said:

We’ll be second in a week’s time 

 

you're so miserable. 

[gedster]

3 minutes ago, Dino Velvet said:

Celtic won't lose a domestic game again this season. 

 

won't lose another ???

 

 

[Boab]

30 minutes ago, gnasher75 said:

Craig Levein is quoted as saying "If we can get through to the winter break and still be top of the league I'll be absolutely thrilled."

 

With Celtic only a point behind and with a game in hand, I thought that was just wishful thinking.  But then I looked at the fixtures.

 

Celtic don't play their game in hand until the end of January.

 

And, if our December looks busy with 7 league games, Celtic's is even worse with a League Cup final and a Europa League match as well as 7 league games, culminating in away games at Pittodrie and Ibrox to be played between Christmas and New Year.

 

Hearts league games:

Kilmarnock (H)

St Mirren (A)

Rangers (H)

St Johnstone (A)

Motherwell (H)

Livingston (A)

Aberdeen (A)

Hamilton (H)

Hibs (A)

 

Celtic league games:

Livingston (A)

Hamilton (A)

Motherwell (A)

Kilmarnock (H)

Hibs (A)

Motherwell (H)

Dundee (H)

Aberdeen (A)

Rangers (A)

 

Clearly other teams may be in the mix as well but unlike us they all have to play Celtic.

 

So could we still be top in January?  It's not impossible.

 

Not impossible but doubtful, imo.

The next game is pretty tough. If Killie win against the sheep, it'll be 6 wins, 2 draws in their last eight. As tough a fixture as we could get after the last week or so.

[gotham]

When are the injured players due back?

 

Is Berra back running?

Edited November 3, 2018 by pandiani1

[skinnybob72]

Sadly for us, and the rest of the league, Celtic have rediscovered their best form - 20 goals in 4 league games shows that. 

 

If we had our full squad available between now and January then our run of fixtures is pretty decent looking, however with the injury situation most games will be tough. And our record at some of the grounds we visit is far from impressive. 

 

We need to beat Killie to get things back on track but that won't be easy as I'm sure they are the form team in the league in the whole of 2018. 

 

This is a chance for the squad to show what they are made of! 

[Mikey1874]

23 minutes ago, Dusk_Till_Dawn said:

We’ll be second in a week’s time 

 

Kilmarnock will miss Greg Stewart who is suspended.

 

Hearts have got a good spirit going and an outstanding home record. 

[GorgieRules22]

42 minutes ago, Dusk_Till_Dawn said:

We’ll be second in a week’s time 

What’s happening in a weeks time ?

[davemclaren]

40 minutes ago, Mikey1874 said:

 

Kilmarnock will miss Greg Stewart who is suspended.

 

Hearts have got a good spirit going and an outstanding home record. 

That’s a bonus. 

[JamboCampbell]

Would take 3rd. Missing key players until Jan is difficult.

shame as I think we could have threatened.

Next year....

[Morph]

Celtic will win all their games and we won’t.  Kilmarnock will be a very hard game and won’t be surprised if they take a win. 

 

Wishful thinking but can’t see it happening. 

[EIEIO]

24 points ? Aberdeen away quite tricky.

[The Goalscoring Knee]

4 minutes ago, Morph said:

 Kilmarnock will be a very hard game and won’t be surprised if they take a win

Yes it will. And no they won't

[Alex Kintner]

1 hour ago, EastSideJambo said:

We certainly need to get some goals from somewhere. Creation of a meaningful chance after 270 minutes without one would be a start 

 

If you’re going to troll at least do it with some facts to back up your trolling. We’ve created numerous meaningful chances over the past three matches.

[iantjambo]

**** The haters ??

 

Let’s do this

 

 

[obua]

1 minute ago, iantjambo said:

**** The haters ??

 

Let’s do this

 

 

??yeahs feck them all.

[argyjambo]

This! Our internal detractors can get it right up them!

[Insideout]

Put this on, kc and the sunshine band! Things will get better! We’re still top of the league! 

[Insideout]

I may have had a few drinks but HMFC is the only club for me! We will march on 

[obua]

HMFC the team for me,since I was young 

[SwindonJambo]

If you cannot take days like this from time to time then you should not be a Hearts Supporter. You have to suffer the bad times to appreciate the good ones. We will pick up the pieces, get back on the horse and play Killie next week. 

 

Onwards and upwards. HHGH

[PhoenixHearts]

2 hours ago, Dusk_Till_Dawn said:

We’ll be second in a week’s time 

 

You think we'll lose to Killie?

[The Future's Maroon]

2 hours ago, Dusk_Till_Dawn said:

We’ll be second in a week’s time 

 

Glass half empty post imo.

[HMFC THE TEAM FOR ME]

Quite funny how Levein can talk about being top of the league.. at the winter break when we have just been thumped 5-0 

[henry]

Levein laying down the challenge to the players. Not sure what players we will get back from injury in January other than Naismith, Haring getting op but he’s still kicking around. Striker will bolster squad and maybe other recruits? 

[It should have been ten]

8 hours ago, Dusk_Till_Dawn said:

We’ll be second in a week’s time 

 

Maybe HMFC aren’t the team for you 

 

[Selkirkhmfc1874]

1 hour ago, henry said:

Levein laying down the challenge to the players. Not sure what players we will get back from injury in January other than Naismith, Haring getting op but he’s still kicking around. Striker will bolster squad and maybe other recruits? 

