John mcCartney Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 35 minutes ago, JamboAl said: Amazing! Whenever the name Levein comes up they pounce immediately - every thread and everytime some punter comments on the dinosaur,heres fecking frugal macdougall (jambal) n the torquay punter flapping along....everytime !!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamboAl Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 Just now, John mcCartney said: and everytime some punter comments on the dinosaur,heres fecking frugal macdougall (jambal) n the torquay punter flapping along....everytime !!!!! Back to school for you, my lad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John mcCartney Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 hehe..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hackney Hearts Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 1 hour ago, KyleLafferty said: It’s pretty much still pre season can argue all you want but it’s the middle of July. We have another 4/5 weeks to get fit and ready to go As we can. The season started against Dundee United. I can't believe how many people are claiming this is still somehow pre-season (including John Souttar apparently!). I don't care what the date is - the powers that be have arranged for one of our 3 major competitions to start at a certain time, and we have to be ready for it, and just as importantly, treat it with respect. I'm reasonably happy with last night's result, but if it's the case (as some have suggested) that the players eased off in the second half because it was "job done" and they didn't care about adding further goals, then that would annoy me. We could rack up 5 against Stenhousemuir next week and still face having to score a similar amount away to East Fife in order to secure a seeded place in the next round. Seeding is likely to be crucial in making further progress - how much did our appearance in the semi-final earn the club last year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Kintner Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 2 minutes ago, Hackney Hearts said: The season started against Dundee United. I can't believe how many people are claiming this is still somehow pre-season (including John Souttar apparently!). I don't care what the date is - the powers that be have arranged for one of our 3 major competitions to start at a certain time, and we have to be ready for it, and just as importantly, treat it with respect. I'm reasonably happy with last night's result, but if it's the case (as some have suggested) that the players eased off in the second half because it was "job done" and they didn't care about adding further goals, then that would annoy me. We could rack up 5 against Stenhousemuir next week and still face having to score a similar amount away to East Fife in order to secure a seeded place in the next round. Seeding is likely to be crucial in making further progress - how much did our appearance in the semi-final earn the club last year? Were we seeded last year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey1874 Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 1 minute ago, Hackney Hearts said: The season started against Dundee United. I can't believe how many people are claiming this is still somehow pre-season (including John Souttar apparently!). I don't care what the date is - the powers that be have arranged for one of our 3 major competitions to start at a certain time, and we have to be ready for it, and just as importantly, treat it with respect. I'm reasonably happy with last night's result, but if it's the case (as some have suggested) that the players eased off in the second half because it was "job done" and they didn't care about adding further goals, then that would annoy me. We could rack up 5 against Stenhousemuir next week and still face having to score a similar amount away to East Fife in order to secure a seeded place in the next round. Seeding is likely to be crucial in making further progress - how much did our appearance in the semi-final earn the club last year? Its fair enough to expect us to do well in competitive games. The League Cup group stage was partly brought in to replace pre season friendlies. So what does that make them? Many people just think when you have just been back barely 2 or 3 weeks it is fair to give the team a bit of time to get up to full performance levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey1874 Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 1 minute ago, To Be Frank said: Were we seeded last year? No. We played seeded Dunfermline (who won their group with 12 points) in second round. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Kintner Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 2 minutes ago, Mikey1874 said: No. We played seeded Dunfermline (who won their group with 12 points) in second round. So being seeded isn’t “crucial” then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KyleLafferty Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 7 minutes ago, Hackney Hearts said: The season started against Dundee United. I can't believe how many people are claiming this is still somehow pre-season (including John Souttar apparently!). I don't care what the date is - the powers that be have arranged for one of our 3 major competitions to start at a certain time, and we have to be ready for it, and just as importantly, treat it with respect. I'm reasonably happy with last night's result, but if it's the case (as some have suggested) that the players eased off in the second half because it was "job done" and they didn't care about adding further goals, then that would annoy me. We could rack up 5 against Stenhousemuir next week and still face having to score a similar amount away to East Fife in order to secure a seeded place in the next round. Seeding is likely to be crucial in making further progress - how much did our appearance in the semi-final earn the club last year? There is absolutely no way you can expect a team to be up to speed after a couple of games witch everyone needing game time. Hearts had plenty chances to score the whole game. But when it became evident that maybe