QF Match Ratings

[OTT]

15 hours ago, jonesy said:

Atkinson follows up each passage of good play by doing something rotten. Not sure if it's concentration or confidence, but if he could become consistent throughout a match, he'd destroy teams down the flank.

Only 22, I think having Smith to compete for a starting spot can only be a good thing too. Two very different players but it Atkinson can pick up things defensively from Smith then he can only go from strength to strength.

 

I’m really excited for next season. Atkinson and Sibbick with a full preseason in them with their team mates and they’ll be flying! 

[McCrae]

12 hours ago, JamboJase59 said:

Atkinson, I must have been at different game, and also different games in previous weeks… he is completely and utterly out of his depth. I will take what ever flak you throw at me, but for me, first above all, a defender defends, secondary attacks..his positional sense is amateurish at best. He makes Lewis Stevenson look like roberto Carlos.

I have very similar concerns. He has made some very basic costly errors and almost lost us the game last night,

[davemclaren]

13 minutes ago, McCrae said:

I have very similar concerns. He has made some very basic costly errors and almost lost us the game last night,

Looks good going forward but needs to sharpen up defensively. 

[NB GIN]

4 hours ago, ford donald said:

 

Mckay was a street ahead of Woodburn.

Mackay is simply a beautiful footballer 

[davemclaren]

5 minutes ago, NB GIN said:

Mackay is simply a beautiful footballer 

He has decent footballing skills as well. 👍

[McCrae]

3 hours ago, davemclaren said:

Looks good going forward but needs to sharpen up defensively. 

Exactly.

[Sub4TiddlerMurray]

3 hours ago, McCrae said:

I have very similar concerns. He has made some very basic costly errors and almost lost us the game last night,

…on balance then, setting up a goal with terrific play to tee up McKeneff, his attacking play more than made up for any defensive weakness. Yes?

[maroonlegions]

20 hours ago, Geoff Kilpatrick said:

Gordon - 6 - Helpless against two worldies

Atkinson - 6 - Defensively suspect but recovered to set up McEneff and put us back ahead

Kingsley - 7 - Not a natural CB in a four but was a good foil to Halkett beside him

Halkett - 8 - Led by example and playing with confidence which you can see in his passing

Haring - 7 - A mixed bag of a game. Scored a lovely goal but should have had more. Passing was inconsistent

Baningime - 7 - Scores with a tackle! Did Beni things well throughout the game

McKay - 6 - Quieter game than usual due to the cheats crowding on him any time he had the ball

Simms - 6 - Worked hard but looked poor in front of goal until he sealed it with that finish

Woodburn - 7 - Pass for the second goal was exquisite and worked much harder than normal. Still tries to go for glory too often, making an arse of it

Boyce - 8 - MoM. Worked his arse off and is really suiting the 10 role as opposed to the out-and-out striker. All over the pitch starting things and breaking things up

Halliday - 6 - Not his best game but worked hard as ever and never hid

Subs:

McEneff - 7 - What a cameo performance. Scores one after starting the move then makes one. Can't ask for more from a sub

Sibbick - 1 - No time

 

 

Were you at the game.

 

 

 

[iantjambo]

20 hours ago, Geoff Kilpatrick said:

Cool. Let's have your ratings then?

Stunned that he didn’t come back with his own ratings 🙄

[McCrae]

2 hours ago, Sub4TiddlerMurray said:

…on balance then, setting up a goal with terrific play to tee up McKeneff, his attacking play more than made up for any defensive weakness. Yes?

No. His history of making goal losing mistakes in big games is a major weakness. For example….his wayward pass during the Celtic game lead directly to the opening goal.

Same type of wayward pass contributed to the opening St goal last night.

 

St … 2nd goal also came from an original mistake from him.

 

A further mistake almost cost us a third. McKeneff coming on helped him out.

On balance he creates more problems in big games than good.

[Tom Hardy’s Dug]

Anyway, Salma Hayek…. 7 🙄

Edited March 13, 2022 by Tom Hardy’s Dug

[S Form]

Atkinson getting some very unwarranted stick here, I see. He’s a good player and will become a mainstay in the side. The comments coming his way remind me so much of the slagging Halkett used to get. People giving Natty grief are wrong in the same way people were wrong about Craig.

