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

[The Old Tolbooth]

9 hours ago, FinnBarr Saunders said:

 

Very late decision from us but I'm taking the wife up as her birthday treat and staying the night.

 

PS. No Ken Barlow condom pics please, she's ahem, up on bricks at the moment

 

I'm guessing you're not a tradesman?  

[The Gorgie]

16 hours ago, Dandyman79 said:

I had looked to go up to this game as I'm off every Wednesday and never been up there, my car had other ideas tho and decided It should have day in a garage getting the fuel filter replaced lol so bye bye ticket money

Fuel filter isn't a big job or expensive job. Hope you aren't getting your pants pulled down for it.

[iantjambo]

Looks like the best young striker in Europe is on his way to County

 

Wonder if the deal will be done in time for him playing tonight.

 

 

For those who don’t know who I’m talking about. It’s Oli Shaw

 

[alicante jambo]

Any win will do . Come on lads get us these 3 points.

[Masonic]

at least the jynx tartofmidlothian aint the OP il go for 2-1 naismith and souttar the goal scorers

[BelgeJambo]

10 hours ago, FinnBarr Saunders said:

 

Very late decision from us but I'm taking the wife up as her birthday treat and staying the night.

 

PS. No Ken Barlow condom pics please, she's ahem, up on bricks at the moment

Her wheels nicked in Blackburn, canny believe that

[Getintaethem]

We desperately need three points tonight to keep us in touch and to continue and increase the feel good factor.  Not an easy place to go, we’ve only beaten county in one of our last eight fixtures.  Admittedly we’ve only lost one of the last eight, with six draws.

 

   I believe we are stronger, fitter and better prepared for this half of the season.  A win tonight would be a massive lift for the club.

[Homme]

This is going to be an extremely difficult game and if we will do well to win it.

 

Beating Airdrie easily won't translate into a win tonight. We will need to play even better. That said i hope we have taken bags of confidence from that result.

 

[BelgeJambo]

Attack attack attack

 

Washington due a goal or two tonight

[Darren]

1 hour ago, Sir Gio said:

Getting to the point now where only wins will do. However 1 down with 10 minutes to go, you'd take a draw. Sad world that we find ourselves in. Win tonight anything is a bonus Sunday, free hit

 

We're five points adrift at the bottom of the table with 17 games to go - there are no free hits in the league.

[BelgeJambo]

Ross County have the weakest defence in the league so far, as good a game as any for us to get scoring stats improved

 

C'mon Hearts

[H2]

On 19/01/2020 at 12:50, Jambos_1874 said:

This is a must win.

100% agree, 3 points here will give us the spring board we need to close the gap and start he surge to climb the league.

[cheetah]

Tight, Tough, Tiring, Tiki Taki  0-1 

[Lord Beni of Gorgie]

1 hour ago, Darren said:

 

We're five points adrift at the bottom of the table with 17 games to go - there are no free hits in the league.

2 games against Celtic and Rangers very different to the rest in terms of difficulty 

[Darren]

2 minutes ago, Sir Gio said:

2 games against Celtic and Rangers very different to the rest in terms of difficulty 

 

Of course they are but we've already drawn with Rangers at home this season so not sure why you would just write it off.

[Lord Beni of Gorgie]

Just now, Darren said:

 

Of course they are but we've already drawn with Rangers at home this season so not sure why you would just write it off.

Not writing it off, but shouldn't lose confidence if it goes wrong. 

 

Not many will take points off either,  not what will ultimately be decisive is where I'm going there. 

 

Probably worth trying an aggressive approach,  no Morelos has to be a boost 

[spirt of 98]

1 hour ago, alicante jambo said:

Any win will do . Come on lads get us these 3 points.

Tonight is a must win.

 

I class this game as Stendel first real game as the first few were just trying to sort out he who I will not mentions mess. He’s shuffled the squad brought one in and had time to get his style over to the players. It’s time to deliver. 
 

Anyone else think the mods should include the word Levein in the banned swear words list. 

[Heartsofgold]

3 hours ago, TypoonJambo said:

Audio only im afraid

 

Bugger!!

Edited January 22, 2020 by Heartsofgold

[Rudy T]

Looking at the other games that can impact us.

 

St Mirren are at Ibrox

Hamilton are down at the vermin dome

St Johnstone on the plastic at the tony macaroni

Killie at home to Celtic

 

3 Points tonight can potentially close the gap on all 5 above us. Its Vital we get something out of this game, an absolute bonus would be no injuries, chances of that are slim!

