** Official Heart of Midlothian vs Celtic Match day thread**

[Hearts1975]

Gutted us missing that penalty. If we had scored that, I think the momentum would have seen us win that game. 

That said, folk need to temper expectations a little bit. 2 things happened in that first half. 

They came out the traps at 100 mile an hour and we didn't lay a glove on them. We couldn't keep the ball and they just swarmed over us. That's the bit we need to figure out, and is how we start these games. If they come out the traps at 100 miles an hour the starting formation and tactics should be more about nullifying that type of threat 

 

Devlin was off it completely - running around like a man possessed but far too often pressing the ball and ending up out of position in the middle.

Beni just strolls it - Beni and Simms changed the game in the 2nd half and the tactical tweak worked. 

 

All that said, we are now disappointed and moaning about the fact that we have lost a game 2-1 to septic. 

For me the most important thing is bridging the gap, and I see signs that we are getting closer, rather than the OF are getting further away. That's progress and that is our plan. 

At least Neilson is changing things when things aren't working and today was a good example of this. Fair play.

 

Hopefully Smith, Halkett and Mckay are all ok. Halkett is my main worry and just because of the way he went down.

We need these guys back, pick ourselves up and move on to the next game 

 

Oh, and we need another penalty taker - Agree with previous comments. Boyce ain't the answer. 

[Japan Jambo]

3 minutes ago, Barack said:

 

If that's even only a strain, you're looking at potentially two weeks out, to be 100% sure of recovery.

 

See Kyogo.

 

What injury did he just come back from?

[Morgan]

5 minutes ago, 23851 said:

First half had defensive Neilson written all over it. He should have been gone after Brora! Savage supplying ammo and Neilson firing blanks! All in my humble opinion!

What a load of rubbish.

 

Humble opinion from me, like.

[Libertonian_II]

1 minute ago, Bull's-eye said:

Good game, good performance and the squad is coming together very nicely indeed. On the balance of play a point was merited.

We're never out of a game these days and that is credit to the manager and players who are a cut above anything we've seen for years.

 

Really enjoyable time to be a Jambo.

Spot on 👍

[Morgan]

1 minute ago, merrymac said:

Yep even Andy ****** Walker recognised it as such

Stevie Wonder noticed the formation too.

 

🤠

[JimmyCant]

2 minutes ago, Jcy110715 said:

Why do we always start with 2 in midfield against them and sevco. Always overran with 3 attacking playing with no service. Surely playing 3 across the middle and maybe being competitive in the middle of the park would bring more success and involve our attackers 

To me that looked like 4-3-3 tonight with Cochrane playing on the left of midfield. Fish out of water.

 

Jota took Smith to the cleaners and Ginelly had to stay back most of time to help him out

 

We don’t have players who can match that tempo or shut it down man to man so if we’re playing a back 4, we also should have played 4 narrow in the middle, outnumber them and stop them playing through us because it’s so congested

 

Easy to say in hindsight but might have worked better to play Halliday Beni Haring and Mcaneff in the middle with Boyce and McKay up front. Stay in the game. They go off for the last 20 minutes. 
 

Not criticising Robbie here but what he tried tonight didn’t work. In part because of the system. In part because they were just too quick for us and in part because we had several players just not at it.

[Fire_At_The_Disco]

We shat it first half, didn’t press the ball and we got run over in the middle of the park and down the flanks. I have no idea why we couldn’t just change shape on 15 mins when it was obvious we were getting horsed. That said 2nd half was much better and bar a missed pen we would have went on and won imho. 

[OTT]

3 minutes ago, 23851 said:

First half had defensive Neilson written all over it. He should have been gone after Brora! Savage supplying ammo and Neilson firing blanks! All in my humble opinion!

 

C'mon... 

 

Agree with your first bit, and its important Neilson gets this 'you can contain the OF' mindset out of his head. It doesn't work and pisses everyone off. When we do that 9/10 we lose. Go at them and see what they have about them. Starfelt isn't that good. Biton is old and doesn't really have the legs anymore. Forrest isn't looking the player he was etc. No Brown either. 

