*** Official Motherwell Vs Heart of Midlothian Match Thread ***

[Ricardo Quaresma]

Hopefully got Offiah back for this one, I would go with:

 

                     Clark

        Kent Rowles Kingsley

Offiah                         Cochrane

          Devlin Nieuwenhof

Forrest                        Vargas

              Shankland (C)

 

To start with, bring on Beni and Oda later; don't expect Gordon to be back, but if he was on the bench, that'd be fantastic

[heartandsoul]

Hearts nil

[Ricardo Quaresma]

Just now, heartandsoul said:

Hearts nil

 

That's not what Dougie said 🙂

[Ricardo Quaresma]

They have St Johnstone away on Tuesday night, presumably with Craig Levein in charge for his first game

[mellors1874]

Play the b team or the ladies as they have more balls than the current bunch of losers in the first team.

[Paisley Jambo]

2-0 Motherwell written all over it.

 

Wee Naissy will blame ref.

[Robbo-Jambo]

1 hour ago, Ricardo Quaresma said:

Hopefully got Offiah back for this one, I would go with:

 

                     Clark

        Kent Rowles Kingsley

Offiah                         Cochrane

          Devlin Nieuwenhof

Forrest                        Vargas

              Shankland (C)

 

To start with, bring on Beni and Oda later; don't expect Gordon to be back, but if he was on the bench, that'd be fantastic

Couldn't give a flying **** at this precise moment.

[Eddiepolio3]

Must win game or that's the experiment over. Hopefully have lowry back. 2 nil Hearts

[Mikey1874]

Unlike most people (though I understand what people are saying) I see some positives. Looking at the other teams too, I'd make Hearts strong contenders, favourites even for third.

 

Oda will improve the team once he's back starting. Tagawa too. I wanted Vargas dropped (for Sandilands) but he's done better and I liked how he linked up with Shankland today first half. 

 

Lowry starts for me though he may not be the answer as we go on. There are still questions about the defence though Kingsley, Rowles Kent doing alright. Need to sort out right back. Also whether 3 at back is option and when. 

 

2-0 Hearts. 

[Dusty]

433/451

Clark

Kingsley, Kent, Rowles and Cochrane.

Devlin, Grant, Lowry

Forrest/Oda, Shankland and Vargas.

[Luckies1874]

Who even gives a shit. 

[Baxfee]

Wow- arseholes on here tonight 

[Scott Leitch]

42 minutes ago, Dusty said:

433/451

Clark

Kingsley, Kent, Rowles and Cochrane.

Devlin, Grant, Lowry

Forrest/Oda, Shankland and Vargas.

Kingsley at Right back 😂

[Dusty]

1 minute ago, Scott Leitch said:

Kingsley at Right back 😂

Best option we’ve got there at the moment.

[Scott Leitch]

Just now, Dusty said:

Best option we’ve got there at the moment.

No. Behave. 

 

How can he be the best option when he's never played there before? We just guessing now?

[rudi must stay]

Gordon

 

Offiah

Kent 

Rowles

Cochrane

 

Devlin

Beningime

Grant

 

Oda 

Shankland

Kirk 

 

Kirk is playing well, I believe he should be rewarded with a start. Lowry I'd give 30 minutes

[Dusty]

Did you watch the second half today when he was shunted over there for a while when Sibbick went off?

Edited November 5, 2023 by Dusty
Missing word

[Scott Leitch]

1 minute ago, Dusty said:

Did you watch the second half today when he shunted over there for a while when Sibbick went off?

😂

 

Sibbick went off with what 25 to go? What did Kingsley do in that 25 to make you think he should play right back? 

 

Kingsley should be left back and at a push left side of a back 3. 

 

****ing right back 😆

[Dusty]

4 minutes ago, Scott Leitch said:

😂

 

Sibbick went off with what 25 to go? What did Kingsley do in that 25 to make you think he should play right back? 

 

Kingsley should be left back and at a push left side of a back 3. 

 

****ing right back 😆

I’ve no issue with him at left back or centre half either.  He looked solid to me in that 25 minutes and had our best shot on goal during that time.  And yes, he’s played there before.  But hey, what do I know.

[rudi must stay]

5 minutes ago, Dusty said:

I’ve no issue with him at left back or centre half either.  He looked solid to me in that 25 minutes and had our best shot on goal during that time.  And yes, he’s played there before.  But hey, what do I know.

 

That shot was going in too. Sibbick is alright I like him best in midfield though 

[Scott Leitch]

7 minutes ago, Dusty said:

I’ve no issue with him at left back or centre half either.  He looked solid to me in that 25 minutes and had our best shot on goal during that time.  And yes, he’s played there before.  But hey, what do I know.

Can't recall him ever playing right back but if you think he can do a job then yeah let's do it.  Suppose it can't be any worse than what's currently happening. 

 

[Dusty]

8 minutes ago, Scott Leitch said:

Can't recall him ever playing right back but if you think he can do a job then yeah let's do it.  Suppose it can't be any worse than what's currently happening. 

