Official Neilson Out Thread ( merged )

[iainmac]

11 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

To be fair you tend to win any league due to the calibre of the opposition. 

 

Don't tell me that you're happy with what you're watching away from home Dave?

[davemclaren]

2 minutes ago, iainmac said:

 

Don't tell me that you're happy with what you're watching away from home Dave?

No I’m not. At home I’m confident we can beat every/most teams in this league but away from home we have issues. 

[iainmac]

7 minutes ago, Pasquale for King said:

Don’t forget the 5 wins and 5 draws from last season with another club with a much bigger budget than the rest. He knows this league well, and is actually scared of going to places like Alloa and Arbroath never mind those scary Pars/Scumdee 😆😂. 
The apprentice doesn’t fall far from the tree 🤔🤷🏾‍♂️🙈.

 

Aye, we've seen this movie before.

 

When he was re-appointed I was hoping for RN MKI who played fast flowing football & skooshed the Championship.

 

Sadly, we got MKII who failed to beat teachers & dentists from Malta.

 

His general set up & approach to away games is bordering on criminal.

 

 

 

 

[iainmac]

Just now, davemclaren said:

No I’m not. At home I’m confident we can beat every/most teams in this league but away from home we have issues. 

 

The home results *might* be enough to get us back to the Premiership - then what? Backs to the wall against St Mirren / St Johnstone / Hamilton / Ross County etc away from home.

 

Hardly fills me with optimism.

[Pasquale for King]

8 minutes ago, iainmac said:

 

Aye, we've seen this movie before.

 

When he was re-appointed I was hoping for RN MKI who played fast flowing football & skooshed the Championship.

 

Sadly, we got MKII who failed to beat teachers & dentists from Malta.

 

His general set up & approach to away games is bordering on criminal.

 

 

 

 

A horror movie.
Yeah me too, I thought he would come back in the future when he was a bit more experienced. 
Like his mentor they think they know better than others, are easy to read, ho defensive away from home and then chaotically change things in the last half hour, and never seem to learn. 
But I’m sure some big standard victories against tinpot clubs will see the rest of the happy clappers come back with their pedantic shite. 

Edited January 3, 2021 by Pasquale for King

[davemclaren]

8 minutes ago, iainmac said:

 

The home results *might* be enough to get us back to the Premiership - then what? Backs to the wall against St Mirren / St Johnstone / Hamilton / Ross County etc away from home.

 

Hardly fills me with optimism.

All depends what we do in the next two windows. We got promoted as runners up in 83 so, for me, it’s all about getting out of this league then building on that. 

[Bazzas right boot]

1 hour ago, Auldbenches said:

So another 18 months and well will start to see us begin to build a team that's capable?  

 

 

We'll build a team appropriate to our situation. 

 

This team will win the league. 

He needs to build a team for top flight football next season. 

 

It's not rocket science. 

He's done it before as well. 

 

 

[iainmac]

2 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

All depends what we do in the next two windows. We got promoted as runners up in 83 so, for me, it’s all about getting out of this league than building on that. 

 

If we don't go up as Champions - we'll not have to worry about RN's tactics anymore.

[davemclaren]

Just now, iainmac said:

 

If we don't go up as Champions - we'll not have to worry about RN's tactics anymore.

Don’t disagree. 

[iainmac]

2 minutes ago, Smith's right boot said:

 

 

We'll build a team appropriate to our situation. 

 

This team will win the league. 

He needs to build a team for top flight football next season. 

 

It's not rocket science. 

He's done it before as well. 

 

 

So, realistically, he'll have to make a start this window.

 

He's hamstrung himself to a degree by signings like Frear, Roberts & Popescu who will all have to be offloaded to free up budget.

[Bazzas right boot]

29 minutes ago, iainmac said:

2nd / 3rd quickly became 3rd - 5th when challenged but you're ignoring the fact that his ultra cautious set up with this squad away from home has already led to defeats from Dunfermline, Alloa & Dundee this season.

 

We'll win this league purely down to the calibre of the opposition but next year could be carnage unless something drastically changes.

 

In his top flight season our away form was our best apart from  1 in 15 years. 

It wasn't carnage when we got promoted last time under him. 

 

We'll have around 10 new players next season. 

 

News flash tho, we will get beat from teams, we won't win every game. 

 

Calm down to a panic. 

