**Official Heart of Midlothian v Motherwell Match day thread**

[JimmyCant]

3 minutes ago, OTT said:

 

And we could be higher if we had wingers that could convert chances. 

We don’t play with wingers

[Guest ToqueJambo]

6 minutes ago, Jamiemac said:

MATCH REPORT: https://t.co/AjRvAdqxKf

 

That feels like a big win, especially with Hibs losing. Don’t think we played well at all to be honest, but Motherwell are stuffy so the result was always going to be more important. 
 

Neilson confirmed afterwards that Soapy is fine, but Halkett will be out for 4-6 weeks.

 

We missed Souttar's composure and passing out of defence and Hackett's tenacity but to keep a clean sheet with quite a makeshift defence was a good achievement. Moore and Sibbick were slack a few times, understandable as they haven't played much. Kingsley was superb.

Edited January 29, 2022 by ToqueJambo

[JAYEL]

Did rangers make a new bid at half time. ?

 

Handy 3 points today

well done lads 

 

🇱🇻❤️🇱🇻

[One five]

We won the game comfortably and didn’t play our best and when we do someone is going to get a real thumping of us, a strong bench is very pleasing , Toby came on and slotted in as if he played for us all season and what other team outside the OF has  the luxury of having the quality’s of Harring, McKay, Cochrane and Woodburn on the bench, we are looking like a team with trophies to follow 👍

[GinRummy]

2 minutes ago, JimmyCant said:

I think we were tested defensively first half. Positional changes seemed to upset us, plus our now commonplace slow start.

 

Second half we were decent without being brilliant. Got to grips with the midfield, upped the tempo and started finding Simms with the longer ball. Ended up the stronger team by far and could easily have added another couple of goals.

 

Livingston had only 39% possession today but had 19 attempts at goal and 9 on target. For me that says Hibs are not very good without the ball and they have to be worried about us if they’re losing 3 goals at home to Livingston.

 

 

 

 

Don’t disagree Jimmy I didn’t mean that no aspects of our team, be that defence, midfield or any individual battles were put to the test. I meant that we never looked like losing that game. We’re on top for huge parts of it and didn’t really have to find the extra gear to push on and win the match. 
 

comfortable.  

[Glamorgan Jambo]

Not totally convinced by Souttar in the middle of the back 3 although credit to him he went for the 50:50 where he got hurt like we'd all expect. Sibbick looked excellent when he came on and if anything had a touch more composure in the centre. Taylor Moore just seemed to pass the ball to them sorry to say (I'm sure he'll be fine on Tuesday)

[Mikey1874]

12 minutes ago, GinRummy said:

I didn’t hear anyone around me moaning. Fantastic professional performance against our nearest rivals. Seemed to be well appreciated by the crowd. 

 

Today sums up where we are.

 

Some good play but often struggling to get going. Still a work in progress. 

 

[Tennant's 6's]

8 minutes ago, JimmyCant said:

I think we were tested defensively first half. Positional changes seemed to upset us, plus our now commonplace slow start.

 

Second half we were decent without being brilliant. Got to grips with the midfield, upped the tempo and started finding Simms with the longer ball. Ended up the stronger team by far and could easily have added another couple of goals.

 

Livingston had only 39% possession today but had 19 attempts at goal and 9 on target. For me that says Hibs are not very good without the ball and they have to be worried about us if they’re losing 3 goals at home to Livingston.

 

 

 

 

For what its worth, that's what the leanne creighton (sp) said on the radio. That they were poor out of possesion, didn't press or track back and were slow in possession at times.

 

We should be going there with the intent on battering them

[LokamotivRobbo]

Don’t really get the negativity towards GMS. He worked really hard and some of his tackling back was excellent - also very brave against those cloggers. Know he miss hit his chance but hardly deserves to be singled out for that. We’ve got a shed load of games coming up and we need to use the whole squad - GMS is a valuable part of that and deserves a bit of support.

[kingantti1874]

14 minutes ago, Jamiemac said:

MATCH REPORT: https://t.co/AjRvAdqxKf

 

That feels like a big win, especially with Hibs losing. Don’t think we played well at all to be honest, but Motherwell are stuffy so the result was always going to be more important. 
 

Neilson confirmed afterwards that Soapy is fine, but Halkett will be out for 4-6 weeks.

big blow to lose Halkett.  Another CB required I think as Mary didn’t look brilliant today

[GinRummy]

2 minutes ago, Mikey1874 said:

 

Today sums up where we are.

