New Manager - Critchley confirmed

[Bungalow Bill]

23 minutes ago, Pans Jambo said:

Theyre not his players. He did improve the situation when he arrived. The players are the issue. The board will give him time.

 

1 minute ago, Chuck Berry said:

 

They are not Thelin's players either, they were shit last season, now look at them.

 

NC strikes me as a Neilson/Naismith clone.

 

Would you give him time if we're in the same position come, say February?

He’ll get time. We’ve used analytics to find a manager who ‘improves players’, I’m sure that’s what McKinlay said at the press conference. That to me means the board think the basis of a good squad is already in place and Critchley has to get a tune out of them. 
 

I questioned the approach, but in fairness Critchley hasn’t had time to really do anything other than try and get the players back to basics and putting players in the correct position. I’m not sure anyone coming in when Critchley did would have faired better. 
 

It should not have taken us 3 weeks to get an unemployed manager in place, who allegedly also came out top of the analytics. The board are the issue when it comes to the football side of things. 
 

 

[Dazo]

8 minutes ago, Chuck Berry said:

 

They are not Thelin's players either, they were shit last season, now look at them.

 

NC strikes me as a Neilson/Naismith clone.

 

Would you give him time if we're in the same position come, say February?

They aren’t Thelin’s players ? I’d suggest you look at the line ups between last season and this season. 

[Chuck Berry]

2 minutes ago, Bungalow Bill said:

 

He’ll get time. We’ve used analytics to find a manager who ‘improves players’, I’m sure that’s what McKinlay said at the press conference.

 

Liam Fox improves players, he's not the answer as a manager though.

[Super_Hans]

2 hours ago, kingantti1874 said:

we have no one else to bring on to change a game.  Hands are tied 

I hope there's a recall option on Finlay Pollock's loan deal

[Ivan Drago]

2 minutes ago, Bungalow Bill said:

 

He’ll get time. We’ve used analytics to find a manager who ‘improves players’, I’m sure that’s what McKinlay said at the press conference. That to me means the board think the basis of a good squad is already in place and Critchley has to get a tune out of them. 
 

I questioned the approach, but in fairness Critchley hasn’t had time to really do anything other than try and get the players back to basics and putting players in the correct position. I’m not sure anyone coming in when Critchley did would have faired better. 
 

It should not have taken us 3 weeks to get an unemployed manager in place, who allegedly also came out top of the analytics. The board are the issue when it comes to the football side of things. 
 

 

not having a go at NC as it’s too early but I’m interested to know how the analytics judge him as being able to improve players. Maybe it’s my lack of understanding but he’s not been a manger for that long so would be interesting to know how it came to that conclusion (he obviously didn’t at QPR). If it’s based on his work at Liverpool or Villa that’s completely different to being a manager.

[Chuck Berry]

4 minutes ago, Dazo said:

They aren’t Thelin’s players ? I’d suggest you look at the line ups between last season and this season. 

 

Last nights starting XI there's two players plus the keeper who he signed, the nucleus of the team are the same, inc Duk who went on strike...

Edited October 31, 2024 by Chuck Berry

[gwd1957]

1 hour ago, theshed said:

He's came from down south where most clubs play 3 games in a week and travel further than what we do around the country and the players down there manage that….He’s probably now seen that our players aren’t fit enough to do this unlike his previous teams 

Players aren't fit, they don't start training until 11.00 am ,that should be hit on the head ,get them down to the sand dunes that will soon show who wants to bust a gut for Hearts ,these guys are pathetic blowing out their backside after 50 minutes ,the blame also lies with the fitness team, there is NO Hearts and soul in this bunch of so called footballer's .

[RoiK]

11 minutes ago, tartofmidlothian said:

 

 

We all know Vargas' end product hasn't been what it should be, but last night he kept running and stretching their defence, he made them work for it. Plus he had two identical cutbacks to pick out Spittal, one saw Spits shoot an inch wide and the other had him move it to Forrest to score.

 

Vargas was one of the few who can hold his head up after last night.

 

I too thought that Vargas was pretty decent in the first half last night. Lots of energy and some neat play. As you say, set up some decent opportunities against a very well-drilled and packed Killie defence. Seems that we are in the minority on here, however.

[Dazo]

1 minute ago, Chuck Berry said:

 

Last nights starting XI there's two players plus the keeper who he signed, the nucleus of the team are the same, inc Duk who went on strike...

He has brought his own players in though is the point. He has also improved what was there. He had the benefit of starting fresh before a ball was kicked. Confidence and momentum has given them a right good kick up the arse. 