 

[Bazzas right boot]

1 minute ago, iainmac said:

So, realistically, he'll have to make a start this window.

 

He's hamstrung himself to a degree by signings like Frear, Roberts & Popescu who will all have to be offloaded to free up budget.

 

 

Maybe, but with Covid, us being in the championship and finances things might need to wait for most transfers.

 

[iainmac]

1 minute ago, Smith's right boot said:

 

In his top flight season our away form was our best apart from  1 in 15 years. 

It wasn't carnage when we got promoted last time under him. 

 

We'll have around 10 new players next season. 

 

News flash tho, we will get beat from teams, we won't win every game. 

 

Calm down to a panic. 

 

 

So just ignore the current away form then & go back in to the annual merry go round of building an entirely new team again?

 

Tell me, how's that worked out for us over the last few seasons?

[graygo]

1 hour ago, taylor75 said:

Nelson thinks hes at a Prada catwalk ...everytime hes in a dugout ...

 

Slagging of his clothes 

 

Bingo. That's a full house I believe.

[graygo]

1 hour ago, Pasquale for King said:

Too many of them think that way now, a ****ing haircut wouldn’t go amiss. 
The funniest I saw was Jack Draws getting off the bus before the semi at Hampden with a daft puffer jacket on a COATHANGER 😆😂. 

 

I was wrong, forgot about the hair.

[Cruyff]

3 hours ago, Smith's right boot said:

 

 

Would save a lot of snotters, slavers, tears and emotional burn outs if folk realised this. 

 

Yes. Not to excuse the absolute inept shitty performances but if he wins this league, he will ultimately be our manager next season. 

 

He's not a magician. This squad is absolutely tam kite bar probably Gordon, Smith, Kingsley and Boyce and tbh, I don't even think they should be assumed 1st choice players in a post promotion Hearts side. Imo, that is how far away we are from the standard we should be and how much works needed on this squad. 

 

3 hours ago, Costanza said:

This.

He's had one window with a severely reduced budget with a squad that needs a scorched earth policy.

That's not excusing the number of below par performances but ultimately he will get at least two transfer windows to overhaul the squad, assuming promotion is achieved.

 

When we are eventually promoted, It's what he does this summer which will ultimately tell us whether RN will be here for the short term or whether he is the man for the job over a reasonable period of time. 

 

I can understand why folk are fuming or worried though. 5 seasons of absolute crap and we're still toiling and scraping by at best. It shouldn't be this hard. 

 

The position in the league will get him a pass but it's an unconvincing one thus far. 

[Blair_HMFC]

What’s embarrassing is Hearts fans defending a defeat against Dundee because we will still win the league; Dundee, who have one capped international player compared to our 6 or 7.... It was a shambolic performance and I genuinely feel sorry for Craig Gordon playing behind these clowns. Other than Adam there shouldn’t be one player who could get into the Hearts team (or even close, Jack Hamilton FFS!!!), and if you think there is, then that’s a bigger problem at where the club is at... if you agree we have better players; then it’s a problem in mentality in how the coaches and players have approached this game against potential title challengers...

 

I’m so, so tired of reading fans that belittle others because they feel it’s not good enough to lose games like this, it’s 100%  not.... I genuinely wonder what they seek in being a Hearts fan, cannot be championship football? This is the same team that went toe to toe with Celtic last week... Ive said for a while there is a mentality issue in the club. It started with Levein but has been present for a long time hence why we are in this situation - we have no leaders in the flat moments & it might be deeper than that with how the club is ran from the top... From the first minute we were not up for it and the better team won.

 

Heart of Midlothian should be winning every game in this league.

[pointon]

Spot on 👍

[gator]

I think much blame is put on managers/coaches in all sports because when the team loses they are the easiest to blame and often piss poor performances by the players gets overlooked, we were set up completely wrong in the 1st half, it is hard to deny that, the players played their part in this shambolic loss as well!

[RussAsia]

21 minutes ago, Blair_HMFC said:

What’s embarrassing is Hearts fans defending a defeat against Dundee because we will still win the league; Dundee, who have one capped international player compared to our 6 or 7.... It was a shambolic performance and I genuinely feel sorry for Craig Gordon playing behind these clowns. Other than Adam there shouldn’t be one player who could get into the Hearts team (or even close, Jack Hamilton FFS!!!), and if you think there is, then that’s a bigger problem at where the club is at... if you agree we have better players; then it’s a problem in mentality in how the coaches and players have approached this game against potential title challengers...

