*** Offishul Hearts v Celtic October 22nd match thread ***

[No Idle Talk]

6 minutes ago, Nelly Terraces said:

Yeah, imagine fans being pissed off their team loses an inordinate amount of football matches eh. 

Whatever next?  

 

If you exclude defeats to the Old Firm, Fiorentina, and Basaksehir, - teams we would be doing extremely well to get any kind of result against - we are hardly losing an "inordinate" amount of matches. 

[Nelly Terraces]

9 minutes ago, No Idle Talk said:

 

If you exclude defeats to the Old Firm, Fiorentina, and Basaksehir, - teams we would be doing extremely well to get any kind of result against - we are hardly losing an "inordinate" amount of matches. 

I’d honestly advise going to see someone about your memory mate, seeing how you’ve managed to forget loses to teams such as Livingston & Kilmarnock. Genuinely, getting forgetful could possibly be a sign of a bigger problem.

 

Cheers. 

[Drumjambo]

23 minutes ago, mellors1874 said:

Was referring to the the other ones mooy will probably have more medals than our players by the season end.

 

No doubt as we tamely surrendered yet another chance of progression in the league cup to killie 

[Eddie]

25 minutes ago, Nelly Terraces said:

I’d honestly advise going to see someone about your memory mate, seeing how you’ve managed to forget loses to teams such as Livingston & Kilmarnock. Genuinely, getting forgetful could possibly be a sign of a bigger problem.

 

Cheers. 

Add a sheep team who just got battered 4-0 the week before!  

[Harry Potter]

58 minutes ago, Nelly Terraces said:

Yeah, imagine fans being pissed off their team loses an inordinate amount of football matches eh. 

Whatever next?  

Aye we should be doing hand stands when we lose, wi my back not a good idea😒.

[No Idle Talk]

29 minutes ago, Nelly Terraces said:

I’d honestly advise going to see someone about your memory mate, seeing how you’ve managed to forget loses to teams such as Livingston & Kilmarnock. Genuinely, getting forgetful could possibly be a sign of a bigger problem.

 

Cheers. 

 

I have forgotten neither of those.

 

In the midst of a chronic injury crisis we have lost three matches(excluding the Old Firm) domestically this season. Not ideal, granted. But also not an "inordinate" amount of defeats.

 

Until we get a few more players back from injury I think we all need to be realistic and accept that results might not be what we would usually demand or expect from the team. 

[Hectormasson]

52 minutes ago, Drumjambo said:

 

No doubt as we tamely surrendered yet another chance of progression in the league cup to killie 

f...k sake no them again ?     every time we meet them theres problems for us !

[fila]

12 hours ago, Bazzas right boot said:

 

 

You surely mean get beat by less?

 

You want us beat by more than 3 goals, if so- why?

Yeah , meant keeping to less than 3 ! Fingers crossed 

[New Town Loafer]

2-1 to the good guys.

[The Black Prince]

13 hours ago, Drumjambo said:

 

Not to be pedantic but Mooy has won an Australian championship as a bairn nowt else 

Plenty of excellent players never won anything. Mooy is quality and has to be watched closely. Everything goes through him.

[Bongo 1874]

Amazing to think we have only got 1 league win, since the end of August.

 

Cmon Lads leave it all out there today.

[DxB Hearts]

 

 

Struggling to find any reasoning as to how we will win this to be honest. Really hope I'm wrong but I can only see a 3+ nil game.

[Tenor]

9 minutes ago, DxB Hearts said:

 

 

Struggling to find any reasoning as to how we will win this to be honest. Really hope I'm wrong but I can only see a 3+ nil game.

 

It certainly looks grim, but to give those results a bit more context: out of the 14 losses, 10 were against the Old Firm and European teams.

[DxB Hearts]

4 minutes ago, Tenor said:

 

It certainly looks grim, but to give those results a bit more context: out of the 14 losses, 10 were against the Old Firm and European teams.

 

I agree but unfortunately we're playing against Celtic 😅  

[Sooks]

19 hours ago, i8hibsh said:

 

 

May revert to 'Jobbie' then

Revert ? When did you stop being Jobbie ?