NC has came in with confidence at rock bottom and an unbalanced squad that he hasn’t signed. The two situations are incomparable imo. 

 

[BackOfTheNet]

25 minutes ago, tartofmidlothian said:

 

 

We all know Vargas' end product hasn't been what it should be, but last night he kept running and stretching their defence, he made them work for it. Plus he had two identical cutbacks to pick out Spittal, one saw Spits shoot an inch wide and the other had him move it to Forrest to score.

 

Vargas was one of the few who can hold his head up after last night.

Agreed. Unsure why some are so intent on making him the boo boy. Wasn’t exceptional but played a huge part in the goal (key pass I believe they call it) and it was noticeably easier for Kilmarnock once he went off.
 

I don’t think a lot of fans appreciate how busy he keeps defenders and how they hate defending against him. Folk just say “heedless chicken” because they focus on the odd misplaced pass or shot. Couple of times last night he hit played bad balls and because someone intercepted them he got the blame. Weird.

[We_are_the_Hearts]

Cannot believe there are fans questioning the manager after ONE defeat. We do have some arsehole fans. Mental.

[Chuck Berry]

Just now, Dazo said:

He has brought his own players in though is the point. He has also improved what was there. He had the benefit of starting fresh before a ball was kicked. Confidence and momentum has given them a right good kick up the arse. 

NC has came in with confidence at rock bottom and an unbalanced squad that he hasn’t signed. The two situations are incomparable imo. 

 

Different circumstances of course, but the point remains he is getting a tune out of players who were utter dross last season. Duk went AWOL ffs.  Mackenzie was a bombscare and is now getting called up to Scotland squads. They haven't lost a game, they've hardly not won.  He's changed their system and is reaping the rewards.

 

Now hopefully we get to see that with NC over time, and it started off promising, but has alarmingly regressed back to what we saw under Naismith the last two games, even the second half against Omonoia was poor with some odd subs. Same style of football.  If we see the same on Saturday then alarm bells get louder. 

[HopeDiouf]

Just now, We_are_the_Hearts said:

Cannot believe there are fans questioning the manager after ONE defeat. We do have some arsehole fans. Mental.

For me, manager needs a bit of time and some of his own players.  It's fairly clear the players are the issue, and he doesn't have a magic wand unfortunately.

[Bungalow Bill]

7 minutes ago, Ivan Drago said:

not having a go at NC as it’s too early but I’m interested to know how the analytics judge him as being able to improve players. Maybe it’s my lack of understanding but he’s not been a manger for that long so would be interesting to know how it came to that conclusion (he obviously didn’t at QPR). If it’s based on his work at Liverpool or Villa that’s completely different to being a manager.

From a data point of view, it must look at a players stats when they started working with a manager, and where they are at the end of the term. I can’t think of any other way you’d do it. Then you could accumulate the stats for all players and compare to other managers I guess (and that is a guess). 
 

With regards to the man management skills, you’d have to judge that based on the interview, that’s more subjective. 

[We_are_the_Hearts]

1 minute ago, Chuck Berry said:

 

Different circumstances of course, but the point remains he is getting a tune out of players who were utter dross last season. Duk went AWOL ffs.  Mackenzie was a bombscare and is now getting called up to Scotland squads. They haven't lost a game, they've hardly not won.  He's changed their system and is reaping the rewards.

 

Now hopefully we get to see that with NC over time, and it started off promising, but has alarmingly regressed back to what we saw under Naismith the last two games, even the second half against Omonoia was poor with some odd subs. Same style of football.  If we see the same on Saturday then alarm bells get louder. 

Yet we should have beat them but again the players let us down. Grant got sent off stupidly and then we crumbled

[Dazo]

1 minute ago, Chuck Berry said:

 

Different circumstances of course, but the point remains he is getting a tune out of players who were utter dross last season. Duk went AWOL ffs.  Mackenzie was a bombscare and is now getting called up to Scotland squads. They haven't lost a game, they've hardly not won.  He's changed their system and is reaping the rewards.

 

Now hopefully we get to see that with NC over time, and it started off promising, but has alarmingly regressed back to what we saw under Naismith the last two games, even the second half against Omonoia was poor with some odd subs. Same style of football.  If we see the same on Saturday then alarm bells get louder. 

Absolutely Chuck, I did say he is getting a tune out of existing players. Up until Kent’s brain melt you could argue NC was getting a tune out of the squad. I agree about Saturday if it’s more of the same then he’ll have a few questions to answer. I say that acknowledging the guy 100% needs time and at least one window before he can be fairly judged. If the squad reverts to type till January though he may struggle to recover. 

