.....The official Ross County v Heart of Midlothian match day thread .....

[tcjambo]

45 minutes ago, TheOak88 said:

 

The old “injuries comfort blanket” coming out. 

 

Straight from the Craig Levein book of excuses. 

Doesn''t get away from it being an inconvenient  fact

[Bazzas right boot]

4 minutes ago, Pasquale for King said:

We’ve gained a point on the teams above us, as long as we keep progressing we should be fine. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

 

👍

[SMJ_1874]

8 minutes ago, Restonbabe said:

We were honking 1st half. 

Played better 2nd half. Uche coming on made a massive difference. 

If the new laddie never slipped in front of goal it was a tap in. 

Just bloody passed aviemore. Still got 3 hours before I'm home. 

Still. We never got beat. 

You on the same bus as me? 😩

[SMJ_1874]

6 minutes ago, Last Laff said:

Me and you the positive ones?  

Unbeaten in 2020 so far 😉

[One five]

feel a bit gutted but there’s a long way to go and lots of points there to be won that can get us out of this situation.still feel very confident we will do it. 

[Taffin]

I think it's now crystal clear how big a job Stendel has on his hands. He's not had a good start but he's ripping the setup to pieces and trying to rebuild. It will take time but I trust him to succeed. What a shambles we were allowed to become, it's frightening how much damage had been done and it's an uphill struggle to get enough done to beat the drop.

 

With that in mind, tonight it a point gained but we badly need to get a couple of wins in the board in the coming weeks

[Newton51]

Interesting comment from the match report 

 

Despite moving to what looked like a 4-1-5 formation with the introduction of Jamie Walker, and a series of corners that bounced around dangerously, Hearts couldn’t break the deadlock and ultimately had to take the point going into Sunday’s clash with Rangers.

[1971fozzy]

15 minutes ago, Francis Albert said:

The complacency that suggests we just need to win our home games is astonishing. 23 games in we have won one home game. Anyone who isn't pant wetting (figuratively speaking) has lost touch with reality

sadly bang on

[EIEIO]

56 minutes ago, Heres Rixxy said:

 

The problem with this logic is that it assumes no one else above us picks up points in the meantime. Realistically, we're probably more like 5-6 wins on the bounce from reaching as high as 7th.

True however after the Huns we play a few of our relegation rivals. So long as we can climb out of (and stay out of) the bottom two that's all that matters.

[pettigrewsstylist]

26 minutes ago, invernessjt said:

Personally, I thought we looked better after he came on.

We most cerainly did. We went from useless to very poor.

[Shanks]

Considering how useless we have been this season, I am happy we managed a point away against a team 8 points clear of us.  Could be an important point by the end of season. 

[Last Laff]

15 minutes ago, Pasquale for King said:

Scary stuff, pant wetters abound. The only negative is losing more ground on Hibs but I have to say I was happy they won, strange days indeed mate.

Hibs will get their day this season, we will be back next.  As long as we get out of the shit, which I’m positive we will then that’s what matters.  We aren’t going to steamroll teams and haven’t turned amazing all of a sudden though.  We ground out a draw in a hard place and it is what it is.  

[Last Laff]

12 minutes ago, Saughton Jambo said:

Unbeaten in 2020 so far 😉

And long may that continue.  Starting Sunday 👍

[JFK-1]

30 minutes ago, Coburg Hearts said:

It's a sad state of affairs that you have even to consider doing this, but I understand completely where you are coming from. Hang on in there.

 

There's a lack of realism and perspective among football fans in general not just Hearts fans. For example right now after being defeated by Motherwell the sheep are cranking up their McInnes oot chant.

McInnes needs to go because he has a budget greater than that of Motherwell and also because he isn't challenging the OF with their multi million squads. See the disconnect there? They have a budget somewhat greater than that of Motherwell so Motherwell should be easy meat.

But on the other hand the OF and their budget advantages which are on another planet in comparison to the budget advantage the sheep have over Motherwell is irrelevant. McInnes should be challenging them.

No appreciation that from time to time a Motherwell will find themselves with a decent team while the sheep will find themselves with a less than stellar squad and have a relatively bad season or even a string of bad seasons. 

The sheep unrealistically think that just getting another manager will dramatically change things. It wont. They will still be shopping in the same market is the rest of the league OF aside. I actually hope they do piss him off enough to walk away to watch the screams when nothing changes and potentially get's a lot worse.