[Tenor]

1 hour ago, DxB Hearts said:

 

I agree but unfortunately we're playing against Celtic 😅  

This is also true 😅

[TheBigO]

23 hours ago, i8hibsh said:

We will lose of course, and heavily at that, but no matter how poorly we play and how many goals we concede, the jobs of Neilson and his two nomarks are safe.

 

What a truly unhealthy environment we have built, and one not suited for professional sport. 

My big question. Where you been?

 

Where were you last season? Barely seen your name on here.

 

But now youre all over the terrace. Funny, eh.

[Debut 4]

1 hour ago, Tenor said:

 

It certainly looks grim, but to give those results a bit more context: out of the 14 losses, 10 were against the Old Firm and European teams.

But failed to beat non OF 6 times out that series of results. 
 

Anyway, hopefully it’s one of those left field Hearts specials today. 🇱🇻🙂

[Sooks]

Not looking forward to this one . No easier than Fiorentina unfortunately . Brutal having this as the game we need to try and bounce back with , that was and should have been Aberdeen , and aside from some pitiful finishing would have been . It was such a wasted opportunity to get a little positive momentum , but we ****ed it up and now we have to play the best team in the league with their £ 50 million plus squad ………….. it is what it is 

 

We have already had our once in a decade win against them though , and our defence is basically any one who turns up with their boots 

 

Extended run in the Shed after three o clock for me , I suspect 

[Bazzas right boot]

1 hour ago, Tenor said:

 

It certainly looks grim, but to give those results a bit more context: out of the 14 losses, 10 were against the Old Firm and European teams.

 

1 hour ago, DxB Hearts said:

 

I agree but unfortunately we're playing against Celtic 😅  

 

 

Both true.

 

Might need to it wait until after this for our form to pick up, but you never know!

[Bazzas right boot]

3 minutes ago, Sooks said:

Not looking forward to this one . No easier than Fiorentina unfortunately . Brutal having this as the game we need to try and bounce back with , that was and should have been Aberdeen , and aside from some pitiful finishing would have been . It was such a wasted opportunity to get a little positive momentum , but we ****ed it up and now we have to play the best team in the league with their £ 50 million plus squad ………….. it is what it is 

 

We have already had our once in a decade win against them though , and our defence is basically any one who turns up with their boots 

 

Extended run in the Shed after three o clock for me , I suspect 

 

Dunno, I'm looking forward to the back shift on here.

 

[theshed]

2 hours ago, DxB Hearts said:

 

 

Struggling to find any reasoning as to how we will win this to be honest. Really hope I'm wrong but I can only see a 3+ nil game.

looking at that is really shocking. 
Looking at some of the wins on there and they could easily have been loses. 
 

Motherwell we rode our luck and St.Johnstone we got lucky getting a pen or that could have looked a lot worse 

 

God, even the Ross county game we could have been dead and buried at half time. 
 

[TheBigO]

2 minutes ago, Sooks said:

Not looking forward to this one . No easier than Fiorentina unfortunately . Brutal having this as the game we need to try and bounce back with , that was and should have been Aberdeen , and aside from some pitiful finishing would have been . It was such a wasted opportunity to get a little positive momentum , but we ****ed it up and now we have to play the best team in the league with their £ 50 million plus squad ………….. it is what it is 

 

We have already had our once in a decade win against them though , and our defence is basically any one who turns up with their boots 

 

Extended run in the Shed after three o clock for me , I suspect 

Thing is tho mate even if we lose and other results go against us (ie Aberdeen win), the worst case is 5 points off 3rd. And we'll be the only ones to have played the OF three times, only ones to have had euro games, plus the injury crisis.

 

At the start of this run of fixtures starting Sept, i said if we make it to end of Oct within 2 results of 3rd, we'll be fine. I think most likely we'll be 3 points off come this evening.

 

Important bit is we beat Ross Co next week.

[Sooks]

6 minutes ago, TheBigO said:

Thing is tho mate even if we lose and other results go against us (ie Aberdeen win), the worst case is 5 points off 3rd. And we'll be the only ones to have played the OF three times, only ones to have had euro games, plus the injury crisis.

 

At the start of this run of fixtures starting Sept, i said if we make it to end of Oct within 2 results of 3rd, we'll be fine. I think most likely we'll be 3 points off come this evening.

 

Important bit is we beat Ross Co next week.

