The Key Battles in Hearts versus the Hobos

[DB-14]

With the big derby just over a week away at Fester, there are numerous key battles which we need to win across the pitch and in the stands of course as we should easily outsing the giro pinchers.

 

Marian Kello versus Yves Makalamity

It should be a no brainer, as Marian has been in good form of late, and has been rather harshly criticised recently for his placement at both Conway (Dundee Utd) and Taouil (Kilmarnock) freekicks. Makalambay on the other hand is eccentric to the say the least he can either have a great save or an absolute clanger and these usually come in big games.

 

Mikey Stewart versus Sol Bamba

Stewart has had a good start to the season, but we must remember he started well last season and just crumbled into a ball of aggression, he must forget his mistake against Kilmarnock and build upon his previous performances, he is a key player for us in this game. Bamba on the other hand should never be playing in central midfield and it is essential we exploit his weaknesses constantly, he is a poor player and we need to win the midfield battle.

 

Christophe Berra versus Derek Rearend

Berra often comes in for criticism harshly, for a lot of our fans, however he has been pretty solid for the most part this season, and it is vital he is on the top of his game to keep out Rearend's tricky play and speed. Big game for Christophe. Rearend is in fine form for the Hobos at the moment and has scored three goals since his return to Fester, we need to stop him at all costs.

 

Mike Tullberg/Christian Nade versus Jesse Jones

Which ever striker is up top for Hearts against the vermin, they need to hassle Jones constantly, he is not keen on physical battles as we seen after the Zaliukas incident of previous seasons. If we keep at Jones he will make errors and this will be vital in the downfall of the Hobos.

 

 

Mon th' Hearts!

 

 

FTH!

 

 

 

:107years:

[Zali Cinnamon]

Riordan is not the second coming of Ruud van Nistelrooy or anything like that, we've dished out a few pumpings to them with him in the side previously (admittedly he's scored one or 2 rakers against us before), never quite get why some are so fearful of him.

 

If - and it's a big if - we have our strongest team out and play to our strengths (that means Nade and Tullberg up top), we will win.

[cookieboy]

:phas the wee lesbian lookalike ever been on the winning side against us when he has scored? na didnae think so Mon deek gies a goal efter we are three up!!!:107years:

[Reidbait26]

:phas the wee lesbian lookalike ever been on the winning side against us when he has scored? na didnae think so Mon deek gies a goal efter we are three up!!!:107years:

 

I thought this a couple of days ago but I was sadly told by a couple of kickbackers he scored in his last derby, a 2-1 win for them at easter road.

[Gigolo-Aunt]

Its an old saying that games are usually won or lost in the middle of the park - more than not it is the case.

 

Dominate the midde and work hard on the flanks and Hibs will have to bypass the midfield. Ratboy will not want to survive on working the flanks out wide - he wants the ball in to feet in the middle.

[Groatallar]

I think the game is too hard to call as both teams are so bad. Both defences are absolute garbage, we have a better midfield but their attack although rubbish looks a bit better than ours.

 

The thing that worries me is that their team might want it more and I hope to hell we don't concede early as we could get a bit of a humping.

 

Having said that a big punt straight to their goalie will put us one up, so I'll go for 2-1 for the glorious.

[Ryan Gosling]

Andrew Driver vs David van Zanten

 

Laryea Kingston vs Paul Hanlon

[tommythejambo]

Andrew Driver vs David van Zanten

 

Laryea Kingston vs Paul Hanlon

 

Is Driver even playing?

 

Kingston has more abilty than most in the SPL but his work rate is such that he'll do hee-haw.

[Robertson9]

There is a chance Driver will play.

 

I hope so as without him we will lack balls into the box and someone to drive forward.

 

I wouldnt even pick Kingston hes a lazy *******.

[Robertson9]

I thought this a couple of days ago but I was sadly told by a couple of kickbackers he scored in his last derby, a 2-1 win for them at easter road.

 

Correct he scored the opener that day and Hibs won 2-1.

[The Don]

Im not always in favour of 4-5-1 but i think there is a good case for it being used as the formation in this game. The defences are pretty even (Both rubbish) Hobos have a better forward line (On paper, lets not forget they have only scored one more goal than us so far this season) Definately the Midfirld is key to this game, as the huns showed a couple of weeks ago when their midfield strolled through the game, which allowed them to totally dominate possesion and the tempo, this is what we have to do and man for man we have a much stronger midfield, I just hope the fat finn hasnt realised yet that his midfield diamond is hopeless.

 

Hopefully Driver will be fit and play we need his pace on the left. Stewart is a key player for us as well, they see Stewart as a danger man as well. Theres a good argument for playing Aguiar he's done well in the reserves hes suposed to be full fitness, he can put himself about a bit as well as pass, and is good at free kicks. Should Miko play? Id say yes play him wide right and bring Kingston in a bit, and give Kingston a free roll. possible even playing off the forward, although this will require Kingston to up his work rate because he'll need to drop back when they are attacking. The system can always be changed about in second half if we can get there level at least.