 

There are always going to be dips and troughs for most teams including those with a budget advantage. In recent seasons we have seen not just Hearts but hubz and Dundee United too be relegated despite their budget advantage. Before McInnes took over at the sheep they finished 8th in a league that didn't even have Rangers in it. 

Hearts are currently in one of these troughs and while that will change in time I foresee such seasons becoming more common place for all clubs such as Hearts, sheep etc who have something of a budget advantage. The advantage isn't so great it will always be a game changer.

[TheOak88]

18 minutes ago, tcjambo said:

Doesn''t get away from it being an inconvenient  fact

 

Naismith, Washington and Uche playing tonight. None of our strikers injured. Zero shots on target. Dat inconvenient truth. 

[Jambo 4 Ever]

Just now, TheOak88 said:

 

Naismith, Washington and Uche playing tonight. None of our strikers injured. Zero shots on target. Dat inconvenient truth. 

We need real strikers 

[Hectormasson]

30 minutes ago, Fozzyonthefence said:

What a sad state of affairs if we need to sign a couple of players to beat St ****ing Johnstone!  But probably true!

Most definetly true.....

[stevie1874]

1 hour ago, Pagey said:

Hopefully this provides some clarity about what we need in terms of players to be signed this coming week, if it wasn't clear already. 

Exactly , a poacher and a centre mid   

[davemclaren]

24 minutes ago, Pasquale for King said:

Scary stuff, pant wetters abound. The only negative is losing more ground on Hibs but I have to say I was happy they won, strange days indeed mate.

Where we are we have to take a pragmatic approach to other results. The only thing that is important is that we stay up so we can regroup for next seasin. 

[Cynic]

1 hour ago, SteauaNeedarest said:

How would they’ve made a significant difference out of interest? They’re not exactly prolific goal scoring threats are they?

One like Clare's on Saturday would have helped. 

[TheOak88]

5 minutes ago, Natural Orders said:

We need real strikers 

 

2 seasoned internationals playing up front tonight. 

[pettigrewsstylist]

9 minutes ago, TheOak88 said:

 

Naismith, Washington and Uche playing tonight. None of our strikers injured. Zero shots on target. Dat inconvenient truth. 

Add Walkers appearance to that.

[Jambo 4 Ever]

6 minutes ago, TheOak88 said:

 

2 seasoned internationals playing up front tonight. 

Washington is not a goal scorer 

[Captain Canada]

We should sell Uche if at all possible. He's just not a goal threat. Washington doesn't seem to have a striker's instinct either. Someone like Boyce is exactly what we need right now. 

 

I understand that the January window isn't easy, but we have to help DS out. One signing isn't enough. We might have to take a risk or two financially to get people in but we'll lose out big time if we get relegated. 

[One five]

4 minutes ago, Captain Canada said:

We should sell Uche if at all possible. He's just not a goal threat. Washington doesn't seem to have a striker's instinct either. Someone like Boyce is exactly what we need right now. 

 

I understand that the January window isn't easy, but we have to help DS out. One signing isn't enough. We might have to take a risk or two financially to get people in but we'll lose out big time if we get relegated. 

Agree and a bit strength in midfield would be enough to get us safe imo 

[Spoleto]

14 minutes ago, Captain Canada said:

We should sell Uche if at all possible. He's just not a goal threat. Washington doesn't seem to have a striker's instinct either. Someone like Boyce is exactly what we need right now. 

 

I understand that the January window isn't easy, but we have to help DS out. One signing isn't enough. We might have to take a risk or two financially to get people in but we'll lose out big time if we get relegated. 

Did you read the earlier posts that said we were better when Uche came on?

 

Plus, is he not coming back from an injury which ruled him out of the last game?

 

[Pasquale for King]

37 minutes ago, Last Laff said:

Hibs will get their day this season, we will be back next.  As long as we get out of the shit, which I’m positive we will then that’s what matters.  We aren’t going to steamroll teams and haven’t turned amazing all of a sudden though.  We ground out a draw in a hard place and it is what it is.  

Exactly, more to come from the team.

[Pasquale for King]

30 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

Where we are we have to take a pragmatic approach to other results. The only thing that is important is that we stay up so we can regroup for next seasin. 

Exactly Dave, it’s all that matters.

[BRAVEHEART1874]

Not too surprised with only a draw, but only 3 or 4 shots?  jeezo. 

