***Official Heart of Midlothian vs FC Zurich Match Thread - live on BBC Scotland ***

[Pasquale for King]

4 hours ago, J.T.F.Robertson said:

 

I've had a few, but Gino's strengths? He is no Boyle and I don't see him as a Messiah either. Maybe just me though.

 

Just lob the ball over the top for him. Something akin to his goals against Dundee United, it’s not rocket science. Would you rather have him or Boyce one on one with a GK?

[Joey J J Jr Shabadoo]

7 minutes ago, Pasquale for King said:

Just lob the ball over the top for him. Something akin to his goals against Dundee United, it’s not rocket science. Would you rather have him or Boyce one on one with a GK?

I definitely wouldn't want Ginelly in a one on one v the keeper. Look at the cup final v Celtic - missed both.

[Andyp1874]

Absolutely gutted at end result but honesty think the first half was one of the best we have played in years against a decent opposition. Just need to build on this and build on our squad. Never usually like this but am optimistic in defeat. 

[Martin_T]

5 hours ago, J.T.F.Robertson said:

 

What do you think would have been different had we got through tonight? Less pumpings?

 

Much more glamour and prestige. Hopefully we get a decent draw, but potentially the conference league could involve trips to far flung parts of Europe with no glamour.

 

Just really frustrating that we passed up such a glorious opportunity.

[gregzy2k7]

Right I didn't comment last night as I was too gutted and emotional after it, lol state that I am 🤣 

After having slept on it, while still gutted I'm feeling slightly better about the result and what it means for us.

 

OK firstly, I honesty thought we were excellent last night, especially up until the sending off, which pretty much killed our momentum, I feel like we really should have been 2 or possibly even 3 goals up in that first half in terms of our pressure and chances created, but as they say if you don't take your chances in football, especially at this level, you will get punished and of course we did late on, what it proves is we really CAN compete at home with a right good few European teams, the problem that we have, is quality in the final 3rd, we have good players who can do it at SPL level but when it comes to doing it against an experienced europa league team, we don't quite have the quality imo, all we needed yesterday was someone to finish that boyce chance and the Forrest chance and we would have won that game last night, last night has proved that we still need a couple of top end signings in the final 3rd who are able to score those chances (easier said than done of course) I thought we were solid throughout the 90 mins defensively and Devlin is an excellent midfielder, him and beni make a huge difference to us imo, whilst dissapointing, I don't feel we are quite ready for europa league groups and most probably would have been tanked off the better European teams, I think conference league, providing we get a decent group of course, might actually be better for us financially and of course results wise too. Suppose we will fins out today.

[Pasquale for King]

55 minutes ago, Joey J J Jr Shabadoo said:

I definitely wouldn't want Ginelly in a one on one v the keeper. Look at the cup final v Celtic - missed both.

Can you tell me one time Boyce has ever scored when one on one with the keeper? Most of Ginnellys goals are one on ones with the GK, at least he was there remind me what chances Boyce has had in two cup finals?

[Pasquale for King]

26 minutes ago, gregzy2k7 said:

Right I didn't comment last night as I was too gutted and emotional after it, lol state that I am 🤣 

After having slept on it, while still gutted I'm feeling slightly better about the result and what it means for us.

 

OK firstly, I honesty thought we were excellent last night, especially up until the sending off, which pretty much killed our momentum, I feel like we really should have been 2 or possibly even 3 goals up in that first half in terms of our pressure and chances created, but as they say if you don't take your chances in football, especially at this level, you will get punished and of course we did late on, what it proves is we really CAN compete at home with a right good few European teams, the problem that we have, is quality in the final 3rd, we have good players who can do it at SPL level but when it comes to doing it against an experienced europa league team, we don't quite have the quality imo, all we needed yesterday was someone to finish that boyce chance and the Forrest chance and we would have won that game last night, last night has proved that we still need a couple of top end signings in the final 3rd who are able to score those chances (easier said than done of course) I thought we were solid throughout the 90 mins defensively and Devlin is an excellent midfielder, him and beni make a huge difference to us imo, whilst dissapointing, I don't feel we are quite ready for europa league groups and most probably would have been tanked off the better European teams, I think conference league, providing we get a decent group of course, might actually be better for us financially and of course results wise too. Suppose we will fins out today.

Spot on 

[grumpyespana]

10 hours ago, Hearts1975 said:

The trailing leg did catch him

Not even up for debate

Have to agree BUT he was going down before the contact was made deffo a dive guys.

[Sertse]

Got back home at 2am, drove all the way up then all the way back down.