 

Some good play but often struggling to get going. Still a work in progress. 

 

Probably not far of the mark. You can watch certain passages of play and think ‘ffs we are excellent’ then have a ten minute spell where we can’t string a couple of passes together. Huge improvement to last season though. 

[CloustonHMFC]

Some people need to remember that our defensive line had 2 players in it who haven't been starting recently (I include Atkinson since he's new), one forward who was only in door 4 days ago and a sub who was in the door for 2 days. Plus Beni starting his first game in months.

 

A good, professional performance and we're miles clear in 3rd.

[Newton51]

8 minutes ago, JAYEL said:

Did rangers make a new bid at half time. ?

 

Handy 3 points today

well done lads 

 

🇱🇻❤️🇱🇻

Neilson said he had an ankle knock. Not serious so will be ok for Tuesday if still here

[daavojaay]

8 minutes ago, ToqueJambo said:

 

We missed Souttar's composure and passing out of defence and Hackett's tenacity but to keep a clean sheet with quite a makeshift defence was a good achievement. Moore and Sibbick were slack a few times, understandable as they haven't played much. Kingsley was superb.

Sibbick looked an upgrade on souttar to me. Was always in right place to snatch ball up at important times and looks composed on the ball

[Kidd’s Boots]

First chance to get to a game since the return. We were definitely off it in the first half and not firing on all cylinders. Took both our chances well and was impressed with Simms up top. Sibbick had a great 45mins considering how little game time he’s had recently. Missed Barrie McKay today, the ground he covers to make the transition into attack was there to be exploited. Happy with the points but need to step up a gear. 

[OTT]

9 minutes ago, JimmyCant said:

We don’t play with wingers

 

Are we really nitpicking on that? GMS is winger, Gino is a winger, McKay is a winger. McEneff who is an attacking midfielder can't get a game, ditto Jamie Walker and to Woodburn seems to have been relegated to the bench because he's not a winger. 

 

If our wingers get game time and our attacking midfielders don't then pray tell what are the wide players in our front 3 called? 

[Guest ToqueJambo]

3 minutes ago, LokamotivRobbo said:

Don’t really get the negativity towards GMS. He worked really hard and some of his tackling back was excellent - also very brave against those cloggers. Know he miss hit his chance but hardly deserves to be singled out for that. We’ve got a shed load of games coming up and we need to use the whole squad - GMS is a valuable part of that and deserves a bit of support.

 

He was fine today. Tracked back well as you say. The shot he had at the good chance looked really bad but fell to his wrong foot I think.

[Guest ToqueJambo]

Just now, OTT said:

 

Are we really nitpicking on that? GMS is winger, Gino is a winger, McKay is a winger. McEneff who is an attacking midfielder can't get a game, ditto Jamie Walker and to Woodburn seems to have been relegated to the bench because he's not a winger. 

 

If our wingers get game time and our attacking midfielders don't then pray tell what are the wide players in our front 3 called? 

 

John Colqhoun-style wing-forwards in a front 3? Our wing-backs effectively do the traditional winger job as is the modern football way.

[daavojaay]

1 minute ago, OTT said:

 

Are we really nitpicking on that? GMS is winger, Gino is a winger, McKay is a winger. McEneff who is an attacking midfielder can't get a game, ditto Jamie Walker and to Woodburn seems to have been relegated to the bench because he's not a winger. 

 

If our wingers get game time and our attacking midfielders don't then pray tell what are the wide players in our front 3 called? 

We play a false 9 and 2 10s use out wingbacks as our wingers.

[OTT]

15 minutes ago, ToqueJambo said:

 

Our wing backs have scored a lot from effectively winger positions.

 

Honestly, I see our wingbacks as contributing to attacks and helping to create chances whilst maintaining defensive duties when required. They should be linking up with our, ahem, wide 2 of the front 3 to create chances etc. Don't disagree they should be chipping in a bit more. I think Halliday and Smith have both notched a reasonable number of goals for the position, but I really think we're being let down big style by the quality of finishing in our .. wide inside forwards that aren't actually wingers despite all actually being wingers... 

[OTT]

1 minute ago, daavojaay said:

We play a false 9 and 2 10s use out wingbacks as our wingers.

 

So are our 10s (that are wingers) scoring enough goals?

[Bazzas right boot]

25 minutes ago, DS98 said:

Tell me you weren’t at the game without telling me you weren’t at the game.

