***Official Hearts v United Match Thread***

[Igglepiggle]

First half was very good considering how early in the season it is, played some nice stuff and only let down in the final third. Second half wasn't as good but still controlled the game and deserved to win.

 

Smith, Hickey and Walker all had very good games, as well as Mulraney and Irving to a lesser extent. Only real negative was Ikpeazu was poor especially in the first half. Saw enough from Clare to suggest him playing at centre midfield should work and it will be good to see him and Haring in there together.

[Beast Boy]

Walker played well. Should have put his effort across the goal instead of shooting, but other than that, he was nicking the ball of opposition players and looking to create all the time.

[moonraker]

29 minutes ago, sadj said:

Clare was sharp though nipped the ball off players a few times. Lot of positives no let downs and Walker and Washington looked like good signings. Naismith was in the dugout with Levein before Kick Off aswell. Berra still doesn’t look right though but wasn’t poor

 

He did as well as winning a good few aerial challenges, putting in a power of running and keeping us ticking over with crisp simple passes. . He does maybe overdo the stepovers sometimes when a more direct approach might benefit him.

[rudi must stay]

2 minutes ago, Tynecastlesmychurch said:

Fair enough.

I'm just very fond of Robbie. Always have been always will be. Managers always try and find positives in games. 

 

Me as well seems a good guy

 

I guess the key thing as others have said is its mid July. Basically pre season, the players will get fitter and this is the time teams trying things. No reason to give the players a hammering just now

 

:Thumbsup:

[Beast Boy]

2 minutes ago, Igglepiggle said:

First half was very good considering how early in the season it is, played some nice stuff and only let down in the final third. Second half wasn't as good but still controlled the game and deserved to win.

 

Smith, Hickey and Walker all had very good games, as well as Mulraney and Irving to a lesser extent. Only real negative was Ikpeazu was poor especially in the first half. Saw enough from Clare to suggest him playing at centre midfield should work and it will be good to see him and Haring in there together.

 

Clancy blew for a foul every time Uche went for the ball. Would like to see the one just before they went up the other end and scored, again.

[Alex Kintner]

8 minutes ago, ToqueJambo said:

 

 If you can't get excited about a team with Walker and Mulraney playing the way they did, plus youngsters like Hickey and Irving doing so well, then there's no hope for you...

 

This. Absolutely this. The vast majority of us are enthused by what we saw tonight, maybe even a bit excited. The minority of foamers are foaming as usual. It’s hard not to pity them tbh

[The Merse]

We were ok tonight overall but we really do lack creativity. Lots of endeavour but really not much in the way of clear cut opportunities.

 

Didn’t feel massively different from many games last season if I’m honest.

 

Thought Washington looked lively but will struggle like all Hearts strikers due to lack of service.

 

 

[Tynecastlesmychurch]

Well it wasn't the out right win we all wanted but compare that performance to our opening one this competition last season who was it we barely scrapped by against again? (Honestly cant remember) and then that was followed up by another poor performance as well before we started to click.

We were very attacking and actually for a change very slick and quick with our passing. Its clear the lads still need a bit of time to gel and shake off the cobwebs. But I'm very happy with the young guns coming through. Im happy with Walkers second debut and also Washingtons too. Really like the look of Clare in the deeper role. 

[King Of The Cat Cafe]

Does Neill McCann have something against Hearts?

 

In the BBC roundup he had nothing to say about us at all - just how great Dundee were and how they would automatically be coming up.

 

Mind you, he also thought the red card was for hauling a player back.

Edited July 12, 2019 by King Of The Cat Cafe

[Jambojay84]

4 minutes ago, Captain Scarlett said:

Oh excuse me,what with you being the punctuation police.Yeah for your information it was two pints because I’m up at 4.15 tomorrow to start at 5am. Oh and I drive to work so aye we had a good time with 2 pints.

👍 Reeking of hibs

[Igglepiggle]

Just now, Icon of Symmetry said:

 

Clancy blew for a foul every time Uche went for the ball. Would like to see the one just before they went up the other end and scored, again.

 

Yeah agreed with that, his game depends a lot on whether the ref gives the majority of the 50-50s for him or against him and he didn't get much tonight. He's similar to de Vries in that way. Regardless of the fouls though I thought he gave the ball away more than usual tonight. 

[Mdoug79]

For me ......

Walker looks like he was 100% worth taking back.

Hickey and Irwin fully deserve a start,

MacDonald looked like he was towing a trailer.