Frustrated at the result, we should have been out of sight in the first half. Boyce was extremely frustrating to watch, it's hard to believe he's a striker. Grant had a very good game until the red, honestly no idea what he was thinking. Devlin is unbelievable, challenging for every ball, very good player. Shankland looked like he was playing out of position. I don't want to see Sibbick in a jersey for us again, absolutely mince. Zurich fans put on an incredible display, something I hope we can emulate in our away games in future.

Overall, what an atmosphere but something just didn't click up at the attacking end. Something that really needs addressed sooner rather than later. We're almost there but still don't look the finished article.

[Snorri1]

Thought our first half performance last night was outstanding,  especially given the standard of opposition.  I think we made them look average for large parts of both games but ultimately they took three chances in a top level , clinical manner. All of their goals across the tie were excellent one touch finishes. We didn't have that. I feel that was the difference.  Still very encouraging and we should have a great season and hopefully compete in the ECL.

[il Duce McTarkin]

Thought that Zurich got their tactics spot on.

[Locky]

That was a first for me last night, walking out the second the ball hit the back of the net when the opposition went 1-0 up.

[Nookie Bear]

28 minutes ago, Dirk McClaymore said:

Thought that Zurich got their tactics spot on.

 

Not sure about that.

 

Had the roles been reversed would we have gone in at half time and thought Robbie had got it right? We should have been at least 2 up by then.

[Martin_T]

Zurich were there to be beaten in both games. Neilson and Craig Gordon both gave interviews after the 1st leg with quotes along the lines of, that we could have lost the tie in the 1st leg, but we couldn't win it. I disagree with this to be honest, if we'd gone on the front foot over in Zurich, we had a strong chance of winning that game, that would then mean that we weren't having to chase in the 2nd leg.

 

It's possible that Neilson got spooked by Dundee United's 7-0 loss in Alkmaar, and chose to play cautiously in Zurich on that basis.

 

The frustrating thing for me, is that we should and could have won that tie and it's deeply frustrating that we failed to do so.

Edited August 26, 2022 by Martin_T

[poultry]

What was the official attendance last night ?

[...andFulton'sBaggio]

3 hours ago, Carter said:

Fair chance they'll be out injured simultaneously. Which makes our failure to add to defence quite baffling. Although the reason we haven't added might be due to Neilson wanting to try and accommodate Halkett, Rowles, Kingsley & Cochrane. Add a quality RCB option and you create a conundrum. I don't see us addressing this area. 

How did Neilson do in the five minutes or whatever he got at Celtic Park?

[Thomaso]

11 hours ago, maltese jambo said:

Are you joking? Hope so, because Harings murder and has been for a while.

No I’m not joking - we were dominating the game until the red card.

As for you comment on Haring I agree

[Thomaso]

11 hours ago, Walter Bishop said:

Cochrane suspended aswell? 

🙈

[Thomaso]

11 hours ago, CostaJambo said:

Selection was fine but I expected him to take Boyce off for Halliday after Grant was sent off.

Maybe but we still had to win the game 🤷‍♂️

[Thomaso]

1 hour ago, Dirk McClaymore said:

Thought that Zurich got their tactics spot on.

Are you serious? They were all over the shop in the first half and only won the game due to our poor finishing and red card!

Edited August 26, 2022 by Thomaso

[chrystaf]

1 hour ago, Nookie Bear said:

 

Not sure about that.

 

Had the roles been reversed would we have gone in at half time and thought Robbie had got it right? We should have been at least 2 up by then.

But we weren't.  We lack that cutting edge at this level.  They were happy to let us have the ball in the first half then went on the offensive in the second. Tactically they got it right.  

[chrystaf]

Laying aside the disappointment of loosing the tie (and failing to score) and the financial implications, this could be a blessing in disguise.

IMO we are no where near ready for the Europa League and would have suffered a series of confidence sapping defeats.

No, it wouldn't be a learning curve, that will come in the conference League, which at the moment, I suspect will be marginally above the level we are at.

[Nookie Bear]

7 minutes ago, chrystaf said:

But we weren't.  We lack that cutting edge at this level.  They were happy to let us have the ball in the first half then went on the offensive in the second. Tactically they got it right.  

 

No way were they happy to let us have that kind of dominance. It was like us defending against celtic.

[chrystaf]

1 hour ago, poultry said:

What was the official attendance last night ?

17,000.  Down I suspect due to the gap needed between us and them.  Lots of empty seats.

[JimmyCant]

4 hours ago, Ernie Eskilsson said:

Devlin played well, Grant was ok until the red but Boyce was horrendous and my point was that the balance was wrong.  They adjusted at half time to take advantage of it. 