[Bull's-eye]

On 12/03/2022 at 21:45, Geoff Kilpatrick said:

Gordon - 6 - Helpless against two worldies

Atkinson - 6 - Defensively suspect but recovered to set up McEneff and put us back ahead

Kingsley - 7 - Not a natural CB in a four but was a good foil to Halkett beside him

Halkett - 8 - Led by example and playing with confidence which you can see in his passing

Haring - 7 - A mixed bag of a game. Scored a lovely goal but should have had more. Passing was inconsistent

Baningime - 7 - Scores with a tackle! Did Beni things well throughout the game

McKay - 6 - Quieter game than usual due to the cheats crowding on him any time he had the ball

Simms - 6 - Worked hard but looked poor in front of goal until he sealed it with that finish

Woodburn - 7 - Pass for the second goal was exquisite and worked much harder than normal. Still tries to go for glory too often, making an arse of it

Boyce - 8 - MoM. Worked his arse off and is really suiting the 10 role as opposed to the out-and-out striker. All over the pitch starting things and breaking things up

Halliday - 6 - Not his best game but worked hard as ever and never hid

Subs:

McEneff - 7 - What a cameo performance. Scores one after starting the move then makes one. Can't ask for more from a sub

Sibbick - 1 - No time

 

OP didn't watch the game.

 

Don't really care for Geoffs postings at the best of times but he does generally have a small grip on reality.

 

This time nut. His bairns have hacked his account.

 

 

[davemclaren]

36 minutes ago, S Form said:

Atkinson getting some very unwarranted stick here, I see. He’s a good player and will become a mainstay in the side. The comments coming his way remind me so much of the slagging Halkett used to get. People giving Natty grief are wrong in the same way people were wrong about Craig.

I think folk are more saying he needs to improve his defensive game. I imagine he agrees. 

[Rocky jamboa]

Re Atkinson, he gives us more going forward as a RWB but sloppy defensive wise. Gives too much space to the attacker.  Something I'm sure he'll tighten up on. Can probably get away with that in Oz but you won't here.

 

Wonder if we'll play Smith when we need to be more defensive and Akky when we can attack more?

[S Form]

32 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

I think folk are more saying he needs to improve his defensive game. I imagine he agrees. 

The vast majority of players in world football could improve some aspect of their game. People are going over the top in giving Atkinson stick he doesn’t deserve. Someone blamed him for St Mirren’s second goal last night - a goal that came directly from a poor clearance by Boyce and was scored on the opposite side from where Atkinson was playing. It’s a JKB thing as with Halkett - there ‘s a position on Atkinson that some people have taken up and they’ll make up any old nonsense to justify it. He’s clearly not the world’s best wing back, but I’d say he’s already proved that he’ll do a job for us.

[davemclaren]

9 minutes ago, S Form said:

The vast majority of players in world football could improve some aspect of their game. People are going over the top in giving Atkinson stick he doesn’t deserve. Someone blamed him for St Mirren’s second goal last night - a goal that came directly from a poor clearance by Boyce and was scored on the opposite side from where Atkinson was playing. It’s a JKB thing as with Halkett - there ‘s a position on Atkinson that some people have taken up and they’ll make up any old nonsense to justify it. He’s clearly not the world’s best wing back, but I’d say he’s already proved that he’ll do a job for us.

I think he’s a good wing back but, as last night showed, he’s got to work at being a full back. 

[Watt-Zeefuik]

2 hours ago, davemclaren said:

I think he’s a good wing back but, as last night showed, he’s got to work at being a full back. 

 

Exactly this. He's weak as a defender in a back 4 but that's not what we signed him to do. He's a wingback at heart and he's very good at it.

 

He's doing fine as cover at RB—he not nearly as solid as a defender as Smith but he offers much more in pace, control, and crossing than Smith. He produced the winner almost from nothing from a burst of control, strength, and pace to get past a defender who looked to have him fully pinned down on the right side.

[PhoenixHearts]

19 hours ago, cosanostra said:

 

Atkinson gave them the ball by booting it across the pitch to where no Hearts players were and out for a throw. They scored from the next phase of play.

The play started from their keeper with a long pass down the field… again, Atkinson not remotely involved. 

