*** The official St Johnstone fc vs Heart of Midlothian fc match thread ***

[Malinga the Swinga]

3 hours ago, Newton51 said:

where was the defence for the second goal and how did we miss those sitters

That at the end could have been over line, but we don't use technology. Keeper was certainly over line but we have second one away.

[Jambo92]

6 hours ago, Bazzas right boot said:

 

 

The thing is it could be argued it cost us not to stick with CL a bit longer (after not replacing him the previous summer) as when he left we did get worse. 

 

A different discussion tho and entirely different set of circumstances as it was on the back of a 6th place finish and being 10th in the league. 

We got promoted last year and sit 3rd.

 

It's a daft Comparison. 

 

 

It was clear to everyone that Levein wasn't able to get a tune out of the squad anymore, he should have been emptied after the cup final but we did the nice family thing and kept him on, allowed him to sign more dross and then waited till damage was done until removing him. 

 

We are obviously in a different situation now but it feels similar in the direction its going. I liken it to being in a relationship with someone who you know its going to end badly with but you keep putting off ending it. 

 

Neilson has to show us something different in the next few weeks or we are screwed.

[hisnameis]

5 hours ago, heartsfc_fan said:

Since Halkett has been out it's all went to pot.

We miss him massively at the back.

I keep repeating it mate. He is a massive loss. Yesterday, too many changes enforced and otherwise. If Souttar was not playing yesterday we would have been skelped. Absolutely no cohesion. We looked clueless. Especially going forward. It’s like it was under Levein. Not losing the ball seems to be a bigger goal than scoring one. Lots of new players finding their feet in a new country , league,team, city etc. 

[Ex member of the SaS]

It is pleasing to see so many who now realise how bad Robbie is when some of us were getting stick for saying this weeks ago. Here's where I am:

 

Gordon gets the ball and throws it out to Soapy, he then sees someone closing him down and passes to the right back, who in turn sees someone closing him down and passes back to Soapy who is already closed down and it's a panic pass to the halfway line where he is quickly closed down and it's back to soapy. This happens EVERY game and clubs know how to stop us playing. Every occasionally we pass the ball out quickly and break away ( sometimes even score ) but this does not happen often enough. Not advocating hoofball but surely sometimes Craig could get every one up and hoof it. Flooding their box is the only way to score as Simms on his own with three or four defenders won't score.

Then is comes to the backroom, they sit on the sidelines watching the same play week after week and do nothing in training to change things.

The manager sees the same thing happening and waits until a predetermined time to make changes rather than reading the game.

We need to make a change somewhere and if the manager is happy with the way the backroom is teaching them how to play and can't / won't read the game then it's clear that Robbie is not the one.

We have a good squad for this league with the exception of attacking mids and strikers and this is all down to Robbie telling Savage who he wants.

[Ex member of the SaS]

14 hours ago, Des Lynam said:

After the last few years I might have taken that as well but we are where we are. I’m well aware if he wins the next two against St Mirren and Aberdeen then we’re back on track. The ups and downs (painful) are what makes football so engaging. I just don’t think he survives not finishing third now. Unless he wins the cup! 😉

The problem is Goodwin, If St Mirren play his style we could well lose and he is now at Aberdeen so the same thing could well happen. Everyone keeps saying the next two/three/four games are important, so how long and how many losses do we suffer before action is taken.

[A_A wehatethehibs]

1 minute ago, Ex member of the SaS said:

The problem is Goodwin, If St Mirren play his style we could well lose and he is now at Aberdeen so the same thing could well happen. Everyone keeps saying the next two/three/four games are important, so how long and how many losses do we suffer before action is taken.

Weve beaten Goodwin teams 2 from 2 this season so wouldn’t exactly call him much of a thorn in our side. 

[Marvin]

If Robbies comments from EEN before yesterday's game are to be believed then he's going nowhere I'm afraid.

 

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/football/hearts/neilson-clubs-heading-down-wrong-road-3573724 

 

 

[wavydavy]

13 hours ago, Newton51 said:

where was the defence for the second goal and how did we miss those sitters

 

The defence led by Souttar were all ball watching rather than man marking and trying to play offside.

 

We can't score because we have Simms as our main striker and the guy is a cart horse. Ok he works hard and has a go but mainly shoots straight at the goalkeeper.

 

Other than Boyce what strikers do we have at the club? Henderson who we have put back out on loan.

 

We hardly ever score goals from midfield.

 

The last few games the players heads have gone down and this is where Robbie and his team need to earn their money.

 

They have done a great job in getting us to third in the league but he really needs to get their confidence back and get them fighting to win every game.

 

We all know that teams hit bad patches and players lose a bit of form but a good coach gets them through that and brings them out.