Meshino and also smith back in mid  on sunday should help.

Washington? well even the hobos can see he will not score enough, back to watching the transfer thread for an out and out striker

Would be a shame if we actually defended well against sevco for a change and won 1-0 though

 

[Bazzas right boot]

1 hour ago, Francis Albert said:

The complacency that suggests we just need to win our home games is astonishing. 23 games in we have won one home game. Anyone who isn't pant wetting (figuratively speaking) has lost touch with reality

 

Yeah, that's why folk are saying we need to win our home games- to improve. 

 

If we'd already won a large portion of our home games we wouldn't be in the situation. 

 

Historically, our home games will be easier to get points from as well. 

 

Everyone is concerned, winning our home games is a logical way out of the mess. 

 

It's not complacency, it's suggestions(realistic) on how we can improve. 

 

If we don't improve, we'll go down. 

[davemclaren]

1 hour ago, Francis Albert said:

The complacency that suggests we just need to win our home games is astonishing. 23 games in we have won one home game. Anyone who isn't pant wetting (figuratively speaking) has lost touch with reality

I think we should expect to win our home matches more than our away ones, regardless of our form. 

[3fingersreid]

1 hour ago, sadj said:

How dare you!!!! Though i know weve lost two in a row at home to them. Rather they were dragged into it and Killie got top 6 personally. Tho after pulling it back n beating Hamilton i’d say Hibs up are safe as the bottom 6 us aside are 5points apart they will all take points here n there we need to get on a run. Feb is crucial , no reason why we shouldnt pick up 8/10 points in Feb. That will be the massive month. 

Last time we lost two in a row to them was 1977 , we went down that year ☹️

[WheatfieldWarrior]

3 hours ago, soonbe110 said:

Only according to you. Certainly not the bookies. Who should I believe? 

 

William Hill and Bet Victor both have us Joint favourites with Hamilton to finish bottom.

 

[tntjambo]

one word to describe that pathetic team is pish worst Hearts time i have ever seen.

[graygo]

13 minutes ago, WheatfieldWarrior said:

 

William Hill and Bet Victor both have us Joint favourites with Hamilton to finish bottom.

 

 

He said we were odds on favourites, we're not. (yet)

[Last Laff]

1 minute ago, graygo said:

 

He said we were odds on favourites, we're not. (yet)

Hamilton won’t finish bottom.  They are a no bad team and took the old form to the last ten mins, pumped Motherwell away and on a good run of form.  St Mirren and St Johnstone is who we catch. 

[graygo]

14 minutes ago, Last Laff said:

Hamilton won’t finish bottom.  They are a no bad team and took the old form to the last ten mins, pumped Motherwell away and on a good run of form.  St Mirren and St Johnstone is who we catch. 

 

Hamilton? The Hamilton that are second bottom of the league? That Hamilton?

 

Watch for Kilmarnock getting sucked into it if we can pick up some wins.

[Coburg Hearts]

3 hours ago, Smith's right boot said:

 

 

The groovy gang have started the wheels moving tho. 

 

Only fools and horses would deny this.

[portobellojambo1]

Wasn't the best of performances tonight, but I've seen us play a lot better up there and lose. The fact we didn't win tonight was down to not having anyone on the park who has one sole function, sticking the ball in the net. Positives, we didn't lose and we are one point less far away from everyone else at the bottom end of the league. Can't remember the last HMFC game I was at where the Hearts support were pleased when it came through on-line the Hibs were in front against Hamilton.

 

I think Stendel will have learned more from tonight than he did in the game against Airdrie. In Saturday's game Airdrie stood off our players, gave them time to think what they were doing and it worked well for us. Tonight Ross County were a lot tighter and we didn't perform too well. Difficult to apportion blame to any individual or individuals, it was collectively just one of those nights.

Edited January 23, 2020 by portobellojambo1

[Unknown user]

3 hours ago, Smith's right boot said:

 

He's a poster that goes missing when we win

 

 

Different opinons are fine, arguments are even fun. 

 

I just don't bother with folk that seem to get off on the bad results (a draw is OK) and go completely missing when we win. 

It's so obvious as well. 

If Hearts fans, I don't get what joy they get from football and Hearts. 