 

I’m so, so tired of reading fans that belittle others because they feel it’s not good enough to lose games like this, it’s 100%  not.... I genuinely wonder what they seek in being a Hearts fan, cannot be championship football? This is the same team that went toe to toe with Celtic last week... Ive said for a while there is a mentality issue in the club. It started with Levein but has been present for a long time hence why we are in this situation - we have no leaders in the flat moments & it might be deeper than that with how the club is ran from the top... From the first minute we were not up for it and the better team won.

 

Heart of Midlothian should be winning every game in this league.

 

I couldn't agree more.

[Rick Sanchez]

49 minutes ago, Blair_HMFC said:

What’s embarrassing is Hearts fans defending a defeat against Dundee because we will still win the league; Dundee, who have one capped international player compared to our 6 or 7.... It was a shambolic performance and I genuinely feel sorry for Craig Gordon playing behind these clowns. Other than Adam there shouldn’t be one player who could get into the Hearts team (or even close, Jack Hamilton FFS!!!), and if you think there is, then that’s a bigger problem at where the club is at... if you agree we have better players; then it’s a problem in mentality in how the coaches and players have approached this game against potential title challengers...

 

I’m so, so tired of reading fans that belittle others because they feel it’s not good enough to lose games like this, it’s 100%  not.... I genuinely wonder what they seek in being a Hearts fan, cannot be championship football? This is the same team that went toe to toe with Celtic last week... Ive said for a while there is a mentality issue in the club. It started with Levein but has been present for a long time hence why we are in this situation - we have no leaders in the flat moments & it might be deeper than that with how the club is ran from the top... From the first minute we were not up for it and the better team won.

 

Heart of Midlothian should be winning every game in this league.

 

I agree in general but we have to be honest...

 

McGhee and Fontaine > Berra

 

Whoever their right back was > Brandon

 

Adam > Halliday, Lee and Haring

 

McGowan (scroat) > Walker

 

Sow or Mullen > Wighton

 

It's not just one player mate, we're pish. You just knew they weren't going to turn up, like you say, there's something deep rooted. 

[A_A wehatethehibs]

56 minutes ago, Rick Sanchez said:

 

I agree in general but we have to be honest...

 

McGhee and Fontaine > Berra

 

Whoever their right back was > Brandon

 

Adam > Halliday, Lee and Haring

 

McGowan (scroat) > Walker

 

Sow or Mullen > Wighton

 

It's not just one player mate, we're pish. You just knew they weren't going to turn up, like you say, there's something deep rooted. 

There’s only 1 player named there that Neilsons signed and Halliday has not been that bad. In the second half the fitness told, Halliday played better alongside Irving who is now

an essential starter. Halliday-Irving is the only semi viable Center mid partnership at the club. Haring and Lee were the weak links in midfield last night for me, way off the pace. As of right now Irving-Halliday is the cast iron starting CM, and we should be looking at bringing Cochrane back into the fold ahead of Lee/Haring in the pecking order after his loan expires in January. Send Haring on loan to Montrose for game time. Drop down a level might do him good. Dont care how he did Cochrane has got enough creativity to be worth gambling and chucking in. I’d be interested to see him and Irving in the same team. And then, a quality athlete physical CM is high on the shopping list for summer if we can’t get one in January. 

 

When you think about it, Neilson is actually a bit of a miracle worker to get 8 wins out of 10 from this patched together squad. Mentally, there’s about 10 players that are shot and no longer cut out for the job when Hearts are in the Premiership. I think all the howling at the manager is barking up the wrong tree somewhat and some folk are starting to realise, he’s actually doing unbelievably well to win league games with this lot. 

 

[Governor Tarkin]

3 hours ago, Blair_HMFC said:

What’s embarrassing is Hearts fans defending a defeat against Dundee because we will still win the league; Dundee, who have one capped international player compared to our 6 or 7.... It was a shambolic performance and I genuinely feel sorry for Craig Gordon playing behind these clowns. Other than Adam there shouldn’t be one player who could get into the Hearts team (or even close, Jack Hamilton FFS!!!), and if you think there is, then that’s a bigger problem at where the club is at... if you agree we have better players; then it’s a problem in mentality in how the coaches and players have approached this game against potential title challengers...