 

This is where the Key battels will take place IMO, Bamba is surely a great bet for a red card, ive now saw him play twice the guy is complete mince legs and arms everywhere, and quite a dirty player as well, once Kingston and Stewart have taken turns ripping him a new one he will lose the plot.

[robbogoal]

Albion Road...

 

only kidding.

 

It will be won by whoever want it more.

 

That better be our guys.

[Snake Plissken]

It will all depend on the teams

 

If we persist with Karipidis experiment Stewart may well get swamped in midfield

 

Kingston will probably be wasted on the right

 

We'll be pinning a lot of hopes on a less than 100% Driver

 

We don't have a major goal threat up front.

 

Wallace is a liability right now

 

I'm never confident with Zaliukas in defence.

 

That said

 

Ma-Kalamby is an accident waiting to happen

 

Jones is suspect to the physical side of the derby

 

Bamba-on-ice

 

A pretty rank midfield

 

A vastly over-rated forward in Fletcher and an admittedly dangerous Riordan.

 

 

We need to have a go at them and we need to play to our strengths and protect our main creative force in Stewart - Jonsson would do a job instead of Karipidis in midfield (straight swap in positions if you ask me).

 

Kingston needs a bot up the erse and this may well be the game to unleash Nade from the start as Jones doesn't fancy physical battles and Bamba looks very suspect to a burst of speed.

[Seymour M Hersh]

Albion Road...

 

only kidding.

 

It will be won by whoever want it more.

 

That better be our guys.

 

A good way of putting it rg. Bottom line is if CL wants us to play pretty football we have to win the SPL battle first before we try and play it. I'm absolutely sure that tattie face will have the low life wound up to near breaking point. They'll be right in our faces and closing us down and I also expect them to be dirty ******s trying to kick us of the park as well. We have to stand up to them. Exactly what we did not do to a typical JJ killie team.

 

HHGH - fthobos

[Gambo]

I think the key when it comes to 'clashes' is the referee. Too many times we have went there and watched the Hibs players get stuck in unpunished with bad tackles as at the same time watching our players fill up his wee black book.

 

Jones v Zaliukas at both ends of the park could be key.

[Rust Cohle]

how about Bruno V "bomb scare" Bamba?

 

yes please.

[Victorian]

you can talk about personnel, formations and tactics until the hobos win the scottish cup again.... but the one thing which will win or lose the game is attitude of the players.

 

if csaba can get the players to run through a wall for the jersey then we have a sporting chance. if we see a half-hearted effort then we'll be lucky to get anything.

 

simple as that.

[KPAL]

Peanut

Paul Hanlon not playing just now its Stevenson, whom is good going forward not so good defensively.

[fletch]

if we play

 

kello

 

jonsson

zali

berra

walllace

 

miko

kingston

stewart

bruno

driver

 

nade/tullberg or drop up 1 of the midfielders and play 2 up top then we wll win

[Deans Jambo]

Is Driver even playing?

 

Kingston has more abilty than most in the SPL but his work rate is such that he'll do hee-haw.

 

Interestingly Larry has never played at E.R and has only played once against the Hobos. Time to step up to the plate?

[Deans Jambo]

if we play

 

kello

 

jonsson

zali

berra

walllace

 

miko

kingston

stewart

bruno

driver

 

nade/tullberg or drop up 1 of the midfielders and play 2 up top then we wll win

 

That would be a great team especially the midfield but probably unlikely as the team we Jambos would pick is never the one we get!

[JamboSean]

The key battle is we need every player up for this with no one hiding and no passengers.

 

We've been down there too many times lately when people shy away from a contest and we get over powered. We need every one to fight for every last ball and worry about quality second, such is the way of the derby. They'll be right up for this, they always are, that's why we need to be too. If every one has the passion and fight that Stewart has shown lately, I think we'll be alright.

[Cigaro]

The key battle is we need every player up for this with no one hiding and no passengers.

 

We've been down there too many times lately when people shy away from a contest and we get over powered. We need every one to fight for every last ball and worry about quality second, such is the way of the derby. They'll be right up for this, they always are, that's why we need to be too. If every one has the passion and fight that Stewart has shown lately, I think we'll be alright.

Its a big if though.

 

[JamboSean]

Its a big if though.

 

 

It's a massive if. Unfortunately not enough of our players know what it means in a derby, where most of them usually do.

[Deans Jambo]

The key battle is we need every player up for this with no one hiding and no passengers.

 

We've been down there too many times lately when people shy away from a contest and we get over powered. We need every one to fight for every last ball and worry about quality second, such is the way of the derby. They'll be right up for this, they always are, that's why we need to be too. If every one has the passion and fight that Stewart has shown lately, I think we'll be alright.