 

Robbie needs to do that and a win at St Mirren is vital before our next home game against Aberdeen.

 

Both of these teams you would think are better than Dundee and St Johnstone so he has his work cut out.

[Pasquale for King]

12 hours ago, We_are_the_Hearts said:

Bad weather apparently 😂😂

Where do the happy clappers access the Levein/Neilson book of excuses, can’t be easy to carry something so heavy around. 

[Pasquale for King]

1 hour ago, Marvin said:

If Robbies comments from EEN before yesterday's game are to be believed then he's going nowhere I'm afraid.

 

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/football/hearts/neilson-clubs-heading-down-wrong-road-3573724 

 

 

Hopefully that decision will be taken out of his hands. 
We had continuity under Levein 🤦🏽.

Edited February 20, 2022 by Pasquale for King

[No longer active]

A poor performance no questions. However the pitch was shocking and the ball bobbled constantly - our game is better on a carpet for sure!

[jambopilms]

Early season shite form was hidden behind Craig Gordon and a good number of penalties. Now we aren't getting the breaks and we are getting the results the performances deserve.

 

[Harry Potter]

45 minutes ago, Pasquale for King said:

Where do the happy clappers access the Levein/Neilson book of excuses, can’t be easy to carry something so heavy around. 

Must have sore hands with the ammount of clapping.

[Pasquale for King]

31 minutes ago, Harry Potter said:

Must have sore hands with the ammount of clapping.

Hard to type also, they’re a bit thin on the ground just now. 

[GinRummy]

1 hour ago, George Cowie said:

A poor performance no questions. However the pitch was shocking and the ball bobbled constantly - our game is better on a carpet for sure!

Sorry but our game is a shambles. Two wing backs and two wingers but the crossing is generally terrible. The wing back who can produce, in an attacking sense, is playing LCB. Two defensive central midfielders who carry zero threat going forward and are regularly outnumbers in the middle which means teams are on top of our shaky defence very easily and in turn means the wingers don’t see the ball enough because they’re too high up the park. 
 

None of this is new. CG has made more saves than any other keeper yet despite having all season to change things (and while we were still winning games), Robbie has decided to serve up more of the same until we hit a brick wall and are easy pickings for any team in the league. 
 

Just like last season and no doubt next season as well. Very, very frustrating.  

Edited February 20, 2022 by GinRummy

[jambopilms]

15 minutes ago, Pasquale for King said:

Hard to type also, they’re a bit thin on the ground just now. 

I don't know why you are aiming at other supporters. There won't be many "happy clappers" because there is nothing good to see. Most will be happy when we win and unhappy when we don't. It's not hard to comprehend. 

Edited February 20, 2022 by jambopilms

[Ex member of the SaS]

The problem is we have too many players in our own half and when we win back possession we have no out ball. the mids don't get back up field quick enough. At one point we had 10 players ( including keeper ) wandering around our own half with no one going forward leaving Simms isolated.

We tend not to put in a tackle until they are on top of our box, and I want to see our forwards tackling / hassling, their defense and our Mids tackling them going forwards, LONG before they get a cross or shot off. Everyone backs up until we don't know who is watching who, and if we got stuck in we would have less pitch to cover before we are on top of their box.

Every game I watch our players back off and sometimes even run away rather that closing down and tackling.

[Ex member of the SaS]

25 minutes ago, GinRummy said:

Sorry but our game is a shambles. Two wing backs and two wingers but the crossing is generally terrible. The wing back who can produce, in an attacking sense, is playing LCB. Two defensive central midfielders who carry zero threat going forward and are regularly outnumbers in the middle which means teams are on top of our shaky defence very easily and in turn means the wingers don’t see the ball enough because they’re too high up the park. 
 

None of this is new. CG has made more saves than any other keeper yet despite having all season to change things (and while we were still winning games), Robbie has decided to serve up more of the same until we hit a brick wall and are easy pickings for any team in the league. 
 

Just like last season and no doubt next season as well. Very, very frustrating.  

This is my worry and something I have taken stick over, Robbie is not the one to take us forward and I fear we will muddle through and he will get next season and the one after( like Levein ) and then we are in the Championship or fighting relegation. We need someone on the board to step up and make a decision. Many then say who do you want to take his place? The simple answer is I don't know, because I don't follow managers, and I am not privy to our recruitment and finances to suggest anyone.

[GinRummy]

2 minutes ago, Ex member of the SaS said:

This is my worry and something I have taken stick over, Robbie is not the one to take us forward and I fear we will muddle through and he will get next season and the one after( like Levein ) and then we are in the Championship or fighting relegation. We need someone on the board to step up and make a decision. Many then say who do you want to take his place? The simple answer is I don't know, because I don't follow managers, and I am not privy to our recruitment and finances to suggest anyone.