 

I’m so, so tired of reading fans that belittle others because they feel it’s not good enough to lose games like this, it’s 100%  not.... I genuinely wonder what they seek in being a Hearts fan, cannot be championship football? This is the same team that went toe to toe with Celtic last week... Ive said for a while there is a mentality issue in the club. It started with Levein but has been present for a long time hence why we are in this situation - we have no leaders in the flat moments & it might be deeper than that with how the club is ran from the top... From the first minute we were not up for it and the better team won.

 

Heart of Midlothian should be winning every game in this league.

 

Good post.

[Leveins Battalion]

Something stinks at HMFC but it’s not our coaching team..

[Neil Dongcaster]

3 hours ago, Blair_HMFC said:

What’s embarrassing is Hearts fans defending a defeat against Dundee because we will still win the league; Dundee, who have one capped international player compared to our 6 or 7.... It was a shambolic performance and I genuinely feel sorry for Craig Gordon playing behind these clowns. Other than Adam there shouldn’t be one player who could get into the Hearts team (or even close, Jack Hamilton FFS!!!), and if you think there is, then that’s a bigger problem at where the club is at... if you agree we have better players; then it’s a problem in mentality in how the coaches and players have approached this game against potential title challengers...

 

I’m so, so tired of reading fans that belittle others because they feel it’s not good enough to lose games like this, it’s 100%  not.... I genuinely wonder what they seek in being a Hearts fan, cannot be championship football? This is the same team that went toe to toe with Celtic last week... Ive said for a while there is a mentality issue in the club. It started with Levein but has been present for a long time hence why we are in this situation - we have no leaders in the flat moments & it might be deeper than that with how the club is ran from the top... From the first minute we were not up for it and the better team won.

 

Heart of Midlothian should be winning every game in this league.

100%

[Boris]

16 minutes ago, Leveins Battalion said:

Something stinks at HMFC but it’s not our coaching team..

What is it then?

[GinRummy]

17 minutes ago, Leveins Battalion said:

Something stinks at HMFC but it’s not our coaching team..

 

1 minute ago, Boris said:

What is it then?

The pay deal was discussed. Too high basics and not enough bonuses. For whatever reason we just seem to have a team that struggles to motivate itself. I personally think a big part of it is a total lack of pace but motivation seems almost certainly to be partly to blame. 

[merseyjambo]

One of the things RN said when he came was we needed pace. Roberts and Frear do add that but they don’t add ability. The only one who we have with pace that worries defences is Ginnelly. Unfortunately he’s spent half the season out for various reasons.

 

RN didn’t have to bring Lee back. I’m sure that somewhere in the lower reaches of English football, someone would have taken him off our hands. He tried to identify a centre half in Popescu and got that completely wrong leaving us having to play Berra. 
 

We’ve been outplayed for large parts of the game away from Home at Dunfermline, Dundee and Alloa and poor at Arbroath. FFS the last 2 are part time teams. All have played with more desire to win than we have and that’s really worrying.

 

if he can’t motivate a team to go out on the front foot against our closest rivals for promotion to wrap this up early then we have a serious problem. 
 

Make no mistake next Tuesday is massive as so far we have been relying on our home form to carry us. After that we’ve got trips in the next month to Alloa, Raith and ICT. We play like we did last night and we’re getting zero return from those 3 away games. 
 

 

[Bazzas right boot]

4 hours ago, Blair_HMFC said:

What’s embarrassing is Hearts fans defending a defeat against Dundee because we will still win the league; Dundee, who have one capped international player compared to our 6 or 7.... It was a shambolic performance and I genuinely feel sorry for Craig Gordon playing behind these clowns. Other than Adam there shouldn’t be one player who could get into the Hearts team (or even close, Jack Hamilton FFS!!!), and if you think there is, then that’s a bigger problem at where the club is at... if you agree we have better players; then it’s a problem in mentality in how the coaches and players have approached this game against potential title challengers...

 

I’m so, so tired of reading fans that belittle others because they feel it’s not good enough to lose games like this, it’s 100%  not.... I genuinely wonder what they seek in being a Hearts fan, cannot be championship football? This is the same team that went toe to toe with Celtic last week... Ive said for a while there is a mentality issue in the club. It started with Levein but has been present for a long time hence why we are in this situation - we have no leaders in the flat moments & it might be deeper than that with how the club is ran from the top... From the first minute we were not up for it and the better team won.

