***Official FC Zurich v Heart of Midlothian ko 18:00 - Match Thread***

[tartofmidlothian]

1-1 on Thursday, possibly 2-1 to them. Then 3-0 or 3-1 to us at home.

 

Based on nothing much at all. They have a decent squad with a few internationals, but it doesn't look like their season's going great so far. I don't think we'll be very adventurous away, but we will at home.

[tartofmidlothian]

24 minutes ago, indianajones said:

Wonder what Hibs are doing on Thursday night? 

 

 

Watching us on the telly, of course.

[Seaside Dave]

1 minute ago, tartofmidlothian said:

 

Watching us on the telly, of course.

Praying we lose so they can have a good night. Even though they just lost to livi and won the Derby 1_1

[Horatio Caine]

29 minutes ago, indianajones said:

Wonder what Hibs are doing on Thursday night? 

 

Ask their sisters

[The Real Maroonblood]

8 hours ago, 1971fozzy said:

Boyce will start and rightly so

This.

[Lord Beni of Gorgie]

Suspect we may move to 3 at the back for this one, nothing wrong with simply looking to manage the game, that doesn't mean sitting back, a balance of denying them space whilst looking to transition smoothly.

[Lord Beni of Gorgie]

The form line is through Qarabag, who are actually a decent team. They comfortably beat Aberdeen, but only narrowly beat Zurich before pumping another team last week. Suggests to me Zurich will be pretty similar to us in level of player

[hmfc_liam06]

15 hours ago, CloustonHMFC said:

If Kingsley starts we’re definitely going back to a back 3. I’m not saying we should but that’s 100% what will happen.  Take Devlin out and put Cochrane and it’ll be the team. 

 

Absolutely no chance 😂

[hmfc_liam06]

Gordon

 

Halkett

Rowles

Kingsley

 

Atkinson

Cochrane

Devlin

Haring

 

McKay

Forrest

Shankland

[Ribble]

17 minutes ago, hmfc_liam06 said:

Gordon

 

Halkett

Rowles

Kingsley

 

Atkinson

Cochrane

Devlin

Haring

 

McKay

Forrest

Shankland

 

This'll be the team unless Kinsley isn't quite ready to start in which case it'll be 4 at the back with Smith preferred to Atkinson and Grant coming in at 10

[Juho_Makela_Goal_Machine]

Gordon

Halkett Kingsley Rowles

Smith                              Cochrane

Haring Grant

Forrest Shankland Mckay

[hmfc_liam06]

5 minutes ago, Ribble said:

 

This'll be the team unless Kinsley isn't quite ready to start in which case it'll be 4 at the back with Smith preferred to Atkinson and Grant coming in at 10

 

Agree with that as well, Kingsley looked fit enough yesterday though. Although I could see Smith starting at RWB too if he wants to go more defensively sound.

[briever]

Kingsley is just as comfortable in a back 4 - it would be madness for us to play a back three out there.

[DC_92]

We're playing a team with pace up front. Halkett's defending against Youan in the 95th minute shows why he isn't a wide CB and we also lose something by not playing him in the centre.

 

A lack of trustworthy RCB options will see us play a 4 imo. Could play Smith there but that means playing Atkinson and I'm not sure he's trusted either for a game like this.

[N Lincs Jambo]

16 hours ago, OTT said:

Haring ahead of Boyce. Absolutely. 

 

I'd use Boyce as an alternative for Shankland going forward. I think his confidence seems low, plus he's 2nd to every ball and those that he isn't 2nd to usually ends up in his next touch being a tackle. 

 

Gordon

Smith Halkett Rowles Kingsley

Haring Devlin

McKay Grant Forrest

Shankland

Brutal to drop Cochrane but Kinglsey's experience is needed here.

 

After yesterday this is the team I would go for. Haring in to solidify the defensive midfield with Grant in the no 10 role. Cochrane took a knock yesterday and we were able to bring Kingsley back in. Don't know if Kingsley will be able to do the 90 though.

[PapaShango]

Hopefully we don’t try and get a 0-0 play to our strengths and take the chances we will make and we have a great chance of getting through. We are quick on the break and need big games against from the likes of McKay and Shankland. These are the games players came to Hearts for.

[chrisyboy7]

2 hours ago, hmfc_liam06 said:

Gordon

 

Halkett

Rowles

Kingsley

 

Atkinson

Cochrane

Devlin

Haring

 

McKay

Forrest

Shankland

No Grant?

[Ferryjambo99]

Europa league website now has a squad list for us. 