 

We went at them in the 2nd half and scared them into time wasting like nobodies business. A better pen and we take a point. 

 

Robbies fought back from Brora IMO and put together a team that plays good attacking football. We still IMO need a winger like Milinkovic, I'd actually say go get him and see if he can bring what he had back to the table because thats what we need. McKay, Gino and GMS all seem more assist orientated wingers and that isn't looking like the system we're playing, we need goalscoring wingers that can take chances outside the box, drive into the box and get shots off. GMS's shooting is awful, McKay's shooting is too soft and Gino is all over the place. Better winger will get us points IMO. 

 

Anyway, sore result but onto Saturday. 

[No Idle Talk]

That's three times in a row now we have been absolutely brutal in the first half against Celtic and then have come out in the second half and done much better.

 

Any explanations?

 

Do Celtic run out of steam? Does Robbie boot our lads bollocks at half time? Are our players too scared to have a go at them from the start?

 

I don't know what the problem is, but we are unlikely to beat Celtic again until we can perform better in the first half of these matches and stop digging ourselves into a hole. 

 

Frustratingly, as bad as the first half was, I don't think we were losing that game if Liam Boyce scored the penalty. We were definitely the team in the ascendency at that stage. 

 

I am not really sure how to feel about that match overall. I am disappointed by some things and encouraged by others. 

 

PS. Watching Sky Sports coverage is akin to watching Celtic TV. Biased as ****. 

Edited January 26, 2022 by No Idle Talk

[ford donald]

3 minutes ago, Walter Bishop said:

Baningime showed in 15 mins he is our best player by a country mile. Great to have him back. 

 

Classy player, we need him badly.

[Largo]

3 minutes ago, CloustonHMFC said:

Celtic will win the league, by at least 3 points.

Please stay away from drugs 🤣🤣

[south morocco]

I despise Celtic as much as everyone on here but it pains me to say but even their so called shadow first 11 they put out tonight were far superior to us. Money talks. Unlucky in the 2nd half with the pen. Frustrating but we have a very good squad now and we should kick on into 3rd now. 

[merrymac]

1 minute ago, Morgan said:

Stevie Wonder noticed the formation too.

 

🤠

Did he "just call to say " that

[Byyy The Light]

11 minutes ago, hearts00 said:

Yeah so rattled he got man of the match

You seen his interview? Said he’d never experienced anything like it in his life 

[JimmyCant]

7 minutes ago, bawheed said:

OK totally disagree as he was trying to play No9 and No10 there is no player on the planet that can play both.

We’ll maybe he should just listen to what he is being asked to do and just do that then. It’s not the manager asking him to play 2 roles. In fact he’s been playing as a false 9 most of the season. He held on to nothing tonight. He didn’t turn and face once. He’s got to hold the ball to bring others in. He simply didn’t do it. He was pish. He isn’t always pish and he’s not a pish player but tonight he was pish

[hearts00]

Just now, Byyy The Light said:

You seen his interview? Said he’d never experienced anything like it in his life 

Yes he was gushing at the atmosphere. Wished we had actually made it hard for him in the first 70mins. 

[bawheed]

6 minutes ago, gavvy said:

Atkinson and Devlin looked out there depth against an average Celtic team.  I really hope they can improve to the level we needed like a game for tonight. 

What Atkinson he was much better than Smith did OK was solid just lacks pace.

Tell me a better 21 year old RB in Scottish football we could afford.

Think this post in time will show who is correct.

[Morgan]

3 minutes ago, merrymac said:

Did he "just call to say " that

I love you, Mac.

 

🤝🥰

[CloustonHMFC]

4 minutes ago, Largo said:

Please stay away from drugs 🤣🤣

They're a superior team to Rangers and only 4 points behind them with them still to play each other 3 times. Celtic are winning the league.