 

 

[BelgeJambo]

19 minutes ago, Rudy T said:

Looking at the other games that can impact us.

 

St Mirren are at Ibrox

Hamilton are down at the vermin dome

St Johnstone on the plastic at the tony macaroni

Killie at home to Celtic

 

3 Points tonight can potentially close the gap on all 5 above us. Its Vital we get something out of this game, an absolute bonus would be no injuries, chances of that are slim!

 

 

Hamilton usually win at Easter Road, do they not?

[CJGJ]

5 of our next 7 matches are against sides in the bottom 6..the others being Rangers at home and Celtic away

 

This is vital if only for the fact we are 8 points behind them and they have a game in hand..an 11 point gap would be too much to make up I think..5 points is achievable even with the game in hand

 

However whilst there were signs against Airdrie that things may improve the reality is we lost 2 of or better players to injury, have another suspended and the side is not really any stronger then pre break..oh and it was just Airdrie of the first division

 

I want to believe that things will improve but there is not enough evidence yet to do so

 

Tonight will tell us a great deal but I can't claim to be confident about a positive outcome

 

Indeed questions should be asked if we cannot beat Ross County but at home they are reasonable on the whole...I am thinking draw but that I'm not sure will be a positive result in the circumstances

 

Still enough 'signs' to convince me to take a day off and travel..leaving around 2.45 pm should allow time for a quick drink beforehand

 

 

[Tom Hardy’s Dug]

On 20/01/2020 at 13:18, One five said:

Understand why the negativity mate , if any of our players go down nowadays we think the worst ! Have we ever had a season with as many injuries ? can't imagine like!  Hopefully the worst is behind us though 

 

Erm - last season?

 

On 20/01/2020 at 15:36, rmreido said:

I get what your saying about the defence, but our real problem has been scoring goals, or the lack of it. Since DS has came in, we've been creating enough chances to win games, but not taking them. I know we scored 5 on Saturday, but against lower league opposition, so come the game on Wednesday, I hope we have enough up front to cause them problems, and when the chances do come along, take them. The players we have are good enough, it's all about belief in their own ability. 

 

Airdrie are lower league opposition but from looking at our goals and with the general play of Airdrie being really up for the game we had to work hard for the goals and it wasn’t as if we won only because they had a couple of unfit fat lads in defence.

 

Tonight is really difficult to predict but I feel we’ve had a change in momentum - it has been like an oil tanker turning round but I think we can all see that game by game under Stendel we are improving. I dont think that is a disputable fact.

 

The risk is, as with every team, that you have a period of improvement and then have a bad game, but we should have enough for tonight

 

Personally, I think Stendel is the sort of person to keep as much of a same team  as he can after a winning game so I think our attackers that start will be the same as Saturday.

 

But that leaves the mouth watering prospect of bringing on Donis and Meschino if we need a boost - OPSHUNS!!

Edited January 22, 2020 by Tom Hardy’s Dug

[graygo]

3 hours ago, The Old Tolbooth said:

 

I'm guessing you're not a tradesman?  

 

 

 

[Tom Hardy’s Dug]

3 minutes ago, CJGJ said:

5 of our next 7 matches are against sides in the bottom 6..the others being Rangers at home and Celtic away

 

This is vital if only for the fact we are 8 points behind them and they have a game in hand..an 11 point gap would be too much to make up I think..5 points is achievable even with the game in hand

 

However whilst there were signs against Airdrie that things may improve the reality is we lost 2 of or better players to injury, have another suspended and the side is not really any stronger then pre break..oh and it was just Airdrie of the first division

 

I want to believe that things will improve but there is not enough evidence yet to do so

 

Tonight will tell us a great deal but I can't claim to be confident about a positive outcome

 

Indeed questions should be asked if we cannot beat Ross County but at home they are reasonable on the whole...I am thinking draw but that I'm not sure will be a positive result in the circumstances

 

Still enough 'signs' to convince me to take a day off and travel..leaving around 2.45 pm should allow time for a quick drink beforehand

 

 

 

My general view is that we need to win around 80% of our remaining games against the bottom six teams - so that would be 4 out of 5 in this next run

 

Even when utter shite we are also a team that has pulled out a result against the OF - we are due one against Rangers. How we set up and play and them at the weekend will be interesting - but not season defining.

 

I dont think we will be bottom after these 7 games. If we still are I think we are ****ed

Edited January 22, 2020 by Tom Hardy’s Dug

[Lord Beni of Gorgie]

34 minutes ago, Rudy T said:

Looking at the other games that can impact us.