Even before the red I thought Gnanto was giving us real problems. We had been very comfortable up to then and suddenly we had to withdraw the full backs which meant Mackay fell out the game as he wasn’t getting the passes into him he had been getting.

 

So close last night. Boyce chances fall to Shanks and I believe we’d be through. Even 1 goal in the first half and I think they would have crumbled. The red card sealed our fate, you could see it in the body language straight away and it killed the crowd too. We can’t really argue with it with it either. Any tackle from behind in Europe is almost always a yellow and the dive was just plain silly.

Edited August 26, 2022 by JimmyCant

[Midloth_Iain]

 

[poultry]

36 minutes ago, chrystaf said:

17,000.  Down I suspect due to the gap needed between us and them.  Lots of empty seats.

👍

[Chuck Berry]

I actually witnessed someone walk from the rear rows of the Roseburn heading out with a few mins left, and once he got to the exit he threw his scarf towards the pitch in disgust.   Who are these utter roasters and what are they expecting?

[haj]

1 minute ago, Chuck Berry said:

I actually witnessed someone walk from the rear rows of the Roseburn heading out with a few mins left, and once he got to the exit he threw his scarf towards the pitch in disgust.   Who are these utter roasters and what are they expecting?

There was a few last night. Would be funny if it wasn’t so *** tragic.

[Chuck Berry]

4 minutes ago, haj said:

There was a few last night. Would be funny if it wasn’t so *** tragic.

 

I kinda just looked in disbelief and wondered WTF was going through his head.

[Bindy Badgy]

1 hour ago, JimmyCant said:

The red card sealed our fate, you could see it in the body language straight away

 

This is an issue. Top teams will find a way to come back after losing men. Obviously, we aren't going to get the most gifted players on the market but, we should be able to instill a never say die attitude.

[1971fozzy]

2 hours ago, Martin_T said:

Zurich were there to be beaten in both games. Neilson and Craig Gordon both gave interviews after the 1st leg with quotes along the lines of, that we could have lost the tie in the 1st leg, but we couldn't win it. I disagree with this to be honest, if we'd gone on the front foot over in Zurich, we had a strong chance of winning that game, that would then mean that we weren't having to chase in the 2nd leg.

 

It's possible that Neilson got spooked by Dundee United's 7-0 loss in Alkmaar, and chose to play cautiously in Zurich on that basis.

 

The frustrating thing for me, is that we should and could have won that tie and it's deeply frustrating that we failed to do so.

for me Halkett going off was the key. If he stays on we don’t lose these 2 goals (not in that manner).

Then the Grant sending off and some poor finishing in the first half.

Most things that could of gone wrong did unfortunately. 
But we now gear up for the conference groups and that’s still brilliant. Dust off the disappointment next few days and go again

[PortyBeach]

1 hour ago, Midloth_Iain said:

 

I’ve seen more blatant simulation. Hibs’ Boyle is a good example.

Colak’s penalty award in the Hibs v TRFC is a good example of a blatant dive much more heinous than Grant’s.

No booking of course for the Ibrox player and penalty awarded. 

[1971fozzy]

1 minute ago, PortyBeach said:

I’ve seen more blatant simulation. Hibs’ Boyle is a good example.

Colak’s penalty award in the Hibs v TRFC is a good example of a blatant dive much more heinous than Grant’s.

No booking of course for the Ibrox player and penalty awarded. 

Boyle will be finished as soon as VAR comes in. Half his game is speed, the other half is cheating.

[CostaJambo]

2 hours ago, Thomaso said:

Maybe but we still had to win the game 🤷‍♂️

Boycie could've played all night and he still wouldn't have scored.

[RudiSkacel51]

Guy last night screaming at the top of his lungs for the FC Zurich fans to "get back to the Vatican" now does FC Zurich have catholic ties and he was being a bit of a bigot or was he just really bad at geography?

[OTT]

58 minutes ago, RudiSkacel51 said:

Guy last night screaming at the top of his lungs for the FC Zurich fans to "get back to the Vatican" now does FC Zurich have catholic ties and he was being a bit of a bigot or was he just really bad at geography?

 

Maybe something to do with the swiss guards that protect the pope?

 

 

[kingantti1874]

3 hours ago, chrystaf said:

But we weren't.  We lack that cutting edge at this level.  They were happy to let us have the ball in the first half then went on the offensive in the second. Tactically they got it right.  

Na, they went on the off serve when we were done to 10 and we couldn’t get high enough up the pitch.

 

we are a better side and beat them 9 times out of 10

[Pasquale for King]

Anyone else see the Nevio Scala lookalike with the Zurich hoodie n scarf on in the main stand last night, saw him on the way out. Not sure if he was with the travelling party but a bit bizarre tbh. 