[hearts00]

Just now, JimmyCant said:

We’ll maybe he should just listen to what he is being asked to do and just do that then. It’s not the manager asking him to play 2 roles. In fact he’s been playing as a false 9 most of the season. He held on to nothing tonight. He didn’t turn and face once. He’s got to hold the ball to bring others in. He simply didn’t do it. He was pish. He isn’t always pish and he’s not a pish player but tonight he was pish

Boyce was rank tonight but so was Barrie McKay and the less said about Gino the better. 

[Chuck Berry]

First half we hardly got near them. Better second, particularly after Devlin and Ginnelly hooked for Beni and GMS.

 

Should have came out of it with a barely deserved point, but the final 30 minutes showed that we're a better team with Beni of the pitch and Simms look promising.  Three points a must again Motherwell.

 

Concerned about Halkett.

[Firefox]

14 minutes ago, HeartsandonlyHearts said:

 

Devlin needs to calm the **** down

 

 

 

Totally agree! Great work rate but needs to be told that he doesn't have to get involved in every incident. Will pick up a lot more bookings if he doesn't calm down.

[gregzy2k7]

Unlucky Hearts, was almost expecting us to snatch a late equalizer in the end but it wasn't to be, on a side note can we possibly let some other people take a Penalty as that was a golden chance to grab a point blown by LB, I don't want to be to harsh because I rate him highly but surely that would have been perfect for the boy Simms on his debut to take that pen and get his goal account up and running ore even potentially McKay?

[VALDOS']

Good recovery in the second half, but the damage was done in the first. Even with Celtic under strength it was a tall order to turn that scoreline around.

[Morgan]

10 minutes ago, CloustonHMFC said:

Rangers will win the league, by at least 3 points.

FTFY.  👍

[merrymac]

Just now, Morgan said:

I love you, Mac.

 

🤝🥰

Shucks thanks Morgan 😍

[Byyy The Light]

5 minutes ago, No Idle Talk said:

That's three times in a row now we have been absolutely brutal in the first half against Celtic and then have come out in the second half and done much better.

 

Any explanations?

 

Do Celtic run out of steam? Does Robbie boot our lads bollocks at half time? Are our players too scared to have a go at them from the start?

 

I don't know what the problem is, but we are unlikely to beat Celtic again until we can perform better in the first half of these matches and stop digging ourselves into a hole. 

 

Frustratingly, as bad as the first half was, I don't think we were losing that game if Liam Boyce scored the penalty. We were definitely the team in the ascendency at that stage. 

 

I am not really sure how to feel about that match overall. I am disappointed by some things and encouraged by others. 

 

PS. Watching Sky Sports coverage is akin to watching Celtic TV. Biased as ****. 

They run out of steam. We don’t set up like that, they’re just too good. Halliday said as much on Open Goal and Neilson said so tonight. You can tell the players all you want to press high and hold higher positions up pitch but if they’re on it they have better players there’s not a whole lot you can do. If you are a player and you feel you’re up against a sharper opponent it’s natural you drop off and try and sit in.

[Hearts1975]

Just now, No Idle Talk said:

That's three times in a row now we have absolutely brutal in the first half against Celtic and then have come out in the second half and done much better.

 

Any explanations?

 

Do Celtic run out of steam? Does Robbie boot our lads bollocks at half time?

 

I don't know what the problem is, but we are unlikely to beat Celtic again until we can perform better in the first half of these matches and stop digging ourselves into a hole. 

 

Frustratingly, as bad as the first half was, I don't think we were losing that game if Liam Boyce scored the penalty. We were definitely the team in the ascendency at that stage. 

 

I am not really sure how to feel about that match overall. I am disappointed by some things and encouraged by others. 

 

PS. Watching Sky Sports coverage is akin to watching Celtic TV. Biased as ****. 

I personally think that when you have 2 set of players IE Us and the OF you have to take into account the quality of player. They are spending millions on each player and we are trying our best to pluck gems from the market. At the start of the game everyone is fresh and going at it, and like you say we have been swarmed the last 3 times. that might have a bit to do with the players in each side going head to head, initially  

There has definitely been tactical changes the last 3 matches against them and these changes have saw us come back in the 2nd half period, and at times dominate them. 