tiredness or match sharpness, or even the fact Cowdenbeath got their act together, we kept the ball. No mistakes. Don’t give Cowdenbeath hope like we have done in the past. Getting beat off peterhead, drawing with Dunfermline and Raith, even conceding a goal against Cove Rangers with 15 to go. We saw the game out, 3 points in the bag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey1874 Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 1 minute ago, To Be Frank said: So being seeded isn’t “crucial” then? The non Euro qualifying seeds last year were Dunfermline, Ayr, St Johnstone and Livingston. Results/ draw was Dunfermline lost to Hearts Ayr beat Dundee St Johnstone beat Queen of the South Livingston lost to Motherwell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hackney Hearts Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 (edited) 18 minutes ago, To Be Frank said: So being seeded isn’t “crucial” then? We got very lucky last year. First with the draw, and second that we managed to scrape past Dunfermline, when a draw against lowlier opposition would have made life far easier. I'll rephrase to "could well" be crucial. Do you want to be seeded or not? Do you want to run the risk of drawing an away tie to one of our European qualifying teams? Edited July 17, 2019 by Hackney Hearts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazzas right boot Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 27 minutes ago, Hackney Hearts said: The season started against Dundee United. I can't believe how many people are claiming this is still somehow pre-season (including John Souttar apparently!). I don't care what the date is - the powers that be have arranged for one of our 3 major competitions to start at a certain time, and we have to be ready for it, and just as importantly, treat it with respect. I'm reasonably happy with last night's result, but if it's the case (as some have suggested) that the players eased off in the second half because it was "job done" and they didn't care about adding further goals, then that would annoy me. We could rack up 5 against Stenhousemuir next week and still face having to score a similar amount away to East Fife in order to secure a seeded place in the next round. Seeding is likely to be crucial in making further progress - how much did our appearance in the semi-final earn the club last year? Aye, and we lead our group. What a pant wetting post about nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hackney Hearts Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 16 minutes ago, KyleLafferty said: There is absolutely no way you can expect a team to be up to speed after a couple of games witch everyone needing game time. Hearts had plenty chances to score the whole game. But when it became evident that maybe tiredness or match sharpness, or even the fact Cowdenbeath got their act together, we kept the ball. No mistakes. Don’t give Cowdenbeath hope like we have done in the past. Getting beat off peterhead, drawing with Dunfermline and Raith, even conceding a goal against Cove Rangers with 15 to go. We saw the game out, 3 points in the bag. I agree with much of this - as I said, I was ok with the result. I think it's just the terminology (and therefore possibly the attitude) which irritates - rather the pretending it's pre-season, can we not just say it's early days and the season's only just started? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Boy Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 Christ, now we aren’t winning by enough. 🙄 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Boy Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 (edited) 2 minutes ago, Hackney Hearts said: I agree with much of this - as I said, I was ok with the result. I think it's just the terminology (and therefore possibly the attitude) which irritates - rather the pretending it's pre-season, can we not just say it's early days and the season's only just started? The fans on here aren’t on the pitch. It doesn’t matter what they say. If you don’t like their approach, ignore it. It doesn’t matter a jot either way. As long as the players are getting results, that’s all that matters. Edited July 17, 2019 by Icon of Symmetry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmfc_liam06 Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 34 minutes ago, Hackney Hearts said: The season started against Dundee United. I can't believe how many people are claiming this is still somehow pre-season (including John Souttar apparently!). I don't care what the date is - the powers that be have arranged for one of our 3 major competitions to start at a certain time, and we have to be ready for it, and just as importantly, treat it with respect. I'm reasonably happy with last night's result, but if it's the case (as some have suggested) that the players eased off in the second half because it was "job done" and they didn't care about adding further goals, then that would annoy me. We could rack up 5 against Stenhousemuir next week and still face having to score a similar amount away to East Fife in order to secure a seeded place in the next round. Seeding is likely to be crucial in making further progress - how much did our appearance in the semi-final earn the club last year? From someone who was there. Cowdenbeath wouldn't have complained if it was 5 or 6 last night.Their keeper pulled off a few very good saves, while we also lacked a wee bit of composure in front of goal. We won, we come away with no injuries. Job done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hackney Hearts Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 4 minutes ago, Icon of Symmetry said: The fans on here aren’t on the pitch. It doesn’t matter what they say. If you don’t like their approach, ignore it. It doesn’t matter a jot either way. As long as the players are getting results, that’s all that matters. Oh definitely. Although someone said John Souttar (and CL?) had referred to this as pre-season - so presumably their attitude matters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A_A wehatethehibs Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 8 minutes ago, JamboAl said: The same old