 Ikpeazu although a nightmare for the defence looked miles off it.

Washington never had a great game but showed potential to be a good energetic FWD.

Mulraney looks ready to kick on.

Clare looks like he is finally in his correct position.

Bobby looks exactly the same as last season.

smith, Berra Soutter as dependable as ever although obviously not up to speed yet.

 

[Victorian]

The unguided seethe of some at the game depresses the blue **** out of me.     Embarrassing stuff.

 

I thought there were some decent performances.    Hickey looks a real prospect.     Walker looked racey enough.     Clare looks a natural in centre mid.     Albeit we'll play better sides.

 

**** knows what some total weapons were watching.

[Beast Boy]

1 minute ago, Igglepiggle said:

 

Yeah agreed with that, his game depends a lot on whether the ref gives the majority of the 50-50s for him or against him and he didn't get much tonight. He's similar to de Vries in that way. Regardless of the fouls though I thought he gave the ball away more than usual tonight. 

 

That’s true. Fair enough. 👍

[Juanjo]

1 minute ago, Mdoug79 said:

For me ......

Walker looks like he was 100% worth taking back.

Hickey and Irwin fully deserve a start,

MacDonald looked like he was towing a trailer.

 Ikpeazu although a nightmare for the defence looked miles off it.

Washington never had a great game but showed potential to be a good energetic FWD.

Mulraney looks ready to kick on.

Clare looks like he is finally in his correct position.

Bobby looks exactly the same as last season.

smith, Berra Soutter as dependable as ever although obviously not up to speed yet.

 

Anthony McDonald?

[i8hibsh]

As predicted

[Alex Kintner]

3 minutes ago, The Merse said:

We were ok tonight overall but we really do lack creativity. Lots of endeavour but really not much in the way of clear cut opportunities.

 

Didn’t feel massively different from many games last season if I’m honest.

 

Thought Washington looked lively but will struggle like all Hearts strikers due to lack of service.

 

 

 

Thought tonight was a total contrast to the vast majority of games last season to be honest 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Alex Kintner]

3 minutes ago, Victorian said:

The unguided seethe of some at the game depresses the blue **** out of me.     Embarrassing stuff.

 

I thought there were some decent performances.    Hickey looks a real prospect.     Walker looked racey enough.     Clare looks a natural in centre mid.     Albeit we'll play better sides.

 

**** knows what some total weapons were watching.

 

I can imagine. Heard some  morons booing on the TV.

Edited July 12, 2019 by To Be Frank

[gashauskis9]

1 minute ago, i8hibsh said:

As predicted

What? You come on after a game you weren’t at to tell us all we were crap and didn’t deserve to win?

[Mdoug79]

2 minutes ago, Juanjo said:

Anthony McDonald?

 

2 minutes ago, Barack said:

Irwin?

 

Appologies to the spelling police, half cut and autocorrect on my phone 

[Tynecastlesmychurch]

3 minutes ago, rudi must stay said:

 

Me as well seems a good guy

 

I guess the key thing as others have said is its mid July. Basically pre season, the players will get fitter and this is the time teams trying things. No reason to give the players a hammering just now

 

:Thumbsup:

Yeah completely agree. I think weve got a good side. We've got a lot of talented youngsters coming through as well as plenty of established talent on the books. And with Haring still to come back. Naismith still to sign as well as another midfielder to arrive. I feel suitably optimistic for the coming season!

[Anoeta]

Have to agree with To Be Frank, I thought we looked good in possession and attacked with purpose. Missed a few great chances but I actually enjoyed watching us play.

[Pans Jambo]

1 minute ago, Mdoug79 said:

For me ......

Walker looks like he was 100% worth taking back.

Hickey and Irwin fully deserve a start,

MacDonald looked like he was towing a trailer.

 Ikpeazu although a nightmare for the defence looked miles off it.

Washington never had a great game but showed potential to be a good energetic FWD.

Mulraney looks ready to kick on.

Clare looks like he is finally in his correct position.

Bobby looks exactly the same as last season.

smith, Berra Soutter as dependable as ever although obviously not up to speed yet.

 

Fair assessment. 

Washington looked really handy IMO. His cross late on from a tight angle was class. 

Mulraney best player on the park for me. 

Claire to me, needs to go to see the Wizard of Oz & get a heart. Yes theres a player in there and I am not slagging his ability just his “cock on a block” application which is lacking!

1st game so not reading too much into it. 

Would kill for a Colin Cameron if anyone knows if theres one available for £5k a week or less???