 

Heart of Midlothian should be winning every game in this league.

 

Have Dundee never beaten us before?

 

If you expect Hearts to win every game then you will be disappointed over and over. 

We won't, simple as that. 

 

No one is defending the defeat either, not one person. 

 

[Nookie Bear]

9 minutes ago, merseyjambo said:

One of the things RN said when he came was we needed pace. Roberts and Frear do add that but they don’t add ability. The only one who we have with pace that worries defences is Ginnelly. Unfortunately he’s spent half the season out for various reasons.

 

RN didn’t have to bring Lee back. I’m sure that somewhere in the lower reaches of English football, someone would have taken him off our hands. He tried to identify a centre half in Popescu and got that completely wrong leaving us having to play Berra. 
 

We’ve been outplayed for large parts of the game away from Home at Dunfermline, Dundee and Alloa and poor at Arbroath. FFS the last 2 are part time teams. All have played with more desire to win than we have and that’s really worrying.

 

if he can’t motivate a team to go out on the front foot against our closest rivals for promotion to wrap this up early then we have a serious problem. 
 

Make no mistake next Tuesday is massive as so far we have been relying on our home form to carry us. After that we’ve got trips in the next month to Alloa, Raith and ICT. We play like we did last night and we’re getting zero return from those 3 away games. 
 

 

There is no point having the kind of pace that Roberts brings us - he needs space behind defenders to really open up. 
 

What we need are midfielders who can a) make a decent pass forward and b) make runs beyond the strikers. We also need full backs that can act as wingers when required as well 
 

None of that happened last night. Brandon and Kingsley never got forward and our midfield was anonymous at best. 

[Bazzas right boot]

6 hours ago, iainmac said:

 

So just ignore the current away form then & go back in to the annual merry go round of building an entirely new team again?

 

Tell me, how's that worked out for us over the last few seasons?

 

We'll need several new players, the current ones got us demoted and won't have us at the top end of the table next season. 

Many are also out of contract. 

 

You can't be advocating we keep the current squad in tact after promotion.... 

Also a new manager would make changes anyway so unsure of your point. Do You want a new manager other than Robbie, but the same players? 

 

Also, Tell me how the different managers after Robbie worked out? 

[merseyjambo]

8 minutes ago, Nookie Bear said:

There is no point having the kind of pace that Roberts brings us - he needs space behind defenders to really open up. 
 

What we need are midfielders who can a) make a decent pass forward and b) make runs beyond the strikers. We also need full backs that can act as wingers when required as well 
 

None of that happened last night. Brandon and Kingsley never got forward and our midfield was anonymous at best. 

Roberts needs to be able to beat a man yet he can’t. Who picks the team. Who recruits the players.

 

If this was one performance, you could forgive it. It’s not though. Dundee have been average at best this season yet from the off they were on the front foot and dominated against us. They wanted it and we didn’t. It was a carbon copy of our performance against Dunfermline and Alloa. Who sets the players tempo, the manager. You go in the dressing room and tell them that they’re on front foot from start and dominate the game. Instead we’re passive and are taking a dry length from these teams. We go out there to contain. Who’s tactics does it remind you of.

[Paolo]

2 hours ago, A_A wehatethehibs said:

There’s only 1 player named there that Neilsons signed and Halliday has not been that bad. In the second half the fitness told, Halliday played better alongside Irving who is now

an essential starter. Halliday-Irving is the only semi viable Center mid partnership at the club. Haring and Lee were the weak links in midfield last night for me, way off the pace. As of right now Irving-Halliday is the cast iron starting CM, and we should be looking at bringing Cochrane back into the fold ahead of Lee/Haring in the pecking order after his loan expires in January. Send Haring on loan to Montrose for game time. Drop down a level might do him good. Dont care how he did Cochrane has got enough creativity to be worth gambling and chucking in. I’d be interested to see him and Irving in the same team. And then, a quality athlete physical CM is high on the shopping list for summer if we can’t get one in January. 