repetitive guff. Last night was little more than a training exercise where the team might otherwise have had the starting options of Naismith, Haring, new MF target, Morrison, Mulraney and even Soapy (who can set up attacks). It was not training it was a competitive football match in front of about 2000 jambos. Everyone in our team had the opportunity to impress, McDonald and Halkett took their chance. Are you trying to say last night was a weakened side because it didn’t have Calum Morrison and an unknown midfield player who we’ve not signed yet? That was a strong Hearts line up from the current squad with 3 young players rotated in, none of them debutants, plus Maclean in for Ikpeazu. Haring could be out for the season for all we know, “seeing a specialist” is never good, Naismith could easily get injured again, Walker is injury prone as we know, Souttar could easily be sold tomorrow if an offer comes in. If those type of things happen, last nights team basically is the first team. The whole reason our season last year was a failure was our lack of ability to produce goals outside Steven Naismith. Without him we couldn’t lay a glove on anyone, it was piss poor, totally depressing. The task this summer is to resolve that. If we have Steven Naismith AND 3 or 4 other attackers all scoring goals we will be a near unstoppable force in this division. That is what the fans want to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whatever Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 6 minutes ago, Icon of Symmetry said: Christ, now we aren’t winning by enough. 🙄 It’s just noise. Goalposts being moved constantly. ________________________ ’We’ll struggle to sell 10k season tickets’ ‘But we’re on track for 13k before the season starts?’ ’Budge won’t be happy with 13k, we haven’t increased our core support’ _________________________ ’Dundee Utd have better players than us’ ’But after 2 games we’re above them and top the group?’ ’We aren’t scoring enough goals, we should be hammering these sides’ __________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hackney Hearts Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 10 minutes ago, Olly Lee's left boot said: Aye, and we lead our group. What a pant wetting post about nothing. Nobody's pant wetting! Maybe it's just pedantry - but the season has actually started. As for leading the group, that's great - but I'm sure we'd all prefer to be seeded for the next round? So I'm confused why some might refer to last night's game as a training exercise, that's all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Boy Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 5 minutes ago, Hackney Hearts said: Oh definitely. Although someone said John Souttar (and CL?) had referred to this as pre-season - so presumably their attitude matters. I missed that. You would hope if true, that they were not being entirely serious, and that they are approaching the games in a competitive manner. Going by what I’ve seen of them so far, and the post match interviews, I am satisfied that they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danguar Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 For those interested; here are my thoughts on last nights game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Kintner Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 1 minute ago, Icon of Symmetry said: I missed that. You would hope if true, that they were not being entirely serious, and that they are approaching the games in a competitive manner. Going by what I’ve seen of them so far, and the post match interviews, I am satisfied that they are. Souttar said after the Utd game that getting the win was important but it’s still really pre-season and building up match fitness waa important too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hackney Hearts Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 1 minute ago, To Be Frank said: Souttar said after the Utd game that getting the win was important but it’s still really pre-season and building up match fitness waa important too. Yes, thank you - I think it was this that started me off on my series on mini rants. I'll stop now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whatever Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 6 minutes ago, To Be Frank said: Souttar said after the Utd game that getting the win was important but it’s still really pre-season and building up match fitness waa important too. He’s right of course. Getting through the group, injury free and the players gaining match fitness for the beginning of the league campaign is all that matters. These league cup games ARE a form of pre season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitch41 Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 1 hour ago, John Findlay said: Last time I went to an away game at Cowdenbeath we won 1-2 with a last minute Brad McKay penalty. Funny old game football. And the question is `Was that good enough'? A simple way of putting how we'd like to see/read about how Hearts played in a game would be And from the kick-off to the final whistle Hearts were right at them. Good movement, high tempo passing, many shots on target. Sounds good eh ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazzas right boot Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 15 minutes ago, Hackney Hearts said: Nobody's pant wetting! Maybe it's just pedantry - but the season has actually started. As for leading the group, that's great - but I'm sure we'd all prefer to be seeded for the next round? So I'm confused why some might refer to last night's game as a training exercise, that's all. Like a training exercise. It's not one tho. Every manager I've heard interview over the last few days has also referred to it as this- competitive friendlies, pre season. Ofc it's important, but some players are Litterally only back a week or two. So in terms of testing players, rotation, team selection and getting match fitness it is treated like a friendly. Some players only met for the first time last week! A friendly that is important and has meaning, thankfully we're top and Likley to be seeded, although hard to tell Seeded or not, atm. I'll not be shiting myself from Aberdeen, Killie, rangers or celtic just yet. In fact, their might even be a benefit of getting say celtic at Tynecastle early as opposed to a neutral ground in October. Different discussion tho. It is what it is, competitive games in the middle of July. Teams are just back, many still recruiting. No need to be panicking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hackney Hearts Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 3 minutes ago, Olly Lee's left boot said: competitive friendlies A total contradiction - we'll have to agree to disagree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Boy Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 2 minutes ago, Whatever said: It’s just noise. Goalposts being moved constantly. ________________________ ’We’ll struggle to sell 10k season tickets’ ‘But we’re on track for 13k before the season starts?’ ’Budge won’t be happy with 13k, we haven’t increased our core support’ _________________________ ’Dundee Utd have better players than us’ ’But after 2 games we’re above them and top the group?’ ’We aren’t scoring enough goals, we should be hammering these sides’ __________________________ Thats exactly it. It’s actually quite evident that the truth and reality of the argument matters little. It’s all about being able to make out you were right. People don’t want to find the truth of the matter, they want to convince people that they are right, whether they are or not. Debate Society bullshit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazzas right boot Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 1 minute ago, Hackney Hearts said: A total contradiction - we'll have to agree to disagree. It's not. It's a friendly type game in terms of match prep, fitness, squad gelling and timing. It's competitive as you do need results. There is an element of both in these early lc games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hackney Hearts Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 1 minute ago, Olly Lee's left boot said: match prep, fitness, squad gelling and timing. I've already said it's fine to make allowances for these things - just say it's 'early in the season'. I've also said the result last night was perfectly acceptable. My pathetic moaning is to do with people (fans, players, managers) referring to LC games as any kind of 'friendly' or 'pre-season'. Apart from anything else, there's a lot of people who have an aversion to attending friendlies, as they've seen far too many dull non-events. The League Cup has an identity crisis at the best of times, so it might be an idea to sell it a bit, rather than playing it down so much it's almost buried. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazzas right boot Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 (edited) 5 minutes ago, Hackney Hearts said: I've already said it's fine to make allowances for these things - just say it's 'early in the season'. I've also said the result last night was perfectly acceptable. My pathetic moaning is to do with people (fans, players, managers) referring to LC games as any kind of 'friendly' or 'pre-season'. Apart from anything else, there's a lot of people who have an aversion to attending friendlies, as they've seen far too many dull non-events. The League Cup has an identity crisis at the best of times, so it might be an idea to sell it a bit, rather than playing it down so much it's almost buried. They're clearly not friendlies, it's the lc. Everyone knows this. However, for the reasons I stated above teams do treat them similar to a friendly. Various managers have said this pre and post match as well. I wouldn't get upset if folk say they are like a friendly, they are in many ways but clearly as you state they are not. Be cool Edited July 17, 2019 by Olly Lee's left boot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaggy2 Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 Looking at the standings, I’m pretty confident that by accumulating 11/12 by beating Stenhousemuir and East Fife, we will be seeded in the first knockout round. Only Dunfermline, with Albion Rovers, Edinburgh City and East Kilbride to play, look absolute certs for a 100% record. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
18Jambo_dave74 Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 I would echo other posters comments - first half was very good and the second very poor. I still feel that in general we play too many long balls, as was the case in the second half. Passing and movement was much sharper in the first half and a lot of that was down to McDonald, who I thought was comfortably our MOTM last night. I thought Zanatta looked very dangerous in the first half although I suspect he will have received an ear bashing at full time for not passing to Washington for a tap in. Halkett and Smith both absolutely strolled it last night. I think Levein is going to have a very difficult decision to make regarding who he plays at centre back. MacLean was quiet but I thought he linked the play quite well when he got service. Whilst Bozanic and Clare did okay in general, I'd say central midfield is still a bit of a concern, hopefully we can get at least one midfielder in before the league campaign starts. I think Bobby Burns should be sent out on loan once more this season. I think it's clear that he is not ready to play first team football for us on a regular basis and would really benefit from getting regular game time somewhere else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Beni of Gorgie Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 Interesting to hear both McCann and Naysmith on these games. Teams take them seriously 100% but effectively you have done nowhere near the work you want to do before the first couple of games are played, at least Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martoon Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 (edited) 14 hours ago, Mikey1874 said: First saw John Miller in pre season friendly at Raith. Appreciate that's not competitive debut. I think I was there too as it goes. We did Starks a few times in pre season in those days. Levein/Hogg most notably. Always a nice trip over on the choo-choo. Edited July 17, 2019 by martoon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Who_put_the_ball_in... Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 Took a trip up the road to watch the game last night. McDonald was outstanding what a player he is going to be. Bit more work on his finishing and he could have had a hatrick. The weight and accuracy of his passing was also outstanding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OmiyaHearts Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, Hackney Hearts said: The season started against Dundee United. I can't believe how many people are claiming this is still somehow pre-season (including John Souttar apparently!). I don't care what the date is - the powers that be have arranged for one of our 3 major competitions to start at a certain time, and we have to be ready for it, and just as importantly, treat it with respect. I'm reasonably happy with last night's result, but if it's the case (as some have suggested) that the players eased off in the second half because it was "job done" and they didn't care about adding further goals, then that would annoy me. We could rack up 5 against Stenhousemuir next week and still face having to score a similar amount away to East Fife in order to secure a seeded place in the next round. Seeding is likely to be crucial in making further progress - how much did our appearance in the semi-final earn the club last year? To be fair, our players end the season as soon as the split happens. So it's no surprise they'd consider these competitive games as pre-season. Edited July 17, 2019 by OmiyaHearts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam? Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 1 hour ago, Icon of Symmetry said: I missed that. You would hope if true, that they were not being entirely serious, and that they are approaching the games in a competitive manner. Going by what I’ve seen of them so far, and the post match interviews, I am satisfied that they are. leveins post match interview on radio scotland he referred to it as a pre season game although a cup competition which I found a bit contadictory. He also noted the lack of goals could cost us a seeding in latter rounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tartofmidlothian Posted July 17, 2019 Author Share Posted July 17, 2019 It's clear the season and the league season are two different things. Do our season tickets let us into these League Cup home games? So season can have different meanings. It's clear as well that these games are treated as something more than pre season but less than full league matches by Premiership managers. The groups are weighted so a manager in the top league needs to **** them right up not to progress, so there's room to play at a high tempo for 45 or 60 minutes then ease off if the game is won. All of this seems fairly obvious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamboAl Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 (edited) 5 hours ago, A_A wehatethehibs said: It was not training it was a competitive football match in front of about 2000 jambos. Everyone in our team had the opportunity to impress, McDonald and Halkett took their chance. I did not say it was training. I said it was little more than a training exercise or, to put it another way, a competitive friendly (if that doesn't sound like too much of an oxymoron). Are you trying to say last night was a weakened side because it didn’t have Calum Morrison and an unknown midfield player who we’ve not signed yet? That was a strong Hearts line up from the current squad with 3 young players rotated in, none of them debutants, plus Maclean in for Ikpeazu. Haring could be out for the season for all we know, “seeing a specialist” is never good, Naismith could easily get injured again, Walker is injury prone as we know, Souttar could easily be sold tomorrow if an offer comes in. If those type of things happen, last nights team basically is the first team. I am not trying to say anything. I am saying we did not have our full team, for whatever reason and we did enough to win the game. I am also saying if we win every other game 2-0 we will win the League, The Scottish Cup and the League Cup. The whole reason our season last year was a failure was our lack of ability to produce goals outside Steven Naismith. Without him we couldn’t lay a glove on anyone, it was piss poor, totally depressing. The task this summer is to resolve that. If we have Steven Naismith AND 3 or 4 other attackers all scoring goals we will be a near unstoppable force in this division. That is what the fans want to see. I am not talking about last season That is dead and gone. I am considering this season and I would suggest you try and do so also instead of rerunning the old negativity and failure latgely caused by serious injuries to our key players, many at the same time. Forget it and move on. Edited July 17, 2019 by JamboAl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTweedy Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 6 hours ago, Hackney Hearts said: The season started against Dundee United. I can't believe how many people are claiming this is still somehow pre-season (including John Souttar apparently!). I don't care what the date is - the powers that be have arranged for one of our 3 major competitions to start at a certain time, and we have to be ready for it, and just as importantly, treat it with respect. I'm reasonably happy with last night's result, but if it's the case (as some have suggested) that the players eased off in the second half because it was "job done" and they didn't care about adding further goals, then that would annoy me. We could rack up 5 against Stenhousemuir next week and still face having to score a similar amount away to East Fife in order to secure a seeded place in the next round. Seeding is likely to be crucial in making further progress - how much did our appearance in the semi-final earn the club last year? It is still preseason, at least as far training, fitness, sharpness, etc are concerned, even if there are some competitive matches being played just now, whether you like it or not! I've seen a few people claim that we should have been fully ready to go for the Dundee United game, but that's just plain wrong, quite frankly. The players needed a proper close season break, and having been in the cup final last season, that realistically meant starting preseason when we did, which was three weeks before the Dundee United game, and just over six weeks before our first league game, at which point we should be fully ready to go. Being fully ready for the Dundee United game would have required us to start preseason about a fortnight earlier, meaning the players would have had no proper break, which would simply be storing up all sorts of extra problems with injuries and fatigue as the new season goes on. Thankfully, the management team are rather more savvy than to make that sort of error! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTweedy Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 7 hours ago, To Be Frank said: Were we seeded last year? 7 hours ago, Mikey1874 said: No. We played seeded Dunfermline (who won their group with 12 points) in second round. Just as a matter of interest, the only reason we weren't seeded last year was the two point deduction for fielding an ineligible player. Only two teams got the maximum 12 points in their groups. We'd have been one of three teams with 11 points without that deduction, and we had a much better goal difference than either of the others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamboAl Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 1 hour ago, FarmerTweedy said: It is still preseason, at least as far training, fitness, sharpness, etc are concerned, even if there are some competitive matches being played just now, whether you like it or not! I've seen a few people claim that we should have been fully ready to go for the Dundee United game, but that's just plain wrong, quite frankly. The players needed a proper close season break, and having been in the cup final last season, that realistically meant starting preseason when we did, which was three weeks before the Dundee United game, and just over six weeks before our first league game, at which point we should be fully ready to go. Being fully ready for the Dundee United game would have required us to start preseason about a fortnight earlier, meaning the players would have had no proper break, which would simply be storing up all sorts of extra problems with injuries and fatigue as the new season goes on. Thankfully, the management team are rather more savvy than to make that sort of error! This Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hackney Hearts Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 1 hour ago, FarmerTweedy said: It is still preseason, at least as far training, fitness, sharpness, etc are concerned Yes, I think we're all agreed on that aspect. It's just semantics really - it can't technically be pre-season if we're playing competitive matches, that's all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTweedy Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 35 minutes ago, Hackney Hearts said: Yes, I think we're all agreed on that aspect. It's just semantics really - it can't technically be pre-season if we're playing competitive matches, that's all. Yeah, I agree with you on the bit in bold! The fact that preseason training only started less than four weeks ago though, will inevitably influence both the approach to games (particularly team selections) and the performances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NB GIN Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 9 hours ago, A_A wehatethehibs said: It was not training it was a competitive football match in front of about 2000 jambos. Everyone in our team had the opportunity to impress, McDonald and Halkett took their chance. Are you trying to say last night was a weakened side because it didn’t have Calum Morrison and an unknown midfield player who we’ve not signed yet? That was a strong Hearts line up from the current squad with 3 young players rotated in, none of them debutants, plus Maclean in for Ikpeazu. Haring could be out for the season for all we know, “seeing a specialist” is never good, Naismith could easily get injured again, Walker is injury prone as we know, Souttar could easily be sold tomorrow if an offer comes in. If those type of things happen, last nights team basically is the first team. The whole reason our season last year was a failure was our lack of ability to produce goals outside Steven Naismith. Without him we couldn’t lay a glove on anyone, it was piss poor, totally depressing. The task this summer is to resolve that. If we have Steven Naismith AND 3 or 4 other attackers all scoring goals we will be a near unstoppable force in this division. That is what the fans want to see. Good post apart from your quote “ we will be a near unstoppable force in this division “ I think we have a good chance of third but it will depend on Naismith / walker / hating staying fit Also Craig Levein having a go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i wish jj was my dad Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 9 hours ago, hmfc_liam06 said: From someone who was there. Cowdenbeath wouldn't have complained if it was 5 or 6 last night.Their keeper pulled off a few very good saves, while we also lacked a wee bit of composure in front of goal. We won, we come away with no injuries. Job done. Correct. We played ok and got the job done. The keeper and poor decision making kept it from a rout. There will be plenty of opportunities for thr Levein oot mob to seethe. Still a bit premature yet though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomaso Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 12 hours ago, JamboAl said: Amazing! Whenever the name Levein comes up they pounce immediately - every thread Ironic from a serial JKB pouncer.....😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamboAl Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 2 hours ago, Cruickshank for Scotland said: Ironic from a serial JKB pouncer.....😂 I wonder why you replied?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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