[heartsfc_fan]

10 hours ago, heartsfc_fan said:

I think it will be 1-1 but we'll win on penalties.

Called it

[The White Cockade]

Washington needs to improve massively on tonight’s performance

I would have brought Zanatta on for him with 25 to go

Walker and Mulraney were a real handful but we need a proper goal scorer in the middle to convert the chances 

And thought Clare was anonymous which was really disappointing but it is only the first game so I’m sure we can push on as we actually played some nice stuff tonight far better than the turgid stuff after Christmas last season 

[Guest ToqueJambo]

12 minutes ago, moonraker said:

 

He did as well as winning a good few aerial challenges, putting in a power of running and keeping us ticking over with crisp simple passes. . He does maybe overdo the stepovers sometimes when a more direct approach might benefit him.

 

Clare very much looks like a player still trying to find out what kind of footballer he is. Levein and the likes of Naismith could honestly be the making of him if listens and learns and focuses on playing his position well. Certainly seems to have found his confidence though after a shaky start to life at Hearts, same as Mulraney.

[Kiwidoug]

What was the crowd?

[heartsfc_fan]

Decent enough game and plenty to be positive about.

[MTS1874]

2 minutes ago, Kiwidoug said:

What was the crowd?

 

Just over 9k

[heartsfc_fan]

2 minutes ago, Kiwidoug said:

What was the crowd?

9,091

[Kiwidoug]

Just now, heartsfc_fan said:

9,091

Thanks.  That's really good.

[heartsfc_fan]

1 minute ago, Kiwidoug said:

Thanks.  That's really good.

Considering the torrential rain and it being the second week of the school holidays, it wasn't a bad attendance at all.

[DG_HMFC]

47 minutes ago, ToqueJambo said:

 

Eh? What game did you watch?

 

To be fair, Berra and Souttar still guilty of too many aimless hoofs.

[Ballitojambo]

Its early i know, but youngsters really looked good ,welcome back Walker, Clare is where he belongs and already pencilled in for player of the year, mark those words, on the downside

forwards looked like that have never met, although conditions were bloody awful in the second half

 

 

 

 

[Captain Canada]

I was really surprised to hear booing at the end. I thought the performance was a big improvement on the latter part of last season. We carved them open countless times and once our strikers are fit and have people pushing them for a place, I think we'll do well. 

 

We absolutely need someone with a bit of steel to help Clare out. Irving isn't ready yet but his goal showed great technique. 

 

Hickey was fantastic again. Walker looked good despite his lack of fitness. Berra was poor for their goal and Bobby didn't fill me with confidence with his decision making. 

 

The penalties were very good, especially Smith's and Souttar's. We should go on to win the group now and the players will only get fitter.

 

[Beast Boy]

23 minutes ago, Victorian said:

Walker looked racey enough.

 

[Clear few]

Yup there was aimless hoofs at times which were annoying but on balance we played better passing football than post Christmas.

We are a work in progress and I think we will improve and are on an upward trajectory .

There  are too many fifth columnists H1B5 ******s on here and a fair amount of pure weapons who whilst profess to be Hearts supporters seem to think we’re fecking Barca. 

Be realistic and support your team.

[rudi must stay]

2 minutes ago, Icon of Symmetry said:

 

 

He played the race card

[Beast Boy]

Just now, rudi must stay said:

 

He played the race card

 

 

[Jamhammer]

35 minutes ago, Phil Dunphy said:

Positives tonight, for me, are that I don’t think anyone played poorly. The first half performance was good when we had the ball, although the negative is that the midfield looked disjointed when we didn’t have the ball. Felt we dominated proceedings for the whole of the first half and for most of the second. 

The major negative for me was the lack of depth on the bench. I just don’t think any of the players on the bench could come on and change a game in our favour. Maybe I’m being too harsh, but it shows we still have a lack of depth in the squad. I really hope we don’t have to rely on young players who don’t necessarily look good enough to make a big contribution to the cause. 

Think Berra was dreadful TBH. I never thought I’d see the day when HE was the weak link in a Hearts team. Uche also looked miles off it.

Think Zanata should have been on 2nd half for him.

Impressed with the two youngsters and Walker. Washington put in a shift as did Jake.

Smithy was quality. Clare in and out of the game but looks better in the middle.

That midfield needs strengthened.

Okay game in bloody awful conditions but we still need a goal scorer too

[The_razors_edge]

42 minutes ago, rudi must stay said:

 

I wouldn't have been happy if I was him.