 

St Mirren are at Ibrox

Hamilton are down at the vermin dome

St Johnstone on the plastic at the tony macaroni

Killie at home to Celtic

 

3 Points tonight can potentially close the gap on all 5 above us. Its Vital we get something out of this game, an absolute bonus would be no injuries, chances of that are slim!

 

 

We just need to keep winning. Or start winning even. Like you I'm tempted to look at what is good for us in other games, but this early suspect it will do our nuts in!!!

[Class of 75]

Will be keeping tabs on this via the magic of train wi fi 😂as on my travels again to Plymouth. Hopefully 3 points for the Hearts and we can start that climb back up the table 

[Baxfee]

Might be a goal fest:  3-4 hearts although more than happy to take a 0-1 hearts with a scuffed og

 

 

[The Old Tolbooth]

14 minutes ago, graygo said:

 

 

 

 

Glad someone got it  

[Rods]

I have huge concerns over this game I feel it could go either way and I feel a draw is not good enough for us at the moment.

[BelgeJambo]

"Asked about the right-back situation, Stendel said: “Let’s surprise you tonight! We have enough players in the squad. Maybe they haven’t played right-back every time but we have some players that have the ability to play this position in our style.”

 

Maybe somebody like Calum Morrison - Think we are in for surprise for sure

[Martin_T]

If we are able to impose ourselves on the game and dictate it with our style of play, we can hopefully go on to win tonight pretty comfortably.

 

 

[graygo]

10 minutes ago, BelgeJambo said:

"Asked about the right-back situation, Stendel said: “Let’s surprise you tonight! We have enough players in the squad. Maybe they haven’t played right-back every time but we have some players that have the ability to play this position in our style.”

 

Maybe somebody like Calum Morrison - Think we are in for surprise for sure

 

Zlamal?

[Captain Canada]

I'm going for a 2-0 win for us. Naismith and Washington to score in the 2nd half. 

[The Apprentice]

Safe journey to all the hardy souls travelling up for the game. 

 

HHGH!

[Ted Hastings]

Sounds a bit like a lottery for right back with Smith, Clare and Brandon all out.

 

I would go

 

                     Pererira

Dikamona Souttar Halkett Garrucio

                 Bozanic Irving

     Donis Naismith Meshino

                  Washington

 

Subs from: Henderson (done well when moved to a more central position so will come on for Naismith I expect), Damour, Moore

Edited January 22, 2020 by Ted Hastings

[johnthomas]

34 minutes ago, CJGJ said:

5 of our next 7 matches are against sides in the bottom 6..the others being Rangers at home and Celtic away

 

This is vital if only for the fact we are 8 points behind them and they have a game in hand..an 11 point gap would be too much to make up I think..5 points is achievable even with the game in hand

 

However whilst there were signs against Airdrie that things may improve the reality is we lost 2 of or better players to injury, have another suspended and the side is not really any stronger then pre break..oh and it was just Airdrie of the first division

 

I want to believe that things will improve but there is not enough evidence yet to do so

 

Tonight will tell us a great deal but I can't claim to be confident about a positive outcome

 

Indeed questions should be asked if we cannot beat Ross County but at home they are reasonable on the whole...I am thinking draw but that I'm not sure will be a positive result in the circumstances

 

Still enough 'signs' to convince me to take a day off and travel..leaving around 2.45 pm should allow time for a quick drink beforehand

 

 

Not any stronger ? I think Naismith and Souttar make us much stronger 

[i8hibsh]

With an almost certain 0 points at the weekend nothing less than 3 will do tonight.  Early stages but if we don't win tonight we are not staying up.

[i8hibsh]

If the loser and the hippy were in the dugout I would go 1 nil Ross County but with DS in charge I will go 1 nil Hearts - Naismith goal.

[TheBigO]

3 hours ago, iantjambo said:

Looks like the best young striker in Europe is on his way to County

 

Wonder if the deal will be done in time for him playing tonight.

 

 

For those who don’t know who I’m talking about. It’s Oli Shaw

 

If he is available for tonight, I wonder if he'll put a ball over the line and the whole of Scotland will bang on about it for months, failing to once mention he was offside anyway?

 

Seems implausible.

[TheBigO]

22 minutes ago, BelgeJambo said:

"Asked about the right-back situation, Stendel said: “Let’s surprise you tonight! We have enough players in the squad. Maybe they haven’t played right-back every time but we have some players that have the ability to play this position in our style.”