[Chuck Berry]

16 minutes ago, We_are_the_Hearts said:

Yet we should have beat them but again the players let us down. Grant got sent off stupidly and then we crumbled

 

We crumbled, sounds like last night.

[Chuck Berry]

15 minutes ago, Dazo said:

Absolutely Chuck, I did say he is getting a tune out of existing players. Up until Kent’s brain melt you could argue NC was getting a tune out of the squad. I agree about Saturday if it’s more of the same then he’ll have a few questions to answer. I say that acknowledging the guy 100% needs time and at least one window before he can be fairly judged. If the squad reverts to type till January though he may struggle to recover. 

 

I don't have an issue with the first half performance.  What alarms me is the way we capitulated and panicked after the Killie second.  If that was Naismith we'd be saying there was no Plan B and the subs were scattergun, except it wasn't Naismith. We were still playing square at the back with minutes remaining.

 

It looks all too depressingly familiar. Hopefully there's a reaction on Saturday, if there's isn't we're in bother.

[kingantti1874]

37 minutes ago, Super_Hans said:

I hope there's a recall option on Finlay Pollock's loan deal

there is.  Another ludicrous decision by Naismith given lack of options and numbers in forward areas

[Cruyff]

NC has got a mega job on his hands. Everyone should get behind the gaffer. I think he'll sort this shitefest out but the league is gone, we're not getting into Europe. 

The Conference League and the Scottish Cup are where we need to try to be successful and we just need to not get relegated this season in the league. Horrible but that's what it is. 

[RustyRightPeg]

19 minutes ago, kingantti1874 said:

there is.  Another ludicrous decision by Naismith given lack of options and numbers in forward areas

The encouraging thing is he’s played at least an hour in every fixture so far. 

[kingantti1874]

4 minutes ago, RustyRightPeg said:

The encouraging thing is he’s played at least an hour in every fixture so far. 

yes looks to be building good fitness.  I think we will need him.

[Pans Jambo]

1 hour ago, Chuck Berry said:

 

They are not Thelin's players either, they were shit last season, now look at them.

 

NC strikes me as a Neilson/Naismith clone.

 

Would you give him time if we're in the same position come, say February?

I disagree. I guess we will see.

 

You have to give him time. Its a basket case of a club that swaps managers every 4 months.

 

Thelin signed about 6 or 7 players in the summer, they had a good pre-season, and you can tell that the previous manager was blatantly the issue there. Critchley has inherited players who got the 2 previous Hearts managers sacked, and Critchley has none of his own signings. You just cant compare that with Thelin. Critchley has only been in the door for 4 weeks!

 

The last few games under Critchley have been better than the last few under Naismith. I think we ca all agree on that despite it being the exact same players. Naismith signed some shite.

 

Lets see who leaves/arrives in January.

 

If Critchley doesn't improve by the summer, then chances are Hearts will cut their losses and start again. Wont be in February though.

[RustyRightPeg]

Thelin was there for us to look at by the way. Aberdeen elected to go for Robson, and rejected him first time round. 

[Taffin]

3 minutes ago, RustyRightPeg said:

Thelin was there for us to look at by the way. Aberdeen elected to go for Robson, and rejected him first time round. 

 

I don't imagine he was within our budget.

[Chuck Berry]

29 minutes ago, Pans Jambo said:

If Critchley doesn't improve by the summer, then chances are Hearts will cut their losses and start again. Wont be in February though.

 

If we're still bottom in February he's gone, the fans will make sure of that.

[Bungalow Bill]

36 minutes ago, Taffin said:

 

I don't imagine he was within our budget.

If he’s in Aberdeen’s budget it’s inexcusable for him not to be in ours. 

[loveofthegame]

4 hours ago, kingantti1874 said:

we have no one else to bring on to change a game.  Hands are tied 

 

Hard to disagree.

 

It goes back to the "how bad must Musa be" piece...

[kila]

Thelin's had a pre-season with the players.

 

Our players had it easy under Naismith's pre-season, and Critchley has inherited it.

 

I doubt Thelin would've got off to such a good start had he taken over in March.

[Watt-Zeefuik]

6 hours ago, Jocam2325 said:

I get that but what is the alternative. Our squad has no depth, there is barely anything on that bench that adds anything positive. We're in trouble. 

 

4 hours ago, kingantti1874 said:

we have no one else to bring on to change a game.  Hands are tied 

 

I don't think we're that bad off. Unless Salazar is the second coming of Oshaniwa, this seemed like a game to throw him on. His attitude at training must be horrific, that's the only thing I can figure.