[cosanostra]

7 hours ago, PhoenixHearts said:

The play started from their keeper with a long pass down the field… again, Atkinson not remotely involved. 

 

I think you need to watch it again because you're completely wrong.

Watch from 34 minutes forward and you'll see just exactly how the ball came to be at their goalies feet.

[Sub4TiddlerMurray]

13 hours ago, McCrae said:

No. His history of making goal losing mistakes in big games is a major weakness. For example….his wayward pass during the Celtic game lead directly to the opening goal.

Same type of wayward pass contributed to the opening St goal last night.

 

St … 2nd goal also came from an original mistake from him.

 

A further mistake almost cost us a third. McKeneff coming on helped him out.

On balance he creates more problems in big games than good.

History? Wow. He’s only been with us since January. 2 mistakes doesn’t exactly add up to ‘history’. He has a long way to go to catch up with Halliday then, who’s flailing attempt at a header left the back door open for St Mirren’s 1st.

 

TBF, he has shown defensive weaknesses that he needs to sort out - which I guess is your point. My point is that, to be fair to the lad, his positives should also be taken into account.

[TheBigO]

How good is it that Kingsley signed a 3 year deal with us!  He's up there with best players in the league imo.  Total footballer, genuinely can't think of a weakness.  One more yard of pace perhaps, but then if he had that (poss lost to previous injuries) he'd be nowhere near us or Scotland!!!!

 

Him and Halkett a good CH partnership.  Be very interesting to see what direction we go in the summer as far as squad/intended backline.  4 at the back with King at LB and a new left sided CB would be my guess but who knows right?  Could just as easily sign a new LB and keep King at CB.  I don't think going back to 3 suits the rest of the team, frankly, but I guess if we sign an attacking LWB, it then could.  3421/3412 type thing.

 

I prefer the formation we have at the moment though.

[davemclaren]

10 minutes ago, TheBigO said:

How good is it that Kingsley signed a 3 year deal with us!  He's up there with best players in the league imo.  Total footballer, genuinely can't think of a weakness.  One more yard of pace perhaps, but then if he had that (poss lost to previous injuries) he'd be nowhere near us or Scotland!!!!

 

Him and Halkett a good CH partnership.  Be very interesting to see what direction we go in the summer as far as squad/intended backline.  4 at the back with King at LB and a new left sided CB would be my guess but who knows right?  Could just as easily sign a new LB and keep King at CB.  I don't think going back to 3 suits the rest of the team, frankly, but I guess if we sign an attacking LWB, it then could.  3421/3412 type thing.

 

I prefer the formation we have at the moment though.

Getting the right squad of players allows you to be confident playing multiple formations. 

[TheBigO]

2 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

Getting the right squad of players allows you to be confident playing multiple formations. 

Definitely, but I have to say I like the idea of us saying this is how we play and we'll batter you rather than, right who we playing, how we gona play...

 

Doesn't really work like that, but a general ethos that's how I like us to think.

 

Especially at the back, I think partnerships are important.  But same goes throughout the team.  The Kingsley/GMS combo was looking great for a game or two there but we didn't get chance to keep nourishing it.  Could Natty and maybe McEneff develop something on the right?  it's more these wee things rather than a numbers on a page formation I mean, I suppose.

[Unknown user]

5 minutes ago, TheBigO said:

Definitely, but I have to say I like the idea of us saying this is how we play and we'll batter you rather than, right who we playing, how we gona play...

 

Doesn't really work like that, but a general ethos that's how I like us to think.

 

Especially at the back, I think partnerships are important.  But same goes throughout the team.  The Kingsley/GMS combo was looking great for a game or two there but we didn't get chance to keep nourishing it.  Could Natty and maybe McEneff develop something on the right?  it's more these wee things rather than a numbers on a page formation I mean, I suppose.

 

When someone mentioned upcoming player sales my mind went straight to Beni, but our lad Stephen must be pretty attractive right now.

[davemclaren]

6 minutes ago, TheBigO said:

Definitely, but I have to say I like the idea of us saying this is how we play and we'll batter you rather than, right who we playing, how we gona play...

 

Doesn't really work like that, but a general ethos that's how I like us to think.