 

When you think about it, Neilson is actually a bit of a miracle worker to get 8 wins out of 10 from this patched together squad. Mentally, there’s about 10 players that are shot and no longer cut out for the job when Hearts are in the Premiership. I think all the howling at the manager is barking up the wrong tree somewhat and some folk are starting to realise, he’s actually doing unbelievably well to win league games with this lot. 

 

Arguably, he recalled. Berra, Wighton and Lee. 
 

Regardless, if his other signings aren’t better, than what was on show last night, then I hope he is nowhere near the chequebook, this window.  

[Gambo]

6 minutes ago, Smith's right boot said:

 

We'll need several new players, the current ones got us demoted and won't have us at the top end of the table next season. 

Many are also out of contract. 

 

You can't be advocating we keep the current squad in tact after promotion.... 

Also a new manager would make changes anyway so unsure of your point. Do You want a new manager other than Robbie, but the same players? 

 

Also, Tell me how the different managers after Robbie worked out? 

Gordon (new)

Brandon (bit part player)

Berra (found out and shipped out)

Halkett (guilty)

Kingsley (new)

Halliday (new)

Lee (out on loan for season)

Walker (guilty)

Haring (out injured last season)

Naismith (guilty)

Wighton (sussed out and pumped out to Arbroath)

 

Only 3 of last nights starting 11 played a big part of last season.

2 were sussed out by Stendel but brought back into fold by Neilson along with another who was sent away earlier.

 

This is Neilsons team.

 

[merseyjambo]

23 minutes ago, Smith's right boot said:

 

Have Dundee never beaten us before?

 

If you expect Hearts to win every game then you will be disappointed over and over. 

We won't, simple as that. 

 

No one is defending the defeat either, not one person. 

 

Smith you really need to stop trying to defend the club and RN.

 

No one expects Hearts to go out and win every game but what the fans do expect is them to go out and compete yet in 3 of 5 away games we look like we’re not ar$ed and have expected to turn up and win.

 

These are against teams with a fraction of our budget and fraction of our quality yet they have gone out there and given us a footballing lesson.

[way out west jambo]

I don’t expect hearts to win every game but I do at least expect us to turn up and put a performance in, even if the result goes against us.

 

I get the fear really bad now when I hear RN saying he has his eye on a player or 2. I’m always 90% certain they’re gonna be sh1te before they’ve even pulled a jersey on. I genuinely think RN struggles to spot a player that will improve us. 🤦🏼‍♂️

[Nookie Bear]

10 minutes ago, merseyjambo said:

Roberts needs to be able to beat a man yet he can’t. Who picks the team. Who recruits the players.

 

If this was one performance, you could forgive it. It’s not though. Dundee have been average at best this season yet from the off they were on the front foot and dominated against us. They wanted it and we didn’t. It was a carbon copy of our performance against Dunfermline and Alloa. Who sets the players tempo, the manager. You go in the dressing room and tell them that they’re on front foot from start and dominate the game. Instead we’re passive and are taking a dry length from these teams. We go out there to contain. Who’s tactics does it remind you of.

The Puppet Master 

 

 

[A_A wehatethehibs]

Just now, Gambo said:

Gordon (new)

Brandon (bit part player)

Berra (found out and shipped out)

Halkett (guilty)

Kingsley (new)

Halliday (new)

Lee (out on loan for season)

Walker (guilty)

Haring (out injured last season)

Naismith (guilty)

Wighton (sussed out and pumped out to Arbroath)

 

Only 3 of last nights starting 11 played a big part of last season.

2 were sussed out by Stendel but brought back into fold by Neilson along with another who was sent away earlier.

 

This is Neilsons team.

 

They weren’t “brought back into the fold” they have contracts at Hearts. What choice did he have. The buyers aren’t queuing up. Its the championship, and its a cobbled together squad with the job of emptying only half done. Clare, Bozanic, Uche, Dikamona, Damour, Halkett. Duds, but Stendel “kept” all of them as well and Neilson emptied most of them, and all those who remain, days are numbered. So how do we square that circle? You can’t get rid of every player in a squad at once. This absolutely is Neilsons cobbled together championship team. And all that matters is that it scrapes promotion 

[The Mercer Takeover]

3 minutes ago, merseyjambo said:

Smith you really need to stop trying to defend the club and RN.

 

No one expects Hearts to go out and win every game but what the fans do expect is them to go out and compete yet in 3 of 5 away games we look like we’re not ar$ed and have expected to turn up and win.