 

Most of the match they couldn't string  4 or 5 passes together and our attacking players all had tons of room and caused problems so I'm not sure they did defend well. Yes you can look at the score (1-1, we didn't run riot score wise, but that defence wasn't well on top) I think Souttar was quite correct with his comment that the sending off changed the match. 

 

Neilson was right about Appare though, he had a good game. To be honest I would actually be looking at him for Hearts if he's in our budget, slick wee attacker. 

 

A guy I know very well used to scout the Fife region for Hearts and actually recommended him to Hearts while he was at AM Soccer. This was while he was playing under 17’s boys club football in the Fife youth leagues. Saw him by chance after turning up to watch a different game at the same venue where his AM Soccer team were playing. I was told he was an absolute standout. 

[S Form]

Hickey, Smith, Irving and Walker were all good. Washington tried hard, while Clare was a bit meh for me. Really not convinced about Uche. Puts the effort in but a bit of a carthorse for my money. I hope Washington and Keena can form a partnership cos there was nothing to suggest tonight’s front two can work well with each other.

[Taffin]

1 hour ago, Ted Hastings said:

 

I wasn’t on board with the ‘he’s made his sevco bed he can lie in it’ school of thought with Jamie but I must say I was surprised with his work rate and desire tonight. Obviously not quite match sharp but by no means the worst player on the park. 

 

Of course, and i agree with you re Washington, definitely showed enough there to make me think he could be a big player for us this season. 

 

It’s been so easy to get negative of late and I don’t want the atmosphere from last season creeping back in after what was admittedly a poor result but (IMO) an encouraging performance. 

 

 

Yeh good positive post 👍👍

 

The sevco stuff didn't really bother me with Jamie, I just wouldn't have gone for him based on his performances and lack of game time since he left. Based on tonight it seems it's a gamble that may well pay off. Which is great. I'll be delighted to be wrong on that one!

[Shanks said no]

3 minutes ago, Jamhammer said:

Think Berra was dreadful TBH. I never thought I’d see the day when HE was the weak link in a Hearts team. Uche also looked miles off it.

Think Zanata should have been on 2nd half for him.

Impressed with the two youngsters and Walker. Washington put in a shift as did Jake.

Smithy was quality. Clare in and out of the game but looks better in the middle.

That midfield needs strengthened.

Okay game in bloody awful conditions but we still need a goal scorer too

Apart from Walker, who needs to prove he is redeemed, in the same way Webster did, i agree with your assessment

 

Oh and I am not happy I lost half my betting pot after 18 successful odds on bets at Wimbledon

[hawaii]

I'd  have Halkett & Souttar as CB. Berra loves a wander and doesn't seem back to how he was before the injury 

[tazhearts]

Impressed by Walker's performance.  Looked like the old Jamie Walker we had when he was flying at Hearts.  He looked dangerous every time he was on the ball, always looking to create something or take a player on.  Lost count of the number of times he was hacked down.  

 

He also had about three really good chances to score.  he didn't; take them but most of them were as a result of his positional play / anticipation / running off the ball.

 

The fear about him being slow and having lost his pace is also unfounded.  Looked like a he decent turn of pace.  I think he will be a major player for us this season chipping in with 10 - 12 goals.

[Hearts1975]

Pleased overall with that performance 

 

players still getting to peak fitness, bad weather on the night, players still telling etc 

 

some really good performances from the young lads especially hickey 

 

yes, we missed some chances but the most important thing is that we created a bundle and could have scored more 

 

 

[CloustonHMFC]

Lots of positives tonight. Hopefully we try to stick to a settled team, as much as possible, for the next 3 games and give them time to gel for first game of the league season. Think Walker, Washington and Smith could work very well down the right and Mulraney and Hickey will be great on the left. Clare looked decent, Irving was ok. Certainly not all doom and gloom as some would have you believe. 

[Fozzyonthefence]

Thought we played well first half, poor the second half.  A mixture of poor finishing and poor decision making when we were all over them. Naismith in for Clare will improve the team dramatically, although we still look shite up front.  Instead of one guy that couldn’t score in a barrel of ******s, looks like we now have two.

[tazhearts]

Uche had a nightmare.  He doesn't look fit.  Looked heavy legged right from the off.

 

For a big guy he is useless in the air.  I can't remember him winning a single header all night.  He doesn't even manage to get anywhere near the ball with his head.  His arial positional play is very poor.