 

Especially at the back, I think partnerships are important.  But same goes throughout the team.  The Kingsley/GMS combo was looking great for a game or two there but we didn't get chance to keep nourishing it.  Could Natty and maybe McEneff develop something on the right?  it's more these wee things rather than a numbers on a page formation I mean, I suppose.

In a flat back four I think Natty and McEnuff would be good combination as McEnuff has more defensive qualities than GMS. 

[TheBigO]

6 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

In a flat back four I think Natty and McEnuff would be good combination as McEnuff has more defensive qualities than GMS. 

And can tuck in and help in CM when required (which opens space for Natty to exploit on the wing too).  Works in theory certainly.

[TheBigO]

9 minutes ago, Smithee said:

 

When someone mentioned upcoming player sales my mind went straight to Beni, but our lad Stephen must be pretty attractive right now.

It'd cost a few bob for anyone you'd think.  Also, with the slightly unfortunate career the guy has had, you hope he's found his home and just enjoying his football.  As I say, top player.  Actually getting better too I'd almost say.

[XB52]

Nothing wrong with people saying Atkinson needs to work on the defensive side of his game. It's the roasters totally slagging him off that need to wind their necks in 

[davemclaren]

24 minutes ago, TheBigO said:

And can tuck in and help in CM when required (which opens space for Natty to exploit on the wing too).  Works in theory certainly.

Yip, a good plan in theory. 😄

[Tom Hardy’s Dug]

I gave a bit of grief over the past week but Natty Akka has actually been pretty unlucky. 

As a headline he was signed as a defender who could attack. 
 

For various reasons - not many his fault - he has been quite weak defensively but some of his attacking play has been excellent.

 

Ironically had he been signed as a right winger or right midfielder we’d actually all be raving about him as some of his attacking play has been great.

 

He can generally beat a man like a knife through butter, his crossing is great. He has good determination and he can shoot.

 

Perception has a lot to answer for.

Edited March 14, 2022 by Tom Hardy’s Dug

[Unknown user]

1 minute ago, Tom Hardy’s Dug said:

I gave a bit of grief over the past week but Natty Akka has actually been pretty unlucky. 

As a headline he was signed as a defender who could attack. 
 

For various reasons - not many his fault - he has been quite weak defensively but some of his attacking play has been excellent.

 

Ironically had he been signed as a right winger or right midfielder we’d actually all be raving about him as some of his attacking play has been great.

 

Perception has a lot to answer for.

Good post

[McCrae]

2 hours ago, Sub4TiddlerMurray said:

History? Wow. He’s only been with us since January. 2 mistakes doesn’t exactly add up to ‘history’. He has a long way to go to catch up with Halliday then, who’s flailing attempt at a header left the back door open for St Mirren’s 1st.

 

TBF, he has shown defensive weaknesses that he needs to sort out - which I guess is your point. My point is that, to be fair to the lad, his positives should also be taken into account.

He has made the same basic mistake 3 times, A lose cross field ball that is cut out by the other team. The first resulted in the Celtic opening goal, the 2nd was the initial mistake in the run up to the 1st St Mirren Goal…. He made the same mistake again in the second half and we were lucky St Mirren didn’t score again.  He is not learning from and is repeating the same mistake, to me that is a history.  
 

He also made another mistake which contributed to ST Mirren getting the second goal.

 

His first job is to defend…. and he is not doing great.

[Watt-Zeefuik]

3 hours ago, cosanostra said:

 

I think you need to watch it again because you're completely wrong.

Watch from 34 minutes forward and you'll see just exactly how the ball came to be at their goalies feet.

This is a new and exciting level of responsibility you’re assigning. You’re saying that because Atkinson misplayed a pass that went out for a throw, which then ended up back at Alnwick’s feet inside his own box with all Hearts players back awaiting effectively a goal kick, which was then booted up the park on the opposite side of the pitch from him, leading to a 50-50 header that Halliday either lost or got barged off of, which led to a cross that Kingsley narrowly missed and hit a player who had just slipped inside Halkett for a volley that beat Gordon………

 

……..Atkinson is at fault for the goal?