 

He's also a poster who's vociferously been championing the return of a 15 stone striker who hasn't played professional football since 2018 (Zeefuik) and another striker who hasn't scored in 16 this season and cant sign for us anyway as he's played for 2 clubs already this season (Sow).

 

Massive pinches of salt needed.  The way I see it, if it barks like a dog and shits all over the house like a dog, it gets the same respect a dog gets, actual hibby or not.

[Coburg Hearts]

3 hours ago, RustyRightPeg said:

I wouldn’t be surprised if he walked if it carries on. I’m not even convinced we’ll get more players in. 
 

he’s obviously been given “promises” to come here. Was one of them I’ll just let the guy who got us in this mess mill about, sneaking into the changing room when your backs turned, look for a physio to make his stubborn nature about not completely walking away from the club when he should’ve? I doubt it. 
 

“bring your own staff Daniel” in fact don’t promise them anything because we won’t even fully support you with that either. You can have one, but here have the rest of the cast offs that specks has left behind.

 

 

Deary me, what a load of utter shite.

Edited January 23, 2020 by Coburg Hearts

[graygo]

2 minutes ago, Coburg Hearts said:

Dearie me, what a load of utter shite.

 

Isn't it just?

 

Some state to get into.

[Unknown user]

2 minutes ago, Coburg Hearts said:

Dearie me, what a load of utter shite.

You're too kind.

[Coburg Hearts]

4 hours ago, DC_92 said:

A stat that may surprise some. Washington and Boyce have a near identical number of games at League One and international level and Washington outscores Boyce in both. I don't think he's a lost cause at all.

Interesting stats.

[Coburg Hearts]

28 minutes ago, graygo said:

 

Isn't it just?

 

Some state to get into.

He was probably on a high last Saturday.

[Coburg Hearts]

28 minutes ago, Smithee said:

You're too kind.

You're probably right, Smithee, too kind by half. 😊

[Pasquale for King]

2 hours ago, Smith's right boot said:

 

Yeah, that's why folk are saying we need to win our home games- to improve. 

 

If we'd already won a large portion of our home games we wouldn't be in the situation. 

 

Historically, our home games will be easier to get points from as well. 

 

Everyone is concerned, winning our home games is a logical way out of the mess. 

 

It's not complacency, it's suggestions(realistic) on how we can improve. 

 

If we don't improve, we'll go down. 

👍🏽

[JFK-1]

5 hours ago, Ethan Hunt said:

What little money we had - which was more than the majority of other teams - was wasted by Levein. That is why we lack quality.

 

It very well could be down to Levein, or at least to some degree, I'm not expert enough to say for sure. Because in the past decade all of the City clubs have struggled as often as not and 3 of them were relegated.

 

Levein wasn't managing all of them.

 

But I have come to believe that a manager can make a significant difference and I would use Aberdeen as an example to illustrate that.

In the four seasons prior to McInnes taking over they registered three consecutive 9th place finishes then an 8th place finish in the final season before he took over. Since he took over the worst they have had was the 4th they finished last season. I presume McInnes made the difference.

In general historically we usually expect that putting the OF aside Hearts, Aberdeen, hubz and maybe Dundee united should take the next 4 places below the OF most of the time. But in reality that doesn't happen much or at least not recently it hasn't.

 

2009/10 season

DU 3rd

hubz 4th

Hearts 6th

Aberdeen 9th 

2010/11 season.

Hearts 3rd

Dundee Utd 4th

Aberdeen 9th

hubz 10th

 

2011/12 season.

DU 4th

Hearts 5th

Aberdeen 9th

hubz 11th

 

2012/13 season.

DU 6th

hubz 7th

Aberdeen 8th

Hearts 10th

 

2013/14 season

Aberdeen 3rd

DU 4th

hubz 11th (relegated)

Hearts 12th (relegated)

 

2014/15 season

Aberdeen 2nd

DU 5th

Hearts and hubz both in the Championship

 

2015/16 season

Aberdeen 2nd

Hearts 3rd

DU 12th (relegated)

hubz in Championship

 

2016/17

Aberdeen 2nd

Hearts 5th

DU (championship)

hubz (championship)

 

2017/18

Aberdeen 2nd

hubz 4th

Hearts 6th

DU (championship)

 

2018/19

Aberdeen 4th

hubz 5th

Hearts 6th

DU (championship)

 

Take note from those last 10 seasons in none of them did all 4 of the non OF city clubs finish in the top 6. The best result for them came in just 4 of the 10 seasons when 3 of the City clubs finished in the top 6.