Are these tactical changes all made with the benefit of hindsight, or are they made on the basis of what is actually happening out on the park ? - that's probably the question to ask. 

I think we need to accept that there will be times, 1st half, when they come out and just try and dominate possession in our half, and when they lose the ball they force us into mistakes. We just seem to get hemmed in and they push up the park as high as possible. 

Interesting question though. 

[FJT]

1 minute ago, OTT said:

 

C'mon... 

 

Agree with your first bit, and its important Neilson gets this 'you can contain the OF' mindset out of his head. It doesn't work and pisses everyone off. When we do that 9/10 we lose. Go at them and see what they have about them. Starfelt isn't that good. Biton is old and doesn't really have the legs anymore. Forrest isn't looking the player he was etc. No Brown either. 

 

We went at them in the 2nd half and scared them into time wasting like nobodies business. A better pen and we take a point. 

 

Robbies fought back from Brora IMO and put together a team that plays good attacking football. We still IMO need a winger like Milinkovic, I'd actually say go get him and see if he can bring what he had back to the table because thats what we need. McKay, Gino and GMS all seem more assist orientated wingers and that isn't looking like the system we're playing, we need goalscoring wingers that can take chances outside the box, drive into the box and get shots off. GMS's shooting is awful, McKay's shooting is too soft and Gino is all over the place. Better winger will get us points IMO. 

 

Anyway, sore result but onto Saturday. 

Agree with your first points - when we harried them, Celtic looked like there were mistakes in them to potentially capitalise on. 
gino and a few others had a very poor first half but we were just overrun 
I’m not convinced milinkovic is the answer though
second half changes and we were streets ahead of our first half performance. 
1 cm to the right and that penalty was in - unlucky and gutting, but I wasn’t too confident when he stepped up to take it to be honest 

he works hard but I think he needs someone up with him . Hopefully simms will help - looked promising at least 

[JimmyCant]

1 minute ago, hearts00 said:

Boyce was rank tonight but so was Barrie McKay and the less said about Gino the better. 

Yep. Both poor. To be fair though, none of them got any service from the 2nd minute for over an hour.

[John Findlay]

Whether we like to admit it or not, they are a good team. I have said from the first game of the season, that I believe they are a better team than Sevco.

We were a missed penalty away from a draw at the least tonight. That's four games played against them this season and there has only ever been the one goal between the teams. 

We are a work in progress, and the progress is upwards.

[1971fozzy]

13 minutes ago, Walter Bishop said:

Baningime showed in 15 mins he is our best player by a country mile. Great to have him back. 

Yep. Should be first pick now he’s back. Huge player for us

[Largo]

4 minutes ago, CloustonHMFC said:

They're a superior team to Rangers and only 4 points behind them with them still to play each other 3 times. Celtic are winning the league.

You want to put a charity bet on this !!!

[1971fozzy]

Just now, John Findlay said:

Whether we like to admit it or not, they are a good team. I have said from the first game of the season, that I believe they are a better team than Sevco.

We were a missed penalty away from a draw at the least tonight. That's four games played against them this season and there has only ever been the one goal between the teams. 

We are a work in progress, and the progress is upwards.

they are a very decent team. Jota is a superb player. Unfortunately 

[Morgan]

4 minutes ago, hearts00 said:

Boyce was rank tonight but so was Barrie McKay and the less said about Gino the better. 

They weren’t exactly ‘helped along’ by their teammates, now were they?

[Samuel Camazzola]

22 minutes ago, Byyy The Light said:

Celtic new boy was rattled by that atmosphere 

Still looked the part though. Seems to be a good signing.on first showing. 

[Chuck Berry]

Just now, John Findlay said:

Whether we like to admit it or not, they are a good team. I have said from the first game of the season, that I believe they are a better team than Sevco.