 

Just seems a better set up than what we’ve got at the moment. 

 

11 minutes ago, rudi must stay said:

 

That shot was going in too. Sibbick is alright I like him best in midfield though 

Aye, Sibbick just seems low on confidence at the moment.

[tian447]

5 hours ago, Eddiepolio3 said:

Must win game or that's the experiment over. Hopefully have lowry back. 2 nil Hearts

 

How many times are we going to say that this season?  The experiment will probably go on until the end of the season.  We don't make big changes like that. 

[gregzy2k7]

We will struggle imo,

 

It's away from home, against a team who are desperate for points.

 

Who no doubt will set up to frustrate us and hit on the counter,

 

We will huff and puff but struggle to break them down, 

 

What could possibly go wrong?

 

2-0 Motherwell is a banker.

[GinRummy]

12 hours ago, Ricardo Quaresma said:

Hopefully got Offiah back for this one, I would go with:

 

                     Clark

        Kent Rowles Kingsley

Offiah                         Cochrane

          Devlin Nieuwenhof

Forrest                        Vargas

              Shankland (C)

 

To start with, bring on Beni and Oda later; don't expect Gordon to be back, but if he was on the bench, that'd be fantastic

Will likely be one of Forrest and Vargas (probably Vargas) and either Grant or Lowry play.  

[Deviskan]

13 hours ago, Ricardo Quaresma said:

Hopefully got Offiah back for this one, I would go with:

 

                     Clark

        Kent Rowles Kingsley

Offiah                         Cochrane

          Devlin Nieuwenhof

Forrest                        Vargas

              Shankland (C)

 

To start with, bring on Beni and Oda later; don't expect Gordon to be back, but if he was on the bench, that'd be fantastic

I’d play Oda every day of the week before Forrest.

[Ricardo Quaresma]

27 minutes ago, GinRummy said:

Will likely be one of Forrest and Vargas (probably Vargas) and either Grant or Lowry play.  

 

Lowry, of course, always one 🙂

 

If Kingsley and Offiah are ready, we're looking strong, Oda nearing a start too

[Ricardo Quaresma]

Just now, Deviskan said:

I’d play Oda every day of the week before Forrest.

 

I think Oda will come on around 55 / 60

 

If so, Forrest will start, I reckon

 

Lowry was cold against livi, so he'll start from bench, I reckon

[GinRummy]

4 minutes ago, Ricardo Quaresma said:

 

Lowry, of course, always one 🙂

 

If Kingsley and Offiah are ready, we're looking strong, Oda nearing a start too

Feels like a big game. No slip ups in the next 2 and he has breathing space. Anything less and things will get away from him.  

[Ricardo Quaresma]

Just now, GinRummy said:

Feels like a big game. No slip ups in the next 2 and he has breathing space. Anything less and things will get away from him.  

 

It is a big game, they won't be as defensive as livi, we need to be clinical, probably 2 goals needed

 

Interesting that we can watch them tomorrow night first, no mercy, hope a barrowload of them miss Saturday

[Ricardo Quaresma]

8 hours ago, Dusty said:

433/451

Clark

Kingsley, Kent, Rowles and Cochrane.

Devlin, Grant, Lowry

Forrest/Oda, Shankland and Vargas.

 

I think we will swap between 4 and 3 at the back if we need to; also, it forces them to re-evaluate, which takes time

 

We can make hay while they do that

[FionaHmfc]

8 hours ago, Scott Leitch said:

Can't recall him ever playing right back but if you think he can do a job then yeah let's do it.  Suppose it can't be any worse than what's currently happening. 

 

Kingsley played right back against Livi at home the other night for the entire 90 minutes and was probably one of our best players

[boag1874]

Swap one of the midfielders for Grant/
Lowry & that team should beat Motherwell. Need creativity in the middle 
 

One thing though - midfield etc all got pelters for giving the ball away yesterday but for me the absolute biggest issue was the poor movement (or lack of movement) from Cochrane & Sibbick - the amount of times we had the opportunity to break past that high line & the 2 wingbacks didn’t make the run or stood off of Tavernier/Barisic instead of going in for the 2nd ball was so so so annoying & completely nullified any attacking intent we could have shown. The wingbacks are our width in this formation, they need to make the run & give the passer the opportunity to find them. If they’re not comfortable doing that then we need to play a back 4 with traditional wingers.

[Robbo-Jambo]

12 minutes ago, FionaHmfc said:

Kingsley played right back against Livi at home the other night for the entire 90 minutes and was probably one of our best players

He played right centre back.

[Fozzyonthefence]

Motherwell in a dreadful run of form, can’t buy a result.  Got home win all over it!

[Scott Leitch]

51 minutes ago, FionaHmfc said:

Kingsley played right back against Livi at home the other night for the entire 90 minutes and was probably one of our best players

No he didn't. We played a back 3. He was right hand side of the 3. Completely different to a right back. 