I agree , but sadly that sort of perspective will be thin on the ground , immediately afterwards . Hibs attacked them and essentially played with three forwards . They got torn to ribbons . Neilson could try and do the same and lose equally heavily , but I suspect he is more likely to try and contain them for the first half and then nick a goal ……………. with the players we have missing I just can not see us getting any thing with either approach . Needs to be our best performance of the season and we need them to have a bad game .

 

I share your objectivity though , as there are other things to be taken in to account in this bad run . Some will refuse to allow this to be mentioned though 

 

 

Edited October 22, 2022 by Sooks

[Bazzas right boot]

12 minutes ago, theshed said:

looking at that is really shocking. 
Looking at some of the wins on there and they could easily have been loses. 
 

Motherwell we rode our luck and St.Johnstone we got lucky getting a pen or that could have looked a lot worse 

 

God, even the Ross county game we could have been dead and buried at half time. 
 

 

Ffs, lose and were shite, win and we are lucky.

This place. 

 

[S Form]

I’d like to see a bit more resilience in midfield for this one with Devlin, Grant/Snodgrass and Kio in there. Both McKay and Forrest are too lightweight for these games. As soon as I heard they were in against the Huns I knew we were in for a cuffing. We can probably afford the luxury of having one of them play, but having both would be suicidal - again.

[PapaShango]

2 minutes ago, S Form said:

I’d like to see a bit more resilience in midfield for this one with Devlin, Grant/Snodgrass and Kio in there. Both McKay and Forrest are too lightweight for these games. As soon as I heard they were in against the Huns I knew we were in for a cuffing. We can probably afford the luxury of having one of them play, but having both would be suicidal - again.

Agree I would leave McKay out for this one he offers nothing going back the way and has been a passenger for weeks. I would play Connor Smith today he has a bit of bite to him and can actually retain possession.

[soonbe110]

2 minutes ago, PapaShango said:

Agree I would leave McKay out for this one he offers nothing going back the way and has been a passenger for weeks. I would play Connor Smith today he has a bit of bite to him and can actually retain possession.

If he leaves McKay out and we lose he will be accused of being defensive and sitting in against them.  Can’t win either way.  Just needs to pick the best team he can with the intention of having a go at them. 

[ShedBoy]

Craig Gordon to have the game of his life.

 

A worldie from Barrie McKay.

 

1 zip to the JTs

[alicante jambo]

38 minutes ago, theshed said:

looking at that is really shocking. 
Looking at some of the wins on there and they could easily have been loses. 
 

Motherwell we rode our luck and St.Johnstone we got lucky getting a pen or that could have looked a lot worse 

 

God, even the Ross county game we could have been dead and buried at half time. 
 

Chill man. We are still in the hunt for 3rd. Not been great at all this season yet 3 points off third and half a team out injured. Season is panning out as most thought celtic and rangers above the rest. All tight fi bottom to 3rd. Loads of ifs and buts in football but at the end of the day we scored more goals the ross county and the other 2 teams. Will be leaving for the bus in half an hour not expecting anything other than a doing but if we get hammered posession wise, shots on and off target wise but we sneak that winning goal im sure you would take that all day long. Come on lets get behind the boys and no be thinking of what could have been. Mon the the jambos.

[pettigrewsstylist]

2 hours ago, Tenor said:

 

It certainly looks grim, but to give those results a bit more context: out of the 14 losses, 10 were against the Old Firm and European teams.

Thats alright then, we have no aspirations. 

[Bazzas right boot]

14 minutes ago, PapaShango said:

Agree I would leave McKay out for this one he offers nothing going back the way and has been a passenger for weeks. I would play Connor Smith today he has a bit of bite to him and can actually retain possession.

 

Mckay works really hard, he's been a bit off form ( imo he misses Boyce the most), but to call him a passenger is way ott.

He's also still creating chances. 

 

For today,  I'd drop Shankland and Mckay and go more direct through Gino and Humphries. 

 

 

Edited October 22, 2022 by Bazzas right boot

[Eddie]

The way we are just now, not worth having McKay starting, he’s offered hee haw recently, looking for players to battle, sprint, close down. He ain’t the man for this job. But who else we got? I’m on the pints the now to dull the pain of what’s to come 

[alicante jambo]

Looking forward to humphries and carter vickers battling it out today.

[Rocky jamboa]

Can see Robbie setting up with this being a damage limitation exercise!