In 2012/13 DU alone finished in the top 6 and only barely, in 6th place.

This represents a pattern over the past decade indicating that the city clubs and their budget advantage is no longer proving to be much of an advantage. I suspect because there is so little money in the Scottish game that with the passing seasons it's become a leveler.

With everyone shopping in pretty much the same store which is league 1/2 freebies there is little between them. Being able to pay a freebie a bit more than the provincials just doesn't make that much of a difference.

Freebies are freebies for a reason and the only consistent aspect of them is that they aren't greatly technically gifted and if they do have any technical proficiency at all it's not consistent. And not good enough to easily overcome the now standard Scottish park the bus strategy.

In that decade Aberdeen have had the most consistent run of top 6 finishes and that's only since McInnes took over there. That suggests to me that to get any kind of consistent top 6 run in this league it takes a specific kind of manager who simply knows how to grind out points ugly or otherwise with these freebies.

 

McInnes has registered not just a top 6 finish but a Euro spot finish in the past 6 of those seasons. Every season since he took over in fact when they had just registered a run of 4 consecutive seasons where their best finish was 8th.

It looks to me as if McInnes is the best manager out there for maintaining a regular top 6 finish in the current Scottish environment. Even now they're lying in 4th while 4 points behind Motherwell but 8 ahead of 5th placed Livi.

They don't play pretty football but what's the overall preference? Pretty football or consistent Euro spot finishes? And bizarrely the Aberdeen fans hate him while he has consistently delivered the best they can realistically expect.

 

Will possibly hound him out of there with their mindless abuse. And I hope the total morons do. 

Hearts need to get lucky with the correct manager for the current Scottish financial climate and game as Aberdeen did with McInnes.

 

Stendel might be a manager who can deliver I don't know. But I think it's at a point where everyone should stop thinking that a budget advantage will be or even should be a clincher even just most of the time.

It's obviously not and I don't think that's likely to change anytime soon. 

[Jamhammer]

7 hours ago, RustyRightPeg said:

I wouldn’t be surprised if he walked if it carries on. I’m not even convinced we’ll get more players in. 
 

he’s obviously been given “promises” to come here. Was one of them I’ll just let the guy who got us in this mess mill about, sneaking into the changing room when your backs turned, look for a physio to make his stubborn nature about not completely walking away from the club when he should’ve? I doubt it. 
 

“bring your own staff Daniel” in fact don’t promise them anything because we won’t even fully support you with that either. You can have one, but here have the rest of the cast offs that specks has left behind.

 

 

Don’t really know where to begin with this post. In the usual car crash that is JKB after anything other than a resounding win it stands out in its negativity and wild speculation. 
DS has brought one in and is trying to get others. He’s binned those he doesn’t want and is trying to make a functioning tram of what’s left meantime. Having the former manager at the club isn’t ideal but Stendel knew he was gonna be here, for now. He’s got one of “his own” staff in so far because others are unavailable.

 

Ive been happy with what I’ve seen of Stendels Hearts. We need a striker who scores goals and have done since Lafferty. Hopefully that is addressed 

[Hearts1975]

4 hours ago, portobellojambo1 said:

Wasn't the best of performances tonight, but I've seen us play a lot better up there and lose. The fact we didn't win tonight was down to not having anyone on the park who has one sole function, sticking the ball in the net. Positives, we didn't lose and we are one point less far away from everyone else at the bottom end of the league. Can't remember the last HMFC game I was at where the Hearts support were pleased when it came through on-line the Hibs were in front against Hamilton.

 

I think Stendel will have learned more from tonight than he did in the game against Airdrie. In Saturday's game Airdrie stood off our players, gave them time to think what they were doing and it worked well for us. Tonight Ross County were a lot tighter and we didn't perform too well. Difficult to apportion blame to any individual or individuals, it was collectively just one of those nights.

Great post and very true indeed

The players have Got to learn how to play Stendels system quicker and especially when teams set up to give you no room to think and counter press. I think this will happen though. The more you do something the more it becomes easier in a sense. Consistency and performances on the road had been a struggle for a long time so factor this in as well 

 

Hopefully we will get a few new faces in and have a real go at sevco. This game is gone, we move on to the next. February is looking likely to be a hugely important month for us. 

Edited January 23, 2020 by Hearts1975