[Gundermann]

1 hour ago, boag1874 said:

Swap one of the midfielders for Grant/
Lowry & that team should beat Motherwell. Need creativity in the middle 
 

One thing though - midfield etc all got pelters for giving the ball away yesterday but for me the absolute biggest issue was the poor movement (or lack of movement) from Cochrane & Sibbick - the amount of times we had the opportunity to break past that high line & the 2 wingbacks didn’t make the run or stood off of Tavernier/Barisic instead of going in for the 2nd ball was so so so annoying & completely nullified any attacking intent we could have shown. The wingbacks are our width in this formation, they need to make the run & give the passer the opportunity to find them. If they’re not comfortable doing that then we need to play a back 4 with traditional wingers.

 

This!

 

We had several chances to break forward but lost our shit once crossing the halfway line. Looked like we were feart or just didn't know what to do.

[Geoff Kilpatrick]

Motherwell 0-1 Heart of Midlothian 

 

Vargas

[Scott980612]

Motherwell on a dreadful run of form. 
 
Their last win , 3 points at Tynecastle. 
 
Their next win……. Watch this space. 
 
A low scoring dreadful game of football , where either team nicks it by a goal . 
 
 

[GBJambo]

3 nil Motherwell and Naismith will still be here 😡

[bobby bombscare]

I'll probably cop flack for this. But one of the things I liked yesterday was our midfield. I know many like lowry but I actually thought that midfield 3 was a great mix. I thought grant had a good game and had a few good drives forward. When you consider the quality of the rangers midfield, they held there own until we lost the pen and had to open right up. 

 

I wouldn't personally be looking to sub any of them for lowry when, imo, they all played well and they're all our own players. 

 

Sibbick and Clark were the poor performers IMO. So would be happy to see the same again with maybe Offiah in at RB.

Edited November 6, 2023 by bobby bombscare

[GinRummy]

1 hour ago, boag1874 said:

Swap one of the midfielders for Grant/
Lowry & that team should beat Motherwell. Need creativity in the middle 
 

One thing though - midfield etc all got pelters for giving the ball away yesterday but for me the absolute biggest issue was the poor movement (or lack of movement) from Cochrane & Sibbick - the amount of times we had the opportunity to break past that high line & the 2 wingbacks didn’t make the run or stood off of Tavernier/Barisic instead of going in for the 2nd ball was so so so annoying & completely nullified any attacking intent we could have shown. The wingbacks are our width in this formation, they need to make the run & give the passer the opportunity to find them. If they’re not comfortable doing that then we need to play a back 4 with traditional wingers.

Good points, the issue with a back four and wingers is we then set up with two centre mids, we need three imo. Bit of a tricky one tbh. 

[FionaHmfc]

55 minutes ago, Scott Leitch said:

No he didn't. We played a back 3. He was right hand side of the 3. Completely different to a right back. 

We had him, Kent, Rowles and Cochrane. Nobody else played at the back 

[Ricardo Quaresma]

9 minutes ago, GinRummy said:

Good points, the issue with a back four and wingers is we then set up with two centre mids, we need three imo. Bit of a tricky one tbh. 

 

Agree we need 3 for a better attack and it's the choice between Grant and Lowry, who'll probably share a half each or so, unless we are playing without an AM, or maybe they play LW, which Lowry is more natural

[Ricardo Quaresma]

8 minutes ago, FionaHmfc said:

We had him, Kent, Rowles and Cochrane. Nobody else played at the back 

 

I believe Forrest was RWB, pal

 

https://uk.soccerway.com/matches/2023/11/01/scotland/premier-league/heart-of-midlothian-fc/livingston-fc/4104487/

 

-

Edited November 6, 2023 by Ricardo Quaresma

[PapaShango]

Don't play Sibbick and we will instantly improve!

[FionaHmfc]

1 minute ago, Ricardo Quaresma said:

 

I believe Forrest was RWB, pal

Fair enough. Definitely looked a 4231 from where I was sitting with Forrest on the wing, Boyce central and Lowry on the other wing. Certainly when Forrest went off, Oda seemed to be a like for like switch. Definitely wouldn’t say Oda was RWB

[Ricardo Quaresma]

4 minutes ago, FionaHmfc said:

Fair enough. Definitely looked a 4231 from where I was sitting with Forrest on the wing, Boyce central and Lowry on the other wing. Certainly when Forrest went off, Oda seemed to be a like for like switch. Definitely wouldn’t say Oda was RWB

 

I think you're right that they were shifting around on that side and Kingsley was switching in and out of RWB as Forrest made darting runs 👍

[boag1874]

20 minutes ago, GinRummy said:

Good points, the issue with a back four and wingers is we then set up with two centre mids, we need three imo. Bit of a tricky one tbh. 

Unless we go with a 4-3-3 & use 2 of Vargas/Oda/Forrest to provide width & pace either side of Shanks, best of both worlds

[kingantti1874]

It’s a must win.