 

If we sit back deep and defend it will be a cricket score. We need to have a bit belief. Play higher up the park, get stuck in and close them down quickly. Don't give them any time on the ball.

 

We're dangerous going forward so more than capable of nicking a goal or two. 

[alicante jambo]

Just now, Eddie said:

The way we are just now, not worth having McKay starting, he’s offered hee haw recently, looking for players to battle, sprint, close down. He ain’t the man for this job. But who else we got? I’m on the pints the now to dull the pain of what’s to come 

If we win them early pints will have been worth it. 

[kingantti1874]

51 minutes ago, theshed said:

looking at that is really shocking. 
Looking at some of the wins on there and they could easily have been loses. 
 

Motherwell we rode our luck and St.Johnstone we got lucky getting a pen or that could have looked a lot worse 

 

God, even the Ross county game we could have been dead and buried at half time. 
 

But we should have beat Aberdeen.  We were the better side created the better chances.

 

We should have beaten Killie, we were the better side and had the better chances 

 

We should have beaten hibs, we were the better side and had the better chances.

 

At a minimum we win all 3 of these games with a full team (in fact not just a full team - a team with an actual defence)  if not some others.

 

You Cannot simply discount the horrendous number of injuries we have. We have no defence.  We are play a left back, a 21 year old wing back and a 19 year old centre back.  

As well as the defensive problems we are missing out best midfielder and Boyce.

 

Robbie has also underperformed IMO in some games and is due criticism.  But you can’t SIMPLY pick some games and go “ah but”

 

the real problem is IMO.  We have not recruited well enough 

Edited October 22, 2022 by kingantti1874

[BackOfTheNet]

All we can hope for is that somehow the team can muster how they played the first half of the 2nd leg against Zurich. We need to get into their faces and just hope they’ve got one eye on Tuesday night where they need a win to have any chance of being 3rd in their group.

 

My head tells me as soon as we’ll kick off it will be sitting off and watching them pass the ball about like we’ve done all season. Inviting pressure on us rather than pressurise them, hoping to contain and see anything less than what Hibs suffered last week as some warped success. But the hope in my heart feels maybe caution will be thrown the the wind a little and they’ll get in their faces to give us all something to shout about and then you never know.

 

It’s the hope that kills you though.

Edited October 22, 2022 by BackOfTheNet

[JimmyCant]

15 minutes ago, Eddie said:

The way we are just now, not worth having McKay starting, he’s offered hee haw recently, looking for players to battle, sprint, close down. He ain’t the man for this job. But who else we got? I’m on the pints the now to dull the pain of what’s to come 

I’d like to see Pollock and C Smith starting today. I’d stick Sibbick and Devlin in the middle of the park with Grant and Pollock fetching and carrying and helping out in midfield. Stick Shankland and Humphreys up front and just defend properly and go long to them. Above all we need to see 90 minutes of graft, concentration and doing the basics right. Back 4 of C Smith Neilson Kingsley Cochrane

 

4-4-2 still has a place in modern football and there is nothing wrong with going quickly from back to front as long as you get bodies up there to play off the bits and pieces.

Edited October 22, 2022 by JimmyCant

[PapaShango]

8 minutes ago, BackOfTheNet said:

All we can hope for is that somehow the team can muster how they played the first half of the 2nd leg against Zurich. We need to get into their faces and just hope they’ve got one eye on Tuesday night where they need a win to have any chance of being 3rd in their group.

 

My head tells me as soon as we’ll kick off it will be sitting off and watching them pass the ball about like we’ve done all season. Inviting pressure on us rather than pressurise them, hoping to contain and see anything less than what Hibs suffered last week as some warped success. But the hope in my heart feels maybe caution will be thrown the the wind a little and they’ll get in their faces to give us all something to shout about and then you never know.

 

It’s the hope that kills you though.

Yeah it’s a bit deflating watching the approach we have taken at home to the OF and Europe. No question the teams are better than us but we put no pressure on them and let them play with the freedom of the park. We have been horses every time with that approach so hopefully we try something different today. Might end up the same result but come on give us something that at least gets us off our seat today.