 

As others have mentioned, it also seemed a good time for Tait in the middle of the park where Boateng and Devlin had run themselves out. And is Kingsley not fit? Certainly Kent and Rowles are starting to look a bit bedraggled.

 

4 hours ago, kingantti1874 said:

 

 

I think there’s an element of truth here, same happened v hibs where we gassed out in the second half.

 

i can’t believe I’m gonna say this, we have to sacrifice Europe and rotate heavily. Try and beat Petrocub in the last fixture. We can’t sustain this number of  games with the “trusted” pool of players 

 

I'm going to go for the opposite, strangely. Right now we have an opportunity to make as much money in Europe this season as we normally would in two European seasons because of the way our fixtures line up. We're in phenomenal position there.

 

We need to stay in the league but I'm not particularly worried about that, and top six would be nice, but I'd rather seize the day in Europe and focus on the Scottish Cup and let the league sort itself out.

 

3 hours ago, theshed said:

He's came from down south where most clubs play 3 games in a week and travel further than what we do around the country and the players down there manage that….He’s probably now seen that our players aren’t fit enough to do this unlike his previous teams 

 

3 hours ago, RustyRightPeg said:

He also got the shock of his life when he seen the fitness numbers after his first day in charge. 
 

Tidy on the ball, but a very unfit team. 

 

I do think Naismith let us down in preseason training with regards to fitness. But Critchley must know that by now. It's the same with injuries—you can moan about them or you can work around them. That's part of management.

[132goals1958]

1 hour ago, kingantti1874 said:

there is.  Another ludicrous decision by Naismith given lack of options and numbers in forward areas

 

Don't know if there is a similar arrangement for Lewis Neilson if only to weaken St Johnston. That is the way my mind is working at the moment.

[Japan Jambo]

12 hours ago, Howdy Doody Jambo said:

I think half the squad know they won't be here next season and have chucked it, I hope NC just brings in a few more youngsters until the window opens, something is rotten and the poison in the dressing room that got Naismith sacked still exists at the club that needs kicked out first before we can galvanize and move forwards 

 

unfortunately, outside looking in, this very much appears to be the case. We somehow have too many players yet look threadbare all at the same time, overhaul is needed quickly.

[kingantti1874]

19 minutes ago, 132goals1958 said:

 

Don't know if there is a similar arrangement for Lewis Neilson if only to weaken St Johnston. That is the way my mind is working at the moment.

Mad isn’t it

[Japan Jambo]

20 minutes ago, Watt-Zeefuik said:

 

 

I don't think we're that bad off. Unless Salazar is the second coming of Oshaniwa, this seemed like a game to throw him on. His attitude at training must be horrific, that's the only thing I can figure.

 

As others have mentioned, it also seemed a good time for Tait in the middle of the park where Boateng and Devlin had run themselves out. And is Kingsley not fit? Certainly Kent and Rowles are starting to look a bit bedraggled.

 

 

I'm going to go for the opposite, strangely. Right now we have an opportunity to make as much money in Europe this season as we normally would in two European seasons because of the way our fixtures line up. We're in phenomenal position there.

 

We need to stay in the league but I'm not particularly worried about that, and top six would be nice, but I'd rather seize the day in Europe and focus on the Scottish Cup and let the league sort itself out.

 

 

 

I do think Naismith let us down in preseason training with regards to fitness. But Critchley must know that by now. It's the same with injuries—you can moan about them or you can work around them. That's part of management.

 

Happen to agree with this, perversely out squad may well be better suited to Europe too, the lack of physicality is less of a problem and they seem better able to lift themselves whilst in the shop window.

[kingantti1874]

27 minutes ago, loveofthegame said:

 

Hard to disagree.

 

It goes back to the "how bad must Musa be" piece...

well the hearts standard guys yesterday said it’s not that same situation as Salazar in that it’s clear musa Isn’t at the required level.  All the stuff about championship teams is clearly bullshit which we’ve bought. 
 

that said, I’d play him in Europe now.  Let’s find out . Effort and enthusiasm are good attributes so let’s see

[Nerja Jambo]

The comparison at this time between Critchley and Thelin is absurd. Critchley has been in the door 2 weeks and can't sign anyone until January. Thelin has been in around 4 months, signed a few players and has also has the benefit of a proper pre-season. You just cannot compare the 2.