[milky_26]

15 hours ago, S Form said:

The vast majority of players in world football could improve some aspect of their game. People are going over the top in giving Atkinson stick he doesn’t deserve. Someone blamed him for St Mirren’s second goal last night - a goal that came directly from a poor clearance by Boyce and was scored on the opposite side from where Atkinson was playing. It’s a JKB thing as with Halkett - there ‘s a position on Atkinson that some people have taken up and they’ll make up any old nonsense to justify it. He’s clearly not the world’s best wing back, but I’d say he’s already proved that he’ll do a job for us.

but they would not have had the corner that boyce poorly cleared if he dealt with the ball over the top rather than letting it bounce

[GinRummy]

20 minutes ago, milky_26 said:

but they would not have had the corner that boyce poorly cleared if he dealt with the ball over the top rather than letting it bounce

Shouldn’t have let it bounce. I noticed that one myself but how far do you go back to apportion blame. Could we blame a striker for not closing down the player who made the pass that Atkinson let bounce? Go further back than that? 

[TyphoonJambo]

25 minutes ago, Led Tasso said:

This is a new and exciting level of responsibility you’re assigning. You’re saying that because Atkinson misplayed a pass that went out for a throw, which then ended up back at Alnwick’s feet inside his own box with all Hearts players back awaiting effectively a goal kick, which was then booted up the park on the opposite side of the pitch from him, leading to a 50-50 header that Halliday either lost or got barged off of, which led to a cross that Kingsley narrowly missed and hit a player who had just slipped inside Halkett for a volley that beat Gordon………

 

……..Atkinson is at fault for the goal?

Open and shut case, March in the guilty *******!!!

[Sooks]

1 hour ago, McCrae said:

He has made the same basic mistake 3 times, A lose cross field ball that is cut out by the other team. The first resulted in the Celtic opening goal, the 2nd was the initial mistake in the run up to the 1st St Mirren Goal…. He made the same mistake again in the second half and we were lucky St Mirren didn’t score again.  He is not learning from and is repeating the same mistake, to me that is a history.  
 

He also made another mistake which contributed to ST Mirren getting the second goal.

 

His first job is to defend…. and he is not doing great.

 

Can not believe you are trying to blame him for the first St Mirren goal that is some amount of determination to lay the blame at someones feet who does not deserve it. 

[McCrae]

4 minutes ago, Sooks said:

 

Can not believe you are trying to blame him for the first St Mirren goal that is some amount of determination to lay the blame at someones feet who does not deserve it. 

Watch the build up to the goal… it’s very clear.  His lose pass created the opportunity for St Mirren.

[Watt-Zeefuik]

19 minutes ago, McCrae said:

Watch the build up to the goal… it’s very clear.  His lose pass created the opportunity for St Mirren.

 

I'll just cut and paste my own post again:

 

***

 

This is a new and exciting level of responsibility you’re assigning. You’re saying that because Atkinson misplayed a pass that went out for a throw, which then ended up back at Alnwick’s feet inside his own box with all Hearts players back awaiting effectively a goal kick, which was then booted up the park on the opposite side of the pitch from him, leading to a 50-50 header that Halliday either lost or got barged off of, which led to a cross that Kingsley narrowly missed and hit a player who had just slipped inside Halkett for a volley that beat Gordon………

 

……..Atkinson is at fault for the goal?

 

***

 

That's "very clear?!?!"

[GinRummy]

21 minutes ago, McCrae said:

Watch the build up to the goal… it’s very clear.  His lose pass created the opportunity for St Mirren.

Do you think someone pulled him up at ht? The difference between his first half and second half was noticeable. Huge improvement. 

[boag1874]

23 minutes ago, McCrae said:

Watch the build up to the goal… it’s very clear.  His lose pass created the opportunity for St Mirren.

Bit of a reach that

[S Form]

1 hour ago, Led Tasso said:

This is a new and exciting level of responsibility you’re assigning. You’re saying that because Atkinson misplayed a pass that went out for a throw, which then ended up back at Alnwick’s feet inside his own box with all Hearts players back awaiting effectively a goal kick, which was then booted up the park on the opposite side of the pitch from him, leading to a 50-50 header that Halliday either lost or got barged off of, which led to a cross that Kingsley narrowly missed and hit a player who had just slipped inside Halkett for a volley that beat Gordon………

 

……..Atkinson is at fault for the goal?

People seem to be on a weird mission to lay the blame Atkinson for goals we lose no matter how many other players touch the ball in between his error and the goal being scored.