[PapaShango]

8 minutes ago, JimmyCant said:

I’d like to see Pollock and C Smith starting today. I’d stick Sibbick and Devlin in the middle of the park with Grant and Pollock fetching and carrying and helping out in midfield. Stick Shankland and Humphreys up front and just defend properly and go long to them. Above all we need to see 90 minutes of graft, concentration and doing the basics right. Back 4 of C Smith Neilson Kingsley Cochrane

Connor Smith is no full back! Can’t be playing him there he will get torn to shreds. No fan of Sibbick but he would be better in there.

[Snorri1]

Would really just like us to look organised, get tight, be competitive and stay in the game for the first half. Build a bit belief and confidence.  Lose another soft early goal and it'll be a long afternoon.  Something that does give me a wee bit hope is that in recent matches we have created some outstanding chances. Maybe today can be the day we take one please Hearts ?

[jambopilms]

Can't play McKay and Forrest they are next to useless when we don't have the ball, and we won't have the ball. Replace either or both with an extra body in midfield.

Any time we get anything from the OF we have had to defend well and ride our luck and we haven't got the component parts to defend well.

Lose an early goal and game over before half time. Fluff our only few chances to score. 

Commentary to act surprised that Celtic are the better team and scream sensational down the TV at me every time they score.

 

Celtic easy win, who cares, can't get myself interested in these games.

[JimmyCant]

16 minutes ago, PapaShango said:

Connor Smith is no full back! Can’t be playing him there he will get torn to shreds. No fan of Sibbick but he would be better in there.

We don’t have the personnel available to cover every position with an ideal established player in that position. I think Smith would give us something at right back. Not ideal but we’ve seen Sibbick there and Jota or whoever else they play wide left will take him to the cleaners. ITs not an easy position to select for us so put someone versatile, quick and athletic in there for me.

[Shooter McGavin]

Not looking forward to this one, especially with the options we have in defence.

[japanjambo]

No confident at all about today. Hopefully the makeshift defence plays a blinder and we have a go up front. We live in hope! #HHGH 

[132goals1958]

7 minutes ago, jambopilms said:

Can't play McKay and Forrest they are next to useless when we don't have the ball, and we won't have the ball. Replace either or both with an extra body in midfield.

Any time we get anything from the OF we have had to defend well and ride our luck and we haven't got the component parts to defend well.

Lose an early goal and game over before half time. Fluff our only few chances to score. 

Commentary to act surprised that Celtic are the better team and scream sensational down the TV at me every time they score.

 

Celtic easy win, who cares, can't get myself interested in these games.

 

Whilst I will be there that feeling of resignation is disappointing as I too am less than enthused about going. High hopes pre season but its all gone a bit flat. Knew it was going to be tough but I expected a lot better performances than we have seen.

[Nelly Terraces]

2 minutes ago, 132goals1958 said:

 

Whilst I will be there that feeling of resignation is disappointing as I too am less than enthused about going. High hopes pre season but its all gone a bit flat. Knew it was going to be tough but I expected a lot better performances than we have seen.

Feel the same mate. I wouldn’t mind so much if we tried making up for the obvious lack of quality by rolling up the sleeves & battling/scrapping as if our lives depended on it but I never see that attitude from a Robbie Neilson side, genuinely hope I’m wrong but can only see us being as placid & languid as we normally are.

[soonbe110]

42 minutes ago, JimmyCant said:

I’d like to see Pollock and C Smith starting today. I’d stick Sibbick and Devlin in the middle of the park with Grant and Pollock fetching and carrying and helping out in midfield. Stick Shankland and Humphreys up front and just defend properly and go long to them. Above all we need to see 90 minutes of graft, concentration and doing the basics right. Back 4 of C Smith Neilson Kingsley Cochrane

 

4-4-2 still has a place in modern football and there is nothing wrong with going quickly from back to front as long as you get bodies up there to play off the bits and pieces.

Think Michael Smith is available again. Not sure Connor has ever played right back.  Surely Sibbick at right back would be a better option. 

[portobellojambo1]

 I'll go in hope, but in all honesty feeling is we'll lose, potentially by a heavy scoreline. It still frightens/saddens me a little just how little we learned from our game against them on 17 December 2017, a game we won 4-0, a game where we outplayed them totally and could have won by more, a game where we set up to attack and were rewarded for not taking to he field with a defensive set up hoping for a draw at best

Edited October 22, 2022 by portobellojambo1