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

[Gambo]

6 minutes ago, McCrae said:

Tonight we saw RN’s inexperience as a manager. It was pretty obvious that when playing the old firm if you are going to have a chance you must at-least match them in midfield. The team we started was just too light weight for that job.

 

Its no surprise when Beni and Halliday came on we started to dominate the game. Similar thing happened away to Motherwell.

One of my gripes with Neilson is he dosent seem to learn. Fair play yo him for making the changes but surely we can try and compete in a first half of these games.

[1971fozzy]

19 minutes ago, Byyy The Light said:

I detest the prick 

He is an absolute roaster. 

[Gambo]

5 minutes ago, Lfhearts said:

Agreed he could have subbed Ginnelly after 20 mins, he could not play position asked of him to combat Celtics midfield, then Haring far too slow and Devlin never got going.

Haring seemed to be giving Devlin a hard time. Devlin was going off wandering and leaving Haring lost in middle of park. He had a go at him a couple of times.

[kingantti1874]

Just now, Gambo said:

One of my gripes with Neilson is he dosent seem to learn. Fair play yo him for making the changes but surely we can try and compete in a first half of these games.

agree .. however - you also sometimes have to credit the opposition. Makes me sick to say it but I though celtic were very good. They moved it very fast and put a lot of pressure on the ball..

 

once beni came on we were more competitive in midfield and got to grips with it 

[SectionDJambo]

2 minutes ago, McCrae said:

Tonight we saw RN’s inexperience as a manager. It was pretty obvious that when playing the old firm if you are going to have a chance you must at-least match them in midfield. The team we started was just too light weight for that job.

 

Its no surprise when Beni and Halliday came on we started to dominate the game. Similar thing happened away to Motherwell.

Robbie, I think has done this in the last 3 games against Celtic. Starts off too light in midfield against them and waits until the damage is done to change it. Even the 2-1 win at the start of the season he took an age to reinforce the midfield. Celtic move around really well if you give them space. We need to smother them in midfield from the start to give ourselves a foothold in the game.

[Arthur Morgan]

9 minutes ago, ramrod said:

Cant afford to start games against Rangers and Celtic with 2 in midfield,  need another body in there to get a foothold in the game early on .

 

Absolutely this! Why not 3412? I've been saying that for months now, it absolutely makes more sense imo. You can't play 2 in a midfield against a superior team, got to match them up. 

Edited January 26, 2022 by Arthur Morgan

[Pasquale for King]

15 minutes ago, Cade said:

Last 5 games:

Rangers 13 points (55 total)
Celtic 13 points (51 total)
Hearts 9 points (39 total)
Motherwell 7 points (32 total)
Hibs 10 points (30 total)
Aberdeen 7 points (28 total) 

Could have been better, could have been far worse.

Pulled 2 points further ahead of both well and the Sheep.

The vermin only closed the gap by 1 point.

Two shitey arse cheeks are doing what they always do and are sailing off into the sunset.

 

 

I think it’s the worst two versions of the uglies for a while but we’re another few windows away from really challenging them. Can only hope the European money they get will be wasted. 

[Sub4TiddlerMurray]

2 minutes ago, ramrod said:

Cant afford to start games against Rangers and Celtic with 2 in midfield,  need another body in there to get a foothold in the game early on .

 

100%

 

If we'd started 352 with Beni, Haring and Devlin across the middle we'd have had a lot more control playing against the wind in the first half. That said, a few players were well below par today (Cochrane, Kingsley, Smith and McKay) and that didn't help.

 

After Smith departed, Atkinson came on and cancelled out Jota (who had been running rings round Smith). Big compliment to NA that he was subbed. 

 

Great to see Beni back, what a player. And Simms looks top drawer, early days but already looking like a brilliant signing.

[Hectormasson]

2 hours ago, indianajones said:

Look at that smug RAT Berra sitting smiling. 

 

Arsehole. 

Ditto, smug f...k

[OTT]

27 minutes ago, 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.

Youre absolutely right, they are a good team with a lot of very talented players. 
 

I do think that they are fragile though. Our goal rocked them and they weren’t massively threatening from then on. 
 

There doesn’t seem to be any strong personalities in that team. No more Brown and his assistant refereeing performances which is a big miss for them. 
 

I think if we go at them and stop trying to contain them we could get a result. 3rd time we’re left thinking too little too late. 

[Pasquale for King]

10 minutes ago, Fozzyonthefence said:

Yep, I was more pissed off at the lack of red for a clear deliberate handball when already on a yellow than their goal probably being offside.  Incredible decision, or lack of it.