[Pasquale for King]

9 minutes ago, OTT said:

 

Maybe something to do with the swiss guards that protect the pope?

 

 

Jose Goncalves would shield him better. 

[Pasquale for King]

1 hour ago, RudiSkacel51 said:

Guy last night screaming at the top of his lungs for the FC Zurich fans to "get back to the Vatican" now does FC Zurich have catholic ties and he was being a bit of a bigot or was he just really bad at geography?

Probably the same guy shouting about Nazi gold 🤦🏽

[TorinoJambo]

9 minutes ago, OTT said:

 

Maybe something to do with the swiss guards that protect the pope?

 

 

Switzerland is mainly protestant (Calvin, Zwingli etc) but there are Catholics. The Swiss Guards are recruited from that part of the population. 

[The Old Tolbooth]

2 hours ago, Chuck Berry said:

I actually witnessed someone walk from the rear rows of the Roseburn heading out with a few mins left, and once he got to the exit he threw his scarf towards the pitch in disgust.   Who are these utter roasters and what are they expecting?

 

It was embarrassing hearing grown men shouting outside the ground words like "Embarrassing" and "Shite", it makes me wonder if these guys actually know anything about football at all. 

[RudiSkacel51]

16 minutes ago, OTT said:

 

Maybe something to do with the swiss guards that protect the pope?

 

 

Ah maybe, it's always funny to decipher these maniacs ramblings, I like the idea that the pope gave them the day off for an away day.

[avhudtheteeshirt]

Just checked their bookings last night, Rhoner who scored their goal, ran and celebrated hugging their fans yet no booking?

The ref let them away with murder the whole game with their theatrics and diving yet never thought about booking them, or even talking to them???

If we were away from home, i would have said he was a homer, but as we were at home, I think he had read our weekend report from Parkhead and decided that our every challenge was a foul and a booking!!!!

[Chuck Berry]

11 minutes ago, The Old Tolbooth said:

 

It was embarrassing hearing grown men shouting outside the ground words like "Embarrassing" and "Shite", it makes me wonder if these guys actually know anything about football at all. 

 

There's a maniac that sits a few rows behind me shouts this all the time.  Last week it started exactly 90 second after Shankland scored after 41 seconds.  He's going to end up with a sore face at some point.

[Pasquale for King]

5 minutes ago, avhudtheteeshirt said:

Just checked their bookings last night, Rhoner who scored their goal, ran and celebrated hugging their fans yet no booking?

The ref let them away with murder the whole game with their theatrics and diving yet never thought about booking them, or even talking to them???

If we were away from home, i would have said he was a homer, but as we were at home, I think he had read our weekend report from Parkhead and decided that our every challenge was a foul and a booking!!!!

I think someone said yesterday that running into fans isn’t a booking anymore, you’re right though they had at least two dives that didn’t receive booking and number 20 had three fouls after an early warning without a booking. 

[PortyBeach]

19 minutes ago, TorinoJambo said:

Switzerland is mainly protestant (Calvin, Zwingli etc) but there are Catholics. The Swiss Guards are recruited from that part of the population. 

From Wiki…

”Religion in Switzerland is predominantly Christianity, which, according to the national survey of the Swiss Federal Statistical Office,^[a] in 2020 was adhered to by 61.2% of resident population (aged fifteen years and older), of whom 33.8% were Catholics, 21.8% were Swiss Protestants, and 5.6% were followers of other Christian denominations.”

Not that these stats help fathom the Vatican comment 🫤

[Pasquale for King]

4 minutes ago, PortyBeach said:

From Wiki…

”Religion in Switzerland is predominantly Christianity, which, according to the national survey of the Swiss Federal Statistical Office,^[a] in 2020 was adhered to by 61.2% of resident population (aged fifteen years and older), of whom 33.8% were Catholics, 21.8% were Swiss Protestants, and 5.6% were followers of other Christian denominations.”

Not that these stats help fathom the Vatican comment 🫤

Don’t tell them that this 😆.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/catholicism-set-to-become-most-popular-religion-in-scotland-1438657

[Ex member of the SaS]

10 hours ago, Pasquale for King said:

Just lob the ball over the top for him. Something akin to his goals against Dundee United, it’s not rocket science. Would you rather have him or Boyce one on one with a GK?

This is something I have been moaning about for a while. As great as Craig is he ALWAYS passes the ball out to the defense. In the Celtic game it was kicked out and we gave them a game. Too many times in most games we waste time passing the ball back and forth across the field. Last night we need one ( two really ) goals and we pissed about with pointless passes. Not suggesting route one every time but hey try and mix it a bit and keep them guessing.