 

These are against teams with a fraction of our budget and fraction of our quality yet they have gone out there and given us a footballing lesson.

I don't know why people are surprised with what we get from a Neilson team away from home.

 

Being cautious, overthinking, tinkering, worrying about the opposition are all attributes Neilson covets. Eye bleeding football away from home is what he does. Don't forget, there was a reason a plane was hired previously. I stopped traveling to away games under him last time, it was painful.

 

The most worrying thing I have seen this year, was Neilson on TV before the Alloa game, explaining why that game would be difficult and how he advised the players accordingly. Do you ever see Rangers or Celtic play away from home in Scotland, with a formation set out to keep things tight.

 

Negative mindset will get us nowhere.

 

I'm sure Neilson will get us promoted, but in terms of us actually winning anything meaningful, you can forget it.

[Gordon Ramsay]

He's embarrassing himself blaming the referee. Disgraceful performance. 

[Bazzas right boot]

13 minutes ago, Gambo said:

Gordon (new)

Brandon (bit part player)

Berra (found out and shipped out)

Halkett (guilty)

Kingsley (new)

Halliday (new)

Lee (out on loan for season)

Walker (guilty)

Haring (out injured last season)

Naismith (guilty)

Wighton (sussed out and pumped out to Arbroath)

 

Only 3 of last nights starting 11 played a big part of last season.

2 were sussed out by Stendel but brought back into fold by Neilson along with another who was sent away earlier.

 

This is Neilsons team.

 

 

8 of the players were not signed by rn. 

 

We were a championship team under a covid transfer window, if you expected us to build a top 3 team in the country then you're clueless. 

If you expected him to build a team to win the Championship, then that's what he's doing

 

Unsure of your point. 

RN is doing his  job. 

 

Stendel "sussed" out the players and  taken us to bottom of the league. Not sure that clarifys as "sussed out" Tbh. 

 

 

 

 

[Gambo]

6 minutes ago, A_A wehatethehibs said:

They weren’t “brought back into the fold” they have contracts at Hearts. What choice did he have. The buyers aren’t queuing up. Its the championship, and its a cobbled together squad with the job of emptying only half done. Clare, Bozanic, Uche, Dikamona, Damour, Halkett. Duds, but Stendel “kept” all of them as well and Neilson emptied most of them, and all those who remain, days are numbered. So how do we square that circle? You can’t get rid of every player in a squad at once. This absolutely is Neilsons cobbled together championship team. And all that matters is that it scrapes promotion 

Stendel came in midway through a season where games were ongoing, had to get to know the players/club. 

Neilson came in with a full extended pre season to sort things out, and into a league/club and players he knew about.

[Holyrood_Hearts]

44 minutes ago, merseyjambo said:

One of the things RN said when he came was we needed pace. Roberts and Frear do add that but they don’t add ability. The only one who we have with pace that worries defences is Ginnelly. Unfortunately he’s spent half the season out for various reasons.

 

RN didn’t have to bring Lee back. I’m sure that somewhere in the lower reaches of English football, someone would have taken him off our hands. He tried to identify a centre half in Popescu and got that completely wrong leaving us having to play Berra. 
 

We’ve been outplayed for large parts of the game away from Home at Dunfermline, Dundee and Alloa and poor at Arbroath. FFS the last 2 are part time teams. All have played with more desire to win than we have and that’s really worrying.

 

if he can’t motivate a team to go out on the front foot against our closest rivals for promotion to wrap this up early then we have a serious problem. 
 

Make no mistake next Tuesday is massive as so far we have been relying on our home form to carry us. After that we’ve got trips in the next month to Alloa, Raith and ICT. We play like we did last night and we’re getting zero return from those 3 away games. 
 

 

Agree with the majority of this, although we don’t need to play Berra. That’s Neilson’s choice. He shouldn’t be anywhere near this side. 