Not sure if it was deliberate although it was high. He should’ve had another yellow though.

[bawheed]

8 minutes ago, maggieb said:

Hopefully you don’t mind if I use my boo now?        BOOOO

Not the best football player but can influence games, a real wee shite thankfully he's our wee shite.

A good team requires a player like that.  

[JackLadd]

Weird to be so poor in that first half and Boyce 's pen miss cost a point.

[MrBones]

Big fan of Devlin but he seemed to let the occasion get to him tonight. Was all over the shop. Hard enough being a man short in midfield without Devlin seeming to forget the game plan

[Italian Lambretta]

The tactical genius determined to give each arse cheek a 2 goal start.

He's a born loser and we're going.no where with him in charge.

Savage must despair watching that pitch wondering why he goes our his way to attract good players for Neilson to ruin them.

When he goes he can take Boyce with him another imposter pretending to be a football player 

[Factuer Moi]

 

[Jambos_1874]

Absolute nonsense.

[Peakybunnet]

Just now, Italian Lambretta said:

Savage

[XB52]

Just now, Italian Lambretta said:

The tactical genius determined to give each arse cheek a 2 goal start.

He's a born loser and we're going.no where with him in charge.

Savage must despair watching that pitch wondering why he goes our his way to attract good players for Neilson to ruin them.

When he goes he can take Boyce with him another imposter pretending to be a football player 

You just love defeats don't you. What a sad sad troll you are. Get a life 

[maggieb]

4 minutes ago, Gambo said:

One of my gripes with Neilson is he dosent seem to learn. Fair play yo him for making the changes but surely we can try and compete in a first half of these games.

Sometimes you have to give the other team credit for giving it us up the arse before you can change jack, it’s friggin frustrating but budget definitely plays a part imo ,  sorry to state the obvious, my second Boo of the week rests here …..boooOoooooo

[BelgeJambo]

1 minute ago, MrBones said:

Big fan of Devlin but he seemed to let the occasion get to him tonight. Was all over the shop. Hard enough being a man short in midfield without Devlin seeming to forget the game plan

Think you’re spot on

normally he is taking the ball of the back 3 and starting things

didn’t happen tonight.

Im sure he will right it on Saturday 

[Jamiemac]

MATCH REPORT: 

https://t.co/r7SqaOWQph

Here’s my take on a disappointing result at Tynecastle. Great atmosphere though, Boyce was unlucky with the penalty, but got to score it. Great to get Beni back and Simms looked alright too.
 

Robbie said afterwards that Halkett’s injury is hamstring related so that could be a bad one… Smith a back spasm, Moore expected to be back for Saturday, so will fill in for Halkett.

 

I’d imagine there’s no chance Souttar leaves in January now.

 

Reads appreciated guys

[FJT]

1 minute ago, MrBones said:

Big fan of Devlin but he seemed to let the occasion get to him tonight. Was all over the shop. Hard enough being a man short in midfield without Devlin seeming to forget the game plan

I like him but agree. Tried his guts out but out of position regularly and seemed almost too hyped up to be effective tonight. Still think he’s an asset for us over all. Just not tonight 😬

[Hesh]

Locked in 3,2,1…..

[Sherbet]

Just now, XB52 said:

You just love defeats don't you. What a sad sad troll you are. Get a life 

Our approach to playing rangers and Celtic is defeatist

[hearts00]

We certaibly didnt get it right in the first half and the players were dreadful in possession but i’m not sure the formation would make much difference. 
 

When Celtic play at full intesity the gulf in class is massive. I personally have no idea if I would just lark the bus or press then high. I am also not sure it would make any difference when Celtic play like the did in the first half. 
 

All you can do is hope come the 65th minute Celtic have shot their load and you are still in the game. 

[cosanostra]

Drama queen, hysterical nonsense.

I'm no fan of Neilson but he's got more right than wrong this year. 

[Captain Lithuania]

Just now, Sherbet said:

Our approach to playing rangers and Celtic is defeatist

Like when we beat Celtic earlier in the season and drew with Rangers at Ibrox? Like that?

[periodictabledancer]

1 hour ago, number witheld said:

Both Atkinson and simms showed up well for me. I was hoping it wasn’t going to turn out to be a jumping at half time. I guess a few folk emotive after all that having a go at devlin. He was just doing his usual thing but good he was subbed off cos beni was real good. We have come far this season let’s not forget it and the bones of a really good squad is there. 

We just need a coach to get the best out of them.