 

https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/match/2035495--zurich-vs-hearts/lineups/

[Chong]

Just a reminder for those heading over for the game, if you decide to attend the yodelling contest, please form an orderly orderly orderly orderly queue.

[luckydug]

1 hour ago, Chong said:

Just a reminder for those heading over for the game, if you decide to attend the yodelling contest, please form an orderly orderly orderly orderly queue.

👏👏 Take a bow 😁

[1953]

1 hour ago, Chong said:

Just a reminder for those heading over for the game, if you decide to attend the yodelling contest, please form an orderly orderly orderly orderly queue.

🤣👍

[1953]

No idea how this one will go so please can we still be in the tie at the final whistle. If we manage that Tynecastle will be rocking the week after.

[TheGrorgieBoys]

Hi Guys. I have a spare ticket for Thursday night if anyone is needing one PM me 👍.

[Martin_T]

This is a highlight reel of Willy Gnonto, Italian international, who is probably Zurich's best player. Looks to be very quick and skillful.

 

 

[Lord Beni of Gorgie]

51 minutes ago, Martin_T said:

This is a highlight reel of Willy Gnonto, Italian international, who is probably Zurich's best player. Looks to be very quick and skillful.

 

 

Agreed personal terms with Leeds today, waiting on a fee to be agreed according to Gazzetto Del Sport

[wavydavy]

2 minutes ago, Lord Beni of Gorgie said:

Agreed personal terms with Leeds today, waiting on a fee to be agreed according to Gazzetto Del Sport

 

http://sportwitness.co.uk/leeds-negotiating-striker-signing-agreement-player-essentially-club-want-e8-10m/

[Uncle Buck]

I think Haring and Atkinson didn’t start yesterday as they will start Thursday. And I reckon Forrest will be the one to drop out for Kingsley, which is pretty harsh.

 

                        Gordon

           Halkett Rowles Kingsley

   Atkinson Haring Grant Cochrane

          Boyce Shankland McKay

 

Reckon we could sneak a draw and beat them at Tynecastle.

[Unknown user]

1 hour ago, Martin_T said:

This is a highlight reel of Willy Gnonto, Italian international, who is probably Zurich's best player. Looks to be very quick and skillful.

 

 

 

Good reminder of the level we're up against though, Leeds are in for their £10m rated, 18 year old striker.

 

Not trying to be pessimistic, but this'll be a big deal if we win this time I reckon 

[Mr Sifter]

Highlights from Zurich’s game yesterday. 
 

 

[jambopilms]

I know the sources are probably wildly inaccurate anyway....

Transfer market has their squad valued at 38m and ours at 11.5m

Capology.com has their wage bill at almost twice ours.

Might be an indicator of what we are up against.

By comparison Celtic and Rangers are nearly 5x our wage bill and Celtic squad rated at 90m

[Pasquale for King]

5 minutes ago, Mr Sifter said:

Highlights from Zurich’s game yesterday. 
 

 

GK looks a bit dodgy at judging balls in behind, might be able to press them into mistakes at the back. 

[karipidis]

6 hours ago, briever said:

Kingsley is just as comfortable in a back 4 - it would be madness for us to play a back three out there.

Why would it be madness?

[briever]

7 minutes ago, karipidis said:

Why would it be madness?

 

Because we always get overrun in the midfield and we'll spend game desperately defending.

[Lord Beni of Gorgie]

Maybe best not to score until very late, they only seemed to play from 1 down

[briever]

 

Not the best start for the nazi gold hiders.

[Bazzas right boot]

No idea Tbh. 

 

I think us playing away might suit us more,  usually these teams are fast on the counter and pounce on mistakes. 

We'll be a bit more compact away and play on the counter so less chance of that. 

 

Close game,  2-1 them. 

 

In Europe you can't give the ball away cheaply,  you must keep hold of it and we aren't great at that v the better teams (OF). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HoGwash]

1 hour ago, briever said:

 

Because we always get overrun in the midfield and we'll spend game desperately defending.

Strange. We played it for the vast majority of last season and I seem to remember us finishing 3rd by a mile. Very lucky if we were getting overrun every game.

[merrymac]

8 hours ago, DC_92 said:

We're playing a team with pace up front. Halkett's defending against Youan in the 95th minute shows why he isn't a wide CB and we also lose something by not playing him in the centre.

 

A lack of trustworthy RCB options will see us play a 4 imo. Could play Smith there but that means playing Atkinson and I'm not sure he's trusted either for a game like this.

Agree with this. Surprised at how many have Halkett on the right of a three, you are taking one of our strongest players and putting him where he is less effective.