[Sooks]

20 minutes ago, McCrae said:

Watch the build up to the goal… it’s very clear.  His lose pass created the opportunity for St Mirren.

 

There is a full 38 seconds between his slack pass or cross field ball that went out for a throw in and their goal. The St Mirren player takes the throw in and then there are six passes between their defenders before it goes back to their keeper and he kicks it out to the opposite wing where their player beats his man and puts in a cross for Brophy to score as I said desperation.

[Sooks]

3 minutes ago, Sooks said:

 

There is a full 38 seconds between his slack pass or cross field ball that went out for a throw in and their goal. The St Mirren player takes the throw in and then there are six passes between their defenders before it goes back to their keeper and he kicks it out to the opposite wing where their player beats his man and puts in a cross for Brophy to score as I said desperation.

 

34 minutes and 17 seconds on wards BBC iPlayer - Sportscene - 2021/22: Scottish Cup: Hearts v St Mirren

[Sooks]

1 minute ago, Sooks said:

 

34 minutes and 17 seconds on wards BBC iPlayer - Sportscene - 2021/22: Scottish Cup: Hearts v St Mirren

 

Sorry 49:20 on the broadcast it is 37 minutes and 17 seconds on the match clock

[Watt-Zeefuik]

Oh what the heck, let's break this down.

 

Here's Atkinson's bad pass. Look at his options.

 

 

He can touch it to Woodburn or Haring and immediately put them under pressure, do one of the dreaded back passes to Beni, try to squeeze a very hopeful pass to Simms, or what he tries to do, play it into space for McKay. (He probably should have hit Boycie in the middle of the park who could have touched it to Beni and then broke, but the defender is looking to poach that pass.) He badly overhits it and it goes out for a throw.

 

Here's the throw-in. Hearts have already reset in defence and Simms and Boyce are sniffing about for pressure.

 

 

Here's a full 10 seconds after the throw. St. Mirren have done nothing but ping the ball about and put it right back where they started.

 

 

12 more seconds after that shot. The ball has ended up back with the keeper and all of the Hearts players are looking bored.

 

 

Here's the 50-50 ball. Hearts are as defensively set as you can be, except that Halliday has come forward to challenge, opening up the left flank.

 

 

Kiltie clears out Halliday just as Tait charges past him onto the ball.

 

 

Here's the moment everything goes wrong. Since Halliday has been cleared out, Beni is charging back to try to cover. Kingsley is watching the cross which gives room for Brophy to come in before Halkett can fully cover.

 

 

Kingsley tries to defend the cross but it just misses it. Halkett is a step late to contest the cross. The volley is perfect—Gordon has sealed off the easy tap-ins but Brophy hits it across his body and into the side netting. For what it's worth, Atkinson is doing exactly what he should be doing, running to the back post to cover any back side runs.

 

 

The ball goes in.

 

Now I'm all for people seeing games differently. People have different things they see in players, and sometimes a player can do what one person wants to see but not what another wants to see. Atkinson made errors on Saturday and he has some defensive things he needs to work on. And maybe you thought he should have learned on some of them.

 

So I don't say things like this very often, but on this one I'm going to.

 

On this goal, there's no grey area, there's no two ways to see it. Blaming Atkinson for this goal is complete and utter shite. It's nonsense. It's made up. You're seeing things to fit your agenda and you're flat, utterly wrong. STFU AND GTF.

 

[Pasquale for King]

Atkinson getting forward and actually having the quality of pass, cross and general movement s a big part of why we are creating more chances just now. The hankering for Smith, his poor forward play and continual back passing is a bit strange to be honest. Brophy scored the goal and was being poorly marked by Halkett, if there’s any blame going around it’s on him. 

[RobboM]

The second goal comes from Haring playing a loose ball into the box for the St M keeper to field. The clearance from their keeper and the two subsequent corners are straight from the training ground to capitalise on that loose ball. 😂
 

[Watt-Zeefuik]

6 minutes ago, RobboM said:

The second goal comes from Haring playing a loose ball into the box for the St M keeper to field. The clearance from their keeper and the two subsequent corners are straight from the training ground to capitalise on that loose ball. 😂
 

I blame Simms, he kicked the ball off at midfield after their first goal. GTF.