[XB52]

4 minutes ago, Sherbet said:

Our approach to playing rangers and Celtic is defeatist

FTH

[JamboGraham]

9 minutes ago, Pasquale for King said:

I think it’s the worst two versions of the uglies for a while but we’re another few windows away from really challenging them. Can only hope the European money they get will be wasted. 

 

I haven’t actually seen enough of Rangers this season to comment but from what I have seen this is actually a greatly improved Celtic side compared to the previous two seasons. If their board hadn’t wasted the summer and appointed their manager earlier I don’t believe their poor start would have happened.

[GinRummy]

5 minutes ago, cosanostra said:

Drama queen, hysterical nonsense.

I'm no fan of Neilson but he's got more right than wrong this year. 

The main problem in the first half was we gave the ball away because there wasn’t enough movement and players then got closed down and either played a rushed pass or got caught in possession.  Not sure how Neilson can be blamed for that. 

[FJT]

Plenty to work with going forward, especially shown in the second half against a team with ten times our resources
I like how Robbie seems to be trying to get us to play - complete contrast with bits of last season and before 

More pace and talent throughout the squad.

not too disheartened. 

 

[Jamboelite]

What was Gordon doing for the first? Seemed to go right through him.

 

Didnt do great for the 2nd either.

 

He has saved us way more than cost us but still didn't have a good game tonight.

[bawheed]

4 minutes ago, periodictabledancer said:

We just need a coach to get the best out of them.

That's harsh and RN would NEVER have been my 1st choice but he's getting the job done.

[Sherbet]

8 minutes ago, Captain Lithuania said:

Like when we beat Celtic earlier in the season and drew with Rangers at Ibrox? Like that?

Tonight first half, celtic league cup , rangers here

[Homme]

That's four times now this season Celtic have pretty much been all over us first half. That's their game plan and it's not easy to stop (remember we used to do that in the Burley season). 

 

What is pleasing but ultimately no consolation is that in each of the four games we have adapted and been the better team in the second half of all four games. 

 

We tried to contain them first half but we're done by a stupid individual error gifting them possession and a very dubious onside call. Not an excuse though, we deserved nothing from the first 45 and would have counter ourselves very lucky had it been 0-0 at half time.

[stirlo]

15 minutes ago, MrBones said:

Big fan of Devlin but he seemed to let the occasion get to him tonight. Was all over the shop. Hard enough being a man short in midfield without Devlin seeming to forget the game plan

Totally agree - he totally got caught up in the occasion and lacked any sort of composure. Just hope he doesn't do the same in the derby.

[Gambo]

17 minutes ago, maggieb said:

Sometimes you have to give the other team credit for giving it us up the arse before you can change jack, it’s friggin frustrating but budget definitely plays a part imo ,  sorry to state the obvious, my second Boo of the week rests here …..boooOoooooo

We seem to have to give a lot of credit to Celtic in first halfs......sorry to state the obvious.

[Jumper]

I wasn’t sure about their second. Just seen it on Sportscene. Offside!!

[cosanostra]

2 minutes ago, GinRummy said:

The main problem in the first half was we gave the ball away because there wasn’t enough movement and players then got closed down and either played a rushed pass or got caught in possession.  Not sure how Neilson can be blamed for that. 

 

Completely gutless first half. We looked like a white belt rolling with a black belt. Constant defence, only concerned about stopping them hurting us and giving them zero to worry about in return.

Embarrassing for us to be so backward against anyone at Tynecastle.

[Rattatooi]

26 minutes ago, McCrae said:

Tonight we saw RN’s inexperience as a manager. It was pretty obvious that when playing the old firm if you are going to have a chance you must at-least match them in midfield. The team we started was just too light weight for that job.

 

Its no surprise when Beni and Halliday came on we started to dominate the game. Similar thing happened away to Motherwell.

I see it very differently. Just about every player in the first half had a stinker. Celtic are good quality and can make life difficult for any team but we were VERY sloppy. The amount of passes to no-one and lack of fight to be first to the ball was horrendous. That’s not Neilson fault. The only argument I could see against him was that he took to half time to start making the changes but when he made them, they were good positive changes that almost got a result. If the penalty went in there was only going to be one winner. The players were the problem first half.

[AlphonseCapone]

20 minutes ago, Italian Lambretta said:

The tactical genius determined to give each arse cheek a 2 goal start.

He's a born loser and we're going.no where with him in charge.

Savage must despair watching that pitch wondering why he goes our his way to attract good players for Neilson to ruin them.