Would be surprised if we do that.

[Victor Meldrew]

Spur of the moment decision to take my son. Flights and hotel sorted - sadly couldn't get tickets through HMFC (haven't been to Tynecastle for a few years) but got them very easily direct from FCZ. Not in the Hearts section, but right up against it in, in C6. Interestingly, the seats sold in that section seem to be up against the visitors' end so I suspect there may be others in my position doing the same.

 

Really looking forward to it - my first European trip since Slavia Prague in 1992!

 

1-0 to the Famous!

Edited August 15, 2022 by Victor Meldrew

[gov]

Interesting read on their forum...saddo I am, I Google translated the comments about playing us. One says we have a nice UK ground, one thinks we will win and the rest expect "standard UK football" with long balls and no technical play 

[JimmyCant]

2 hours ago, briever said:

 

Because we always get overrun in the midfield and we'll spend game desperately defending.

I think we’ll go 5-3-2

 

Gordon

 

Smith

Halkett

Rowles

Kingsley

Cochrane

 

Haring

Devlin

Grant

 

Mackay

Shankland

[Gershwin]

5 minutes ago, gov said:

Interesting read on their forum...saddo I am, I Google translated the comments about playing us. One says we have a nice UK ground, one thinks we will win and the rest expect "standard UK football" with long balls and no technical play 

Have they been scouting Hibs? 

[TheGrorgieBoys]

24 minutes ago, Victor Meldrew said:

Spur of the moment decision to take my son. Flights and hotel sorted - sadly couldn't get tickets through HMFC (haven't been to Tynecastle for a few years) but got them very easily direct from FCZ. Not in the Hearts section, but right up against it in, in C6. Interestingly, the seats sold in that section seem to be up against the visitors' end so I suspect there may be others in my position doing the same.

 

Really looking forward to it - my first European trip since Slavia Prague in 1992!

 

1-0 to the Famous!

I can give you a ticket as I have a spare and have ref numbers for another 1. Drop me a PM if interested. 

[Watt-Zeefuik]

3 hours ago, jambopilms said:

I know the sources are probably wildly inaccurate anyway....

Transfer market has their squad valued at 38m and ours at 11.5m

Capology.com has their wage bill at almost twice ours.

Might be an indicator of what we are up against.

By comparison Celtic and Rangers are nearly 5x our wage bill and Celtic squad rated at 90m

 

Also, in 2020 we got dumped to the bottom of the table by a bunch of clubs with 30-40% of our wage bill. It's obviously nice to have a bigger wage bill but a factor of 2 is the kind that can be easily overcome with good signings and good team chemistry (or, conversely, squandered with the opposite).

 

[Watt-Zeefuik]

In terms of lineups, Boyce came off early yesterday so he'll be fresher. I think he starts this one and Grant comes off the bench, with Haring and Devlin starting in the middle.

 

I would normally favor the 3-4-3 for this but it's hard to figure where to put Rowles, Halkett, and Kingsley along the back line. Halkett is so much better in the center of the back 3 but I don't think you want either Rowles or Kings on the right. Until someone shows some steadiness over on the right CH side it's hard to see past the 4-2-3-1. Our 3-4-3 is a bit hobbled until we fix that.

[jambopilms]

13 minutes ago, Led Tasso said:

 

Also, in 2020 we got dumped to the bottom of the table by a bunch of clubs with 30-40% of our wage bill. It's obviously nice to have a bigger wage bill but a factor of 2 is the kind that can be easily overcome with good signings and good team chemistry (or, conversely, squandered with the opposite).

 

True and if the numbers are anything to go by we are twice as likely to beat them than rangers or Celtic.

[frankblack]

They are big favourites.  We need to keep the tie alive for the home leg.

 

I'm extremely frustrated with our lack of procurement and worry it will bite us in the ass here.

[Marvin]

11 hours ago, indianajones said:

Wonder what Hibs are doing on Thursday night? 

 

 

They'll be busy buying DVDs of their famous 1-1 draw.

[BervieJambo]

I think we will go with experience - I wouldn’t be surprised to see Halliday & GMS starting with the likes of Cochrane & Devlin dropping to the bench.

 

Gordon

 

Smith

Halkett

Rowles

Kingsley

 

Haring

Halliday

 

Mckay

Boyce

GMS

 

Shankland

 

It’s important that we don’t give away possession the way we have done over the last few games. We were punished by Hibs for it - goodness knows what a decent team would do to us.

[Jeff]

Anyone know anywhere showing the game in Costa Adeje?