We were a missed penalty away from a draw at the least tonight. That's four games played against them this season and there has only ever been the one goal between the teams. 

We are a work in progress, and the progress is upwards.

 

Agree with that, they have a good manager in place and has improved them considerably over the last 6 months. They'll win the league.

 

We just need to focus on getting third, and we're more than capable of doing that, we're strong all over the park. Concerned at the CH position if Halkett has a dull one and is out for a while.

[bawheed]

2 minutes ago, JimmyCant said:

We’ll maybe he should just listen to what he is being asked to do and just do that then. It’s not the manager asking him to play 2 roles. In fact he’s been playing as a false 9 most of the season. He held on to nothing tonight. He didn’t turn and face once. He’s got to hold the ball to bring others in. He simply didn’t do it. He was pish. He isn’t always pish and he’s not a pish player but tonight he was pish

How do you know what he's been asked to do, in the 1st half with that team selection he had to play both rolls

he was totally isolated.

[William H. Bonney]

It’s very frustrating though that like the cup final, and the cup game at parkhead, we only bothered showing up in the 2nd half. 

[Morgan]

Just now, Largo said:

You want to put a charity bet on this !!!

I’ll join you on this if he accepts.  👍

[neilnunb]

It's frustrating as **** that we continually give Celtic a head start. Yes, much improved 2nd half and we probably would have gone on to win if the pen had gone in  but ffs stop giving ourselves a mountain to climb, eh. 😤

[hearts00]

Just now, 1971fozzy said:

they are a very decent team. Jota is a superb player. Unfortunately 

Yes. As much as it pains me to say it Ange’s signings have been sensational. 
 

[Unknown user]

7 minutes ago, CloustonHMFC said:

They're a superior team to Rangers and only 4 points behind them with them still to play each other 3 times. Celtic are winning the league.

 

I'd agree with this

[Gambo]

Dreadful first half, can't give Celtic a 45min start(we seem to do it a lot). We made an average Celtic team look world beaters.

 

Poor beginning of 2nd half until Beni came on.

 

Devlin and Haring all over the place, Haring improved when Beni came on.

 

Never confident with Boyce on pens,  too casual.

 

Good comeback so credit to Neilson for the changes, and we could and should have come away with a point after Celtic failed to put game to bed.

[manaliveits105]

30 minutes ago, MrBones said:

Heading home from the game and haven't seen the pen again but apparently Hart dived early and in the direction Boyce was going to place it. Last min change of mind from Boyce where he put it. Seem to be focusing of Boyce offside goal rather than Celtic offside goal

The leg and heel of ceptic player made Boyce onside 

theirs was definitely offside 

[gavvy]

4 minutes ago, bawheed said:

What Atkinson he was much better than Smith did OK was solid just lacks pace.

Tell me a better 21 year old RB in Scottish football we could afford.

Think this post in time will show who is correct.

The main point I was trying to make was they need to improve. I'm sure they will but have a long way to go, no where near the level we needed tonight but can probably make it with hard work and classy players like the lads from Everton beside them. 

[Watt-Zeefuik]

I hope we go 4-3-3 against the OF in the future. Put our three CMs right across the middle of the park.

[Byyy The Light]

Just now, Samuel Camazzola said:

Still looked the part though. Seems to be a good signing.on first showing. 

Rattled maybe the wrong word. It didn’t affect his performance but he was take aback by the experience. Said he’ll get used to it but had spent his time in league 1 so was an eye opener.

 

The more these guys feed this back down south the better for our game. Was kind of the point I was getting at. For all these people who think we’re league 1 standard 

[Byyy The Light]

Just now, Led Tasso said:

I hope we go 4-3-3 against the OF in the future. Put our three CMs right across the middle of the park.

Back 4 is what knackered us

[Watt-Zeefuik]

Also I don't want to deny that we should have been better first half but it needs to be said that Jota bossed the game.  We had no one who could stay with him, and you can't fix that with tactics and formations.