 

Maybe somebody like Calum Morrison - Think we are in for surprise for sure

I like "in our style".  For years and years I've wanted Hearts to have "our style".  Not in a "the hibs/West Ham/Arsenal way" that folk go on about which is total wank claptrap, but just a style we want to play that we only tweak.  For years it seems, we've spent too long looking at the other team and adapting.  I don't think the best teams do this.  Or even the best small teams, if that makes sense (thinking Iceland or someone like that who have a gameplan and carry it out).

 

At the end of the day, we have better players than 80% of the opposition we play, similar to 10% and inferior to 10%.  We should be the ones imposing our style on others more often than not.  Always worth noting there''s an opposition on the park who don't want that to happen, but if you're good enough at what you do and the players know what to do in scenarios A, B and C, then it can work.

 

Anyway, wee tangent there - be interesting to see what we do tonight. Damour at RB??  Lewis Moore?  Garuccio, with White at LB?  Dikamona?  Morrison?  Souttar??  Logan?  Hamilton?  Budge?

[Gambo]

A win for us and a draw for Hamilton.

 

Gain points on those around us and keeps the Hobos bums twitching.

Edited January 22, 2020 by Gambo

[OmiyaHearts]

For what felt like the first time in ages, I left Saturdays match buzzing and excited about the next match. This one is huge tonight.

 

I don't see St Mirren getting anything from their next 3 games, before they face Hamilton. Similar for Hamilton but they could get something v Livingston this weekend.

 

A win tonight will hopefully increase the pressure on teams above and if we can sneak something from Rangers or St Johnstone, we're well on the way to safety. 

[TheBigO]

5 minutes ago, OmiyaHearts said:

For what felt like the first time in ages, I left Saturdays match buzzing and excited about the next match. This one is huge tonight.

 

I don't see St Mirren getting anything from their next 3 games, before they face Hamilton. Similar for Hamilton but they could get something v Livingston this weekend.

 

A win tonight will hopefully increase the pressure on teams above and if we can sneak something from Rangers or St Johnstone, we're well on the way to safety. 

In proper Keegan style, I would LOVE to derail the rangers' season this Sunday.  Run all over them, it'd be an absolute joy.

 

Also be nice if it happened to be Hamilton and St Mirren who we overtake and those two disappear off to obscurity.

[BelgeJambo]

39 minutes ago, BelgeJambo said:

"Asked about the right-back situation, Stendel said: “Let’s surprise you tonight! We have enough players in the squad. Maybe they haven’t played right-back every time but we have some players that have the ability to play this position in our style.”

 

Maybe somebody like Calum Morrison - Think we are in for surprise for sure

Daily Rag states Morrison is injured

 

White and Garuccio seem to be the best shouts for fullbacks tonight

[Cruyff]

If we win tonight, I think we can give Sevco a game on Sunday. 

[CJGJ]

The Bookies View.... and there is a logic to it

 

At a massive 2/1, I’m backing Ross County to beat Hearts at home. (You can get Hearts at 11/8)

Hearts have been nothing short of shambolic this season, and I see no reason as to why the home side should be 2/1 outsiders at home against them.

Daniel Stendel’s men have picked up just two points from their last nine matches, and deservedly sit rock bottom of the league.

As for County, they’ve started to find a little form at home – winning two of their last three, losing only to a strong Motherwell side in a game they were winning 1-0 before a 62nd minute red card.

Ross County are certainly the value.

[Cruyff]

Just now, BelgeJambo said:

Daily Rag states Morrison is injured

 

White and Garuccio seem to be the best shouts for fullbacks tonight

No Brandon yet? 

He might play Damour at right back or perhaps Lewis Moore if Brandon, Smith, Hickey and obv Clare are unavailable. 

[OmiyaHearts]

3 minutes ago, TheBigO said:

In proper Keegan style, I would LOVE to derail the rangers' season this Sunday.  Run all over them, it'd be an absolute joy.

 

Also be nice if it happened to be Hamilton and St Mirren who we overtake and those two disappear off to obscurity.

We've done not bad v Rangers & Celtic at Tynecastle this season, so a slight chance of getting something this weekend.

 

As long as we match HAM & STM results (and beat them when we play them) I think we'll be OK. Picking up any points v Rangers is a juicy bonus.

[BelgeJambo]

4 minutes ago, Cruyff said:

No Brandon yet? 

He might play Damour at right back or perhaps Lewis Moore if Brandon, Smith, Hickey and obv Clare are unavailable. 

Brandon confirmed in presser as still out

[Koolkeith]

Fancy us to win, but can’t see us keeping a clean sheet. A better team than Airdrie will exploit weaknesses at the back. I’m going 3-1 Hearts. Or maybe 2-2.