 

Mom for me. 

 

 

[Tom Hardy’s Dug]

25 minutes ago, OTT said:

 

And we could be higher if we had wingers that could convert chances. 

You know we have the most points of any promoted team ever at this stage in the season mate?

 

You need to gauge the definition of success with a bit more intelligence IMO.

[Mikey1874]

11 minutes ago, Kidd’s Boots said:

First chance to get to a game since the return. We were definitely off it in the first half and not firing on all cylinders. Took both our chances well and was impressed with Simms up top. Sibbick had a great 45mins considering how little game time he’s had recently. Missed Barrie McKay today, the ground he covers to make the transition into attack was there to be exploited. Happy with the points but need to step up a gear. 

 

I think Barrie McKay will link up very well with Simms and Boyce in front 2.

[Tom Hardy’s Dug]

As an aside resources and “we are where we should be” isn’t a valid argument as we have a lower budget than Hibs and Aberdeen this season.

 

 

[armstrong]

2 hours ago, andrewjambo said:

Was told to log into this site: https://ppv.heartsfc.co.uk/

Thanks mate. Managed to get it working eventually 👍

[Watt-Zeefuik]

Not to make a fuss about formations but in the second half at least we looked much more like a 5-3-2 than a 3-4-3. Was that just GMS (then Woodburn) sagging back? It looked more planned than that.

[Jambo dans les Pyrenees]

Team v Hibs

 

                                          Gordon

 

                   Souttar           Sibbick        Kingsley

 

   Atkinson            Haring          Beni            Halliday

 

                         Boyce               McKay

                                      Simms     

 

Subs:  Stweart, Moore, Devlin, Cochrane, Woodburn, McEneff, GMS, Gino, Pollock

[OTT]

1 minute ago, Tom Hardy’s Dug said:

You know we have the most points of any promoted team ever at this stage in the season mate?

 

You need to gauge the definition of success with a bit more intelligence IMO.

 

Hardly, I want to see us push on and in every other area of the pitch we're doing great. our wingers/wide forwards or whatever the **** folk want to call them aren't scoring much. Getting more direct players there would help and GMS in particular has cost us points through his terrible finishing and will continue to do so until he's replaced. He's painfully inconsistent and for a player in his 30s, an experienced head, he should be bringing more to the table IMO. Thats hardly a controversial opinion. You miss chance after chance it bites you and puts pressure on your own team, which was why we drew so many games at the start of the season. We were playing well but not converting chances. 

 

We should never have been in a position where we are referred to as a promoted team. Its not like St Mirren or Partick rocking up and doing it  An achievement no doubt, but lets be relative about it. Your post reminds me of Rangers talking about all their record points tallys following their climb up the divisions. 

[GinRummy]

2 minutes ago, Queensland Jambo said:

Team v Hibs

 

                                          Gordon

 

                   Souttar           Sibbick        Kingsley

 

   Atkinson            Haring          Beni            Halliday

 

                         Boyce               McKay

                                      Simms     

 

Subs:  Stweart, Moore, Devlin, Cochrane, Woodburn, McEneff, GMS, Gino, Pollock

Most of the team picks itself but I do think you’ve nailed it. Haring or Devlin, Cochrane or Halliday, Sibbick or Moore. Those are the only 3 spots worth discussing imo. 

[heartsfc_fan]

Better second half performance again today.

Impressed with Simms. He looks a player.

Sibbick came on and did well. Glad he's back.

 

Good day all round 👍

[vegas-voss]

Very good win.Got to be honest this was the game I was worried about the most in the first lot of fixtures since the break as others take care of themselves but winning this one always felt to me would confirm us as third unless we had a massive downturn in form so brilliant we won it.

Edited January 29, 2022 by vegas-voss

[Tasavallan]

17 minutes ago, Queensland Jambo said:

Team v Hibs

 

                                          Gordon

 

                   Souttar           Sibbick        Kingsley

 

   Atkinson            Haring          Beni            Halliday

 

                         Boyce               McKay

                                      Simms     

 

Subs:  Stweart, Moore, Devlin, Cochrane, Woodburn, McEneff, GMS, Gino, Pollock

This would be my starting eleven.

[the Hearts way]

6 minutes ago, niblick1874 said:

 

Get them.

Firmly in our sights,  after listening to Shaun Maloney, who gave no credit to his opposition today,  whose performance was obviously better than his bag of shite,

I'm thinking forget 5-1.