You don’t need to know who someone’s replacement should be to know a person is doing a poor job. Similarly, our poor managerial recruitment since Neilson left last time doesn’t mean he’s doing a good job right now or that it was ok to start losing to pish last season.  

[Drumjambo]

20 hours ago, OldGorgie said:

McEneff will be away in the summer. He’s a good player but doesn’t fit in with RN’s idea of a midfielder. Our current midfield spend more time playing the ball backwards in the present defensive setup favoured by RN.

 

No way Robbie can't play him any longer He has to change the balance - Why did we pay 200k for him ?????

 

Our problem is we play 8 defensive players a two attackers and don't worry teams - ironically against most teams that play 1 up front

 

Teams have sussed us out - leave us in  possession and we'll do cock all with it  - possession re Dundee was 73% and 65% yesterday and lost both games its possession for possessions sake

 

 

      Yesterdays team                                                                                   Id have gone 

 

     Stewart                                                                                                Stewart 

 

Souttar Sibbick Kingsley                                                            Sibbick Soutter Taylor Moore Kingsley

Natty Devlin Haring Cochrane                                                                       Haring or Beni

Gino Simms Mackay                                                                           Mackay    McEneff   Mackay Steven or pollock or devlin

                                                                                                                            Gino  Simms 

Toby doesn't look a centre half Kinglsey is the best left back we've have in twenty years and play him as a centre half , Cochrane is not a midfielder neither is Natty,  Devlin chases everything like a wee puppy Gino is not a winger Mackay the only genuine Scottish attacker and Haring the only real Midfielder 

 

Feel free to slate me but can we just please try something different Robbie 

 

 

 

[Drumjambo]

20 hours ago, Pasquale for King said:

If you’re going to play a high line you need to keep it until after the free kick has been taken 🤦🏽

 

For those of us watching , we've ha umpteen warnings doing this this season - Ran out of luck

[The Treasurer]

I've just watched the highlights again. 

I take it that the goal line technology is only used in the cup final as that scramble near the end looked well over the line to me 

[J.T.F.Robertson]

 

We only remotely gave the impression of trying to win this game in the last twenty minutes or so.

It's awfully reminiscent of the kind of half arsed shite we've been subjected to for the majority of the past few seasons.

 

I have nowt against Robbie but we need better as manager.

 

[Factuer Moi]

6 hours ago, GinRummy said:

You don’t need to know who someone’s replacement should be to know a person is doing a poor job. Similarly, our poor managerial recruitment since Neilson left last time doesn’t mean he’s doing a good job right now or that it was ok to start losing to pish last season.  

It is blatantly obvious we are not performing anywhere near the heights we should be. Been faking it the whole time. Players believing in their own hype. It was coming down the tracks like a runaway train. Will take the but we are third. Screaming it out loud I KNOW. It is ****ing brutal though. 

1 hour ago, The Treasurer said:

I've just watched the highlights again. 

I take it that the goal line technology is only used in the cup final as that scramble near the end looked well over the line to me 

I couldn't take that in. Still no idea . Looks like their keeper punches it while the ball is over the line. 

[grumpyespana]

We are deffo missing Halkett just now as for Devlin whats happened to him has he been told to calm down a bit he is not the wee tiger we saw earlier in the season, Haring seems to be towing a caravan also Ginnelly does not seem interested. People blaming Stewart yesterday are wrong he was not responsible for the goals we lost he also releases the ball quicker than Craig which no one noticed lol.

[Pasquale for King]

4 hours ago, Drumjambo said:

 

For those of us watching , we've ha umpteen warnings doing this this season - Ran out of luck

Yes I think our luck has run out in many ways, thankfully we should have done enough to stay ahead of the rest, because they’re all pretty poor. 

[dannymack]

On 19/02/2022 at 20:39, gar jambo said:

I've followed hearts for 50 years I will say it again when hearts play horrible stuff they can get beat from virtually any one it's in their DNA 

 

Agreed that's why I always maintain there's no such a thing as Hearts being the 3rd biggest club in Scotland,  a club that thinks they're 3rd biggest would never lose the amount of semi finals as we have. 

 

[colinmaroon]

4 hours ago, Drumjambo said:

 

For those of us watching , we've ha umpteen warnings doing this this season - Ran out of luck

 

Not luck!  Bad discipline with two dropping and not maintaing the line.

 

 

[john thomas]

On 19/02/2022 at 14:51, sac said:

Cheaper going to the game. Hide in the toilet on the train, and get a lift over at the turnstile.

Just seen your excellent suggestions . 

Perhaps next time