Berra

[stevie1874]

Are we likely to see Uche any time before winter break?

[armstrong]

There are a lot of winnable games in that run. People seem to be forgetting that we've played 12 games and only lost twice.

 

The injured players are a huge miss, but I think we'd all agree that we are still very good defensively (despite the result yesterday), and the likes of MacLean, Mitchell, Morrison, Lee, Djoum, etc. still carry a goal threat. And we're always strong at home.

 

 

[Bauld]

Staying top would be brilliant but all we have to do right now is stay in the mix with Celtic until January.

 

We have a run of fixtures that could well allow that.

 

By then we should have Berra back.

 

Haring won't be far off after his hernia op.

 

Naismith will be back.

 

Vanecek will arrive.

 

January onward is going to be the start of a whole new game for us. We still have a shot at making history. 

 

 

[kingantti1874]

10 minutes ago, Bauld said:

Staying top would be brilliant but all we have to do right now is stay in the mix with Celtic until January.

 

We have a run of fixtures that could well allow that.

 

By then we should have Berra back.

 

Haring won't be far off after his hernia op.

 

Naismith will be back.

 

Vanecek will arrive.

 

January onward is going to be the start of a whole new game for us. We still have a shot at making history. 

 

 

 

Im hoping that similar to berra weve been given the worst case ecovery time for souttar and ikpeazu also. 

[VALDOS]

Kilmarnock have found the form of last season after a sticky start and will be very tough next week, also I think the StMirren game could be a banana skin, their terrible run has to end sometime, even if its just a point.

I never see any point in looking 7,8,9 games ahead. The injuries alone are reason why not to bother.

[jambopilms]

With the injuries we have I can’t see us getting many points away from home.

[davemclaren]

1 hour ago, VALDOS said:

Kilmarnock have found the form of last season after a sticky start and will be very tough next week, also I think the StMirren game could be a banana skin, their terrible run has to end sometime, even if its just a point.

I never see any point in looking 7,8,9 games ahead. The injuries alone are reason why not to bother.

Next week will be a big test. 

[pettigrewsstylist]

13 hours ago, gnasher75 said:

Craig Levein is quoted as saying "If we can get through to the winter break and still be top of the league I'll be absolutely thrilled."

 

With Celtic only a point behind and with a game in hand, I thought that was just wishful thinking.  But then I looked at the fixtures.

 

Celtic don't play their game in hand until the end of January.

 

And, if our December looks busy with 7 league games, Celtic's is even worse with a League Cup final and a Europa League match as well as 7 league games, culminating in away games at Pittodrie and Ibrox to be played between Christmas and New Year.

 

Hearts league games:

Kilmarnock (H)

St Mirren (A)

Rangers (H)

St Johnstone (A)

Motherwell (H)

Livingston (A)

Aberdeen (A)

Hamilton (H)

Hibs (A)

 

Celtic league games:

Livingston (A)

Hamilton (A)

Motherwell (A)

Kilmarnock (H)

Hibs (A)

Motherwell (H)

Dundee (H)

Aberdeen (A)

Rangers (A)

 

Clearly other teams may be in the mix as well but unlike us they all have to play Celtic.

 

So could we still be top in January?  It's not impossible.

We certainly could IMO, but in order to do so we are going to need to find a system that creates goal threat immediatley. We still have fit players who can score from all over pitch (Garuccio, Bozanic, Haring,Lee, Dunne, Mitchell, Maclean, Djoum, Cochrane, and im sure Dikamona and Morisson eventually)..maybe even Wighton and Clare if they gets a run but im not sure we can give them that and hope to keep winning. 

If we can dind that system that creates goal threat then we can still be around the top of table by New year IMO

[Mr Elwood P]

9 hours ago, HMFC THE TEAM FOR ME said:

Quite funny how Levein can talk about being top of the league.. at the winter break when we have just been thumped 5-0 

 

He can talk about it because we are top. The aim is to maintain that through adversity. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a short term signing until January.

[pettigrewsstylist]

3 minutes ago, Mr Elwood P said:

 

He can talk about it because we are top. The aim is to maintain that through adversity. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a short term signing until January.

Would be amazed if we were not looking for a giant CF with heading abilty on short terms. That said CL did mention last week that budget is spent.

Edited November 4, 2018 by pettigrewsstylist

[Mr Elwood P]

4 minutes ago, pettigrewsstylist said:

Would be amazed if we were not looking for a giant CF with heading abilty on short terms. That said CL did mention last week that budget is spent.

 

Don’t imagine it would cost too much to bring a striker in for a month or two? Ann will just fire it on the credit card just now. Maybe an MLS player out of contract as the season is drawing to a close over there. 

[Everybody Loves Baz!]

14 hours ago, DH1986 said:

 

Thats the spirit.

That is his spirit.

All's not been well in D2D's life this season with us doing so well.

This dip in form is like Christmas has came early for him.........and a few others I may add.

We're way ahead of where many sensible folk could ever have imagined. The last few weeks have been tough but we've been very unlucky with squad depletion. But if I was offered this at the beginning of the season, I'd have bitten yer hand off.

If we're still in the top 3 by the winter break, with players coming back, and Vanacek coming in (and he's desperate if you follow him on Instagram) we'll be in a good position to make a go of it.

Edited November 4, 2018 by Everybody Loves Baz!