[Rudi cant fail]

He comes across well, and says the right things. Sounds very knowledgeable. Big issue for him though is getting the existing players to buy into his ideas. I’m not sure they will. There is now way he will still be in a job in February if we are bottom though. 
 

He’s got his work cut out for sure.
 

Recruitment has been shocking g for years. The turnover of players shows that, considering you can count on one hand how many players have moved on for decent fees, or even free transfers to bigger clubs. 

[Jack Torrance]

50% win rate so far...

 

 

[soonbe110]

1 hour ago, kingantti1874 said:

well the hearts standard guys yesterday said it’s not that same situation as Salazar in that it’s clear musa Isn’t at the required level.  All the stuff about championship teams is clearly bullshit which we’ve bought. 
 

that said, I’d play him in Europe now.  Let’s find out . Effort and enthusiasm are good attributes so let’s see

Don’t think he is in our euro squad. 

[soonbe110]

57 minutes ago, Rudi cant fail said:

He comes across well, and says the right things. Sounds very knowledgeable. Big issue for him though is getting the existing players to buy into his ideas. I’m not sure they will. There is now way he will still be in a job in February if we are bottom though. 
 

He’s got his work cut out for sure.
 

Recruitment has been shocking g for years. The turnover of players shows that, considering you can count on one hand how many players have moved on for decent fees, or even free transfers to bigger clubs. 

So you are suggesting he wont be allowed to bring any players in during the Jan window?    Can’t see that being the case.  Board won’t allow him to sign players in Jan if they think there’s any chance they will have to fire him in Feb surely? 

[Rudi cant fail]

14 minutes ago, soonbe110 said:

So you are suggesting he wont be allowed to bring any players in during the Jan window?    Can’t see that being the case.  Board won’t allow him to sign players in Jan if they think there’s any chance they will have to fire him in Feb surely? 

Not at all, Naismith was allowed to sign layers in the summer but was then subsequently sacked. I think if it is looking likely in February that we are going down he will be sacked regardless if he has made signings or not 

[GinRummy]

44 minutes ago, soonbe110 said:

So you are suggesting he wont be allowed to bring any players in during the Jan window?    Can’t see that being the case.  Board won’t allow him to sign players in Jan if they think there’s any chance they will have to fire him in Feb surely? 

McKinlay said in his latest update we are already looking at a player for January. 

[One five]

52 minutes ago, GinRummy said:

McKinlay said in his latest update we are already looking at a player for January. 

I very much hope it’s more than one player we are looking at mate, one player won’t fix this.

[PapaShango]

Just now, One five said:

I very much hope it’s more than one player we are looking at mate, one player won’t fix this.

Need a good 3 or 4 including wide players with pace and a right back! 

[One five]

14 minutes ago, PapaShango said:

Need a good 3 or 4 including wide players with pace and a right back! 

That would be nice to start with 👍

[PapaShango]

1 minute ago, One five said:

That would be nice to start with 👍

I'm sure Critchley will have seen everything wrong with the balance of the team like we have and hopefully he's quick to rectify it come January. Its going to need some money spent on proper quality or really good loan players or we are going to be playing in the Championship next season. 

[One five]

5 minutes ago, PapaShango said:

I'm sure Critchley will have seen everything wrong with the balance of the team like we have and hopefully he's quick to rectify it come January. Its going to need some money spent on proper quality or really good loan players or we are going to be playing in the Championship next season. 

He will have I’m sure mate, yes they will need to dig deep to get some quality in as we are full of bang average players that won’t take responsibility.

[GinRummy]

1 hour ago, One five said:

I very much hope it’s more than one player we are looking at mate, one player won’t fix this.

If you look at Brighton, they tend not to make many January signings. I assume because you pay over the odds because there’s less players available. Not saying we won’t make a few signings next window because every situation is different but I’m tempering my expectations, assuming the analytics are similar, though we are at a totally different level. 

[One five]

1 hour ago, GinRummy said:

If you look at Brighton, they tend not to make many January signings. I assume because you pay over the odds because there’s less players available. Not saying we won’t make a few signings next window because every situation is different but I’m tempering my expectations, assuming the analytics are similar, though we are at a totally different level. 

Yeah the January window is not great   I’m thinking more of loan players tbh as our situation is worrying we simply can’t afford to go down, we will just have to see what is what and take it from there. 

Edited October 31, 2024 by One five

[GinRummy]

11 minutes ago, One five said:

Yeah the January window is not great   I’m thinking more of loan players tbh as our situation is worrying we simply can’t afford to go down, we will just have to see what is what and take it from there. 

Hope we get a few but hope rather than expectation.