It's time for 10. Onwards and upwards 🇱🇻 FTH 

[tazhearts]

4 minutes ago, Tasavallan said:

This would be my starting eleven.

I think Devlin will start in front for either Beni or Haring.  Other than that I agree.

[the Hearts way]

4 minutes ago, Tasavallan said:

This would be my starting eleven.

That's  a 10-0 line up 😉

[Mikey1874]

9 minutes ago, vegas-voss said:

Very good win.Got to be honest this was the game I was worried about the most in the first lot of fixtures since the break as others take care of themselves but winning this one always felt to me would confirm us as third unless we had a massive downturn in form so brilliant we won it.

 

Winning the last 3 league games at Tynecastle is massive.

[OTT]

25 minutes ago, Queensland Jambo said:

Team v Hibs

 

                                          Gordon

 

                   Souttar           Sibbick        Kingsley

 

   Atkinson            Haring          Beni            Halliday

 

                         Boyce               McKay

                                      Simms     

 

Subs:  Stweart, Moore, Devlin, Cochrane, Woodburn, McEneff, GMS, Gino, Pollock

 

I very much like that line up!

 

Its a real test for us regardless of current form. Can't take anything for granted in a derby. 

[niblick1874]

5 minutes ago, the Hearts way said:

Firmly in our sights,  after listening to Shaun Maloney, who gave no credit to his opposition today,  whose performance was obviously better than his bag of shite,

I'm thinking forget 5-1.

It's time for 10. Onwards and upwards 🇱🇻 FTH 

 

They are green man. Get them. 

[Tasavallan]

5 minutes ago, tazhearts said:

I think Devlin will start in front for either Beni or Haring.  Other than that I agree.

Wrong choice if so.  Beni every day of the week. 

[Pilmuir]

Good result today, under-whelming in the first half but we were rarely threatened. Much better in the second half and convincing winners. Feeling good about our prospects for this season and beyond.

[Tom Hardy’s Dug]

One thing I noticed today was that the pace and largely forward placed passing tempo was - when we started putting moves together - much higher tempo than normal.

 

You also noticed the general increased in pace in the team generally today.

 

As I mentioned - given that the new additions are still bedding in - that augers well mo ing forward.

[Shanks]

Delighted with that win today and enjoyed the game.  Rangers shipping three goals to ross county  I’d tell them Souttars price has went up to £3m.  
 

Also hibs getting papped from livi at home

 

 

Great day. 

[the Hearts way]

4 minutes ago, Pilmuir said:

Good result today, under-whelming in the first half but we were rarely threatened. Much better in the second half and convincing winners. Feeling good about our prospects for this season and beyond.

We are in a good place, 👍  positioned 3rd in league and heading to Fester Road On, see you next Tuesday 😀. The fuds! HHGH Onwards and upwards 🇱🇻 

Edited January 29, 2022 by the Hearts way

[Tazio]

What me pretty pleased was noticing how rapid Toby is. 

[Kidd’s Boots]

43 minutes ago, Mikey1874 said:

 

I think Barrie McKay will link up very well with Simms and Boyce in front 2.

Agree with that, Simms has pace and movement that Boyce doesn’t and if he and McKay get on the same wavelength it could be a great combination 

[InternationalJambo]

Not many forwards will throw the Motherwell back line around like Simms did today. Great performance & is exactly what we’ve been missing up front. 

Edited January 29, 2022 by InternationalJambo

[1953]

2 minutes ago, Tazio said:

What me pretty pleased was noticing how rapid Toby is. 

Toby slotted right in from the word go so very optimistic about this guy.

[Debut 4]

13 minutes ago, Pilmuir said:

Good result today, under-whelming in the first half but we were rarely threatened. Much better in the second half and convincing winners. Feeling good about our prospects for this season and beyond.

Agree.  It was a player focus problem in the first half.   Simple for me.

 

Everything had to be better in the second half and it was.  Quicker thinking, quicker passing and more proactive off the ball.  Ended up pretty untroubled in the end. 

Edited January 29, 2022 by Debut 4

[Byyy The Light]

1 hour ago, LokamotivRobbo said:

Don’t really get the negativity towards GMS. He worked really hard and some of his tackling back was excellent - also very brave against those cloggers. Know he miss hit his chance but hardly deserves to be singled out for that. We’ve got a shed load of games coming up and we need to use the whole squad - GMS is a valuable part of that and deserves a bit of support.

100%.