When he goes he can take Boyce with him another imposter pretending to be a football player 

 

🤣

[MattyK82]

1 minute ago, Sherbet said:

Tonight first half, celtic league cup , rangers here

The Rangers game at Tynecastle we were very good. Just profligate. Tonight - after a lively first 10, we sat off Celtic too much and if you do that v a good team, you’ll get punished. Our passing was 💩. We were passive, sloppy, pretty much everything we haven’t been, certainly at home this season.
 

2nd half - far better. Simms and Beni coming on swung the game in our favour as did the change in shape. After the Boyce goal and when we got the pen, I genuinely thought the full comeback was on. Celtic were rattled at that stage. 
 

Full focus on Saturday now. Need 3 points v Motherwell to really solidify 3rd. The results from last night/tonight at least weren’t damaging. 

[Debut 4]

1 minute ago, cosanostra said:

 

Completely gutless first half. We looked like a white belt rolling with a black belt. Constant defence, only concerned about stopping them hurting us and giving them zero to worry about in return.

Embarrassing for us to be so backward against anyone at Tynecastle.

Playing only 2 natural centre mids was a mistake, with one now not having the athleticism to cope with more intense matches. 
 

It felt similar to the Livingston away match. Too much of a gap between midfield and the front line when we got the ball. We needed a link closer to the front 3 when it broke for us but Devlin(for all he is superb at closing down) isn’t a pass picker and Haring is too slow. 

 

The courage drained from the players as Celtic swarmed us from about 10 minutes onwards. When you’ve been getting battered and having to defend for most part, players switch off when we finally get the ball.  There’s no appetite to move, maybe even no energy.  
 

I thought we did ok for the last half hour. Bizarrely, if we scored the penalty I think we’d have had the hunger to try and snatch a victory. 

[vegas-voss]

28 minutes ago, Gambo said:

One of my gripes with Neilson is he dosent seem to learn. Fair play yo him for making the changes but surely we can try and compete in a first half of these games.

I have seen 4 managers since I have watched football in Scotland that didn't give a **** about playing Celtic or Rangers.Ferguson , McClean ,Alex MacDonald and George Burley.Now there may be a few others but that's really all I can think of the rest all had a fear even JJ 

[Byyy The Light]

15 minutes ago, hearts00 said:

We certaibly didnt get it right in the first half and the players were dreadful in possession but i’m not sure the formation would make much difference. 
 

When Celtic play at full intesity the gulf in class is massive. I personally have no idea if I would just lark the bus or press then high. I am also not sure it would make any difference when Celtic play like the did in the first half. 
 

All you can do is hope come the 65th minute Celtic have shot their load and you are still in the game. 

Exactly. You’ve got to hope they off it slightly (which I thought was a possibility when they shanked a few out the park early on) or we’ve got to have everyone operating at 100%. As soon as 1 player isn’t pressing properly or a yard off then their class shows and the whole thing crumbles.

 

Last sentence is spot on. 

[Pasquale for King]

10 minutes ago, JamboGraham said:

 

I haven’t actually seen enough of Rangers this season to comment but from what I have seen this is actually a greatly improved Celtic side compared to the previous two seasons. If their board hadn’t wasted the summer and appointed their manager earlier I don’t believe their poor start would have happened.

Football wise yes but points wise they’re about the same apparently, having spent a lot of money.
Rangers are maybe 6-8 points worse I believe. 

[One five]

Not so long ago 0-2 at HT and the game would have been almost over, times have changed, they dominated us in the first half we where cack full stop, but we came out and dominated them and unlucky not to get at least a draw. Let’s move on and thump Motherwell on Saturday then the hobos.

Europe here we come 👍

 

[cosanostra]

1 minute ago, Debut 4 said:

Playing only 2 natural centre mids was a mistake, with one now not having the athleticism to cope with more intense matches. 
 

It felt similar to the Livingston away match. Too much of a gap between midfield and the front line when we got the ball. We needed a link closer to the front 3 when it broke for us but Devlin(for all he is superb at closing down) isn’t a pass picker and Haring is too slow. 

 

The courage drained from the players as Celtic swarmed us from about 10 minutes onwards. When you’ve been getting battered and having to defend for most part, players switch off when we finally get the ball.  There’s no appetite to move, maybe even no energy.  
 

I thought we did ok for the last half hour. Bizarrely, if we scored the penalty I think we’d have had the hunger to try and snatch a victory. 

 

Agree with all of that.

I was so sure Rab would have played the 3 centre mids.