[merseyjambo]

8 minutes ago, A_A wehatethehibs said:

They weren’t “brought back into the fold” they have contracts at Hearts. What choice did he have. The buyers aren’t queuing up. Its the championship, and its a cobbled together squad with the job of emptying only half done. Clare, Bozanic, Uche, Dikamona, Damour, Halkett. Duds, but Stendel “kept” all of them as well and Neilson emptied most of them, and all those who remain, days are numbered. So how do we square that circle? You can’t get rid of every player in a squad at once. This absolutely is Neilsons cobbled together championship team. And all that matters is that it scrapes promotion 

I certainly wouldn’t describe Clare, Bozanic or Uche as duds

 

Clare under Stendhal showed the ability he had. Bozanic while not brilliant was a tidy enough midfielder. Uche, not my favourite player but is the type of player we need in this league. Will rumble up defenders due to his sheer strength. Showed in the semi against ICT that at this level he’d have been an asset as opposed to powder puff Wighton

[A_A wehatethehibs]

Just now, Gambo said:

Stendel came in midway through a season where games were ongoing, had to get to know the players/club. 

Neilson came in with a full extended pre season to sort things out, and into a league/club and players he knew about.

Neilson came in during the middle of a pandemic where the entire financial lifeblood of the club, match day revenue, has been removed. And he’s won 8 out of 10. As I say it’s a cobbled together mess of a squad and the job of emptying and replacing is huge. As long as this lot get us promoted let’s face it, that is all that matters 

[Taffin]

2 minutes ago, merseyjambo said:

I certainly wouldn’t describe Clare, Bozanic or Uche as duds

 

Clare under Stendhal showed the ability he had. Bozanic while not brilliant was a tidy enough midfielder. Uche, not my favourite player but is the type of player we need in this league. Will rumble up defenders due to his sheer strength. Showed in the semi against ICT that at this level he’d have been an asset as opposed to powder puff Wighton

 

I liked Clare and Bozanic as they were honest pros. Not great but decent enough. Uche was infuriating and not good enough at the level we wanted to be at. The level we are at though (championship) all 3 would have been a vast improvement on what we saw last night.

Edited January 3, 2021 by Taffin
Edit: didn't mean to make it sound like Uche wasn't an honest pro. He was, I just have him in a different bracket to the other two

[merseyjambo]

2 minutes ago, Holyrood_Hearts said:

Agree with the majority of this, although we don’t need to play Berra. That’s Neilson’s choice. He shouldn’t be anywhere near this side. 

No we don’t but Popescu hasn’t worked out and I’m not sure what we have in th3 reserves who could play centre half leaving us with Berra as the only alternative 

[Gambo]

2 minutes ago, Smith's right boot said:

 

8 of the players were not signed by rn. 

 

We were a championship team under a covid transfer window, if you expected us to build a top 3 team in the country then you're clueless. 

If you expected him to build a team to win the Championship, then that's what he's doing

 

Unsure of your point. 

RN is doing his  job. 

 

Stendel "sussed" out the players and  taken us to bottom of the league. Not sure that clarifys as "sussed out" Tbh. 

 

 

 

 

As I've said in a reply to someone else, Stendel came in when games were ongoing in a level above this tin pot league. A new country/players/league for him.

 

Neilson came in to a club, country, set up, league he knew and had an extended pre season to build a team. Neilson wanted Lee, Berra, Wighton. If Stendel could manage to ship the last 2 out on loan I'm sure Neilson could have managed the same if he wanted to.

 

Stendel and Neilson were not dealt the same hand.

 

This IS Neilsons team.

[McCrae]

It’s pathetic RN is blaming the ref for last nights defeat. The hard cold truth is that is our team is simply not good enough. Our football dept has wasted millions and the rot continues. RN shares the blame for the continued under performance.

[Bazzas right boot]

20 minutes ago, merseyjambo said:

Smith you really need to stop trying to defend the club and RN.

 

No one expects Hearts to go out and win every game but what the fans do expect is them to go out and compete yet in 3 of 5 away games we look like we’re not ar$ed and have expected to turn up and win.

 

These are against teams with a fraction of our budget and fraction of our quality yet they have gone out there and given us a footballing lesson.

 

 

Being top of the league and promotion is what counts. 

 

That is Robbies job and remit. 

He's doing that, that's not a defence, it's a fact. 

 

We will also get beat, I said at the start of the season around 4/5 defeats is likley, I'll stick with that. 

We'll also win the league, easily and we are actually winning it quite comfortably atm. 

 

Defeat at dens and East end is shite, but it won't be the only defeats of the season. 

 

Football isn't played on a spreadsheet, I expected us to compete with rangers and celtic at home despite a fraction of the budget. I also expect Dundee to give us a game, particularly away using the same logic.