 

I'm sure most of us would go along with this but I'm not sure Csaba would have the same opinion as he appealed to his players last week to go back to playing football and not to fight and run around.

 

If Csaba's thoughts are in the players heads then they might be a little confused as to how they should approach the derby.

 

http://www.heartsfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/HeartsNewsDetail/0,,10289~1412825,00.html

[Cigaro]

It's a massive if. Unfortunately not enough of our players know what it means in a derby, where most of them usually do.

That was my thoughts yesterday.

 

We dont have enough players who know what it means to beat them.

[JamboSean]

I'm sure most of us would go along with this but I'm not sure Csaba would have the same opinion as he appealed to his players last week to go back to playing football and not to fight and run around.

 

If Csaba's thoughts are in the players heads then they might be a little confused as to how they should approach the derby.

 

http://www.heartsfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/HeartsNewsDetail/0,,10289~1412825,00.html

 

I agree you can't do that in 34 games of the season, but the derby is totally different, especially in Scotland. It's always who wants it more, not who has the better tactics or who produces the most quality. It's all about grit, determination and fight. You can play all the pretty football you want, but without those 3 in the derby, you're nothing.

 

That was my thoughts yesterday.

 

We dont have enough players who know what it means to beat them.

 

Berra, Stewart, Miko and possibly Zaliukas will know what it means from our suspected starting 11. Not enough for my liking.

[K1874M]

Interestingly Larry has never played at E.R and has only played once against the Hobos. Time to step up to the plate?

 

Funnily enough I mentioned this last week, I think this is the kind of game we'll get something from him. Just a wee feeling that Kingston might enjoy himself in a derby and show what he can do.

 

Saying that tho, he has to play in the middle (playing our current formation), supporting the front man.

 

Kingston out wide worries me against the hobo's as we know he wont track back and wont be involved enough.

 

Re; the players not understanding what it means..... hope the hearts fans can make that pretty clear on the day... support has to be fantastic for it, if hibs players and fans realise our heads have dropped we'll be hammered for it.

[Cigaro]

I agree you can't do that in 34 games of the season, but the derby is totally different, especially in Scotland. It's always who wants it more, not who has the better tactics or who produces the most quality. It's all about grit, determination and fight. You can play all the pretty football you want, but without those 3 in the derby, you're nothing.

 

 

 

Berra, Stewart, Miko and possibly Zaliukas will know what it means from our suspected starting 11. Not enough for my liking.

Exactly the names I would have picked as well.

 

Maybe Driver too.

[JamboSean]

Exactly the names I would have picked as well.

 

Maybe Driver too.

 

Forgot about Driver, I'd add him too.

[The Old Tolbooth]

This has got to be one of the worst derby matches ever "standard wise"

 

Never before can I remember both sides being so poor, and i think it will come down to who takes their chances on the day, sadly Hibs have a far superior frontline than we do so I'm not confident.

 

I would say we have a slightly better midfield, and that they have a slightly better defence, with us having by far the better keeper.

 

To be honest if you offered me the draw right now, I would take it.

[Ellycopter]

This has got to be one of the worst derby matches ever "standard wise"

 

Never before can I remember both sides being so poor, and i think it will come down to who takes their chances on the day, sadly Hibs have a far superior frontline than we do so I'm not confident.

 

I would say we have a slightly better midfield, and that they have a slightly better defence, with us having by far the better keeper.

To be honest if you offered me the draw right now, I would take it.

 

Me too.

[Mr Romanov Saviour of HMFC]

This has got to be one of the worst derby matches ever "standard wise"

 

Never before can I remember both sides being so poor, and i think it will come down to who takes their chances on the day, sadly Hibs have a far superior frontline than we do so I'm not confident.

 

I would say we have a slightly better midfield, and that they have a slightly better defence, with us having by far the better keeper.

 

To be honest if you offered me the draw right now, I would take it.

 

Aye and it's one of the most expensive derbies ever as well!

 

Something not quite right!

[shaun.lawson]

This has got to be one of the worst derby matches ever "standard wise"

 

Never before can I remember both sides being so poor, and i think it will come down to who takes their chances on the day, sadly Hibs have a far superior frontline than we do so I'm not confident.

 

I would say we have a slightly better midfield, and that they have a slightly better defence, with us having by far the better keeper.

 

To be honest if you offered me the draw right now, I would take it.

 

Nah - that was the game in January, John! And personally, I wouldn't take a draw: I think we can nick this.

 

Hibs are average: nothing more than that. Mixu got them to a certain point last season, but then they got stuck; and I think the same will apply this season. Top six probably, but not top four. Meanwhile, our squad is better on paper, and we made an encouraging start before the wages fiasco threw everything off course. If Csaba makes the right selection, we play as we can, and there's no more off the pitch distractions, I think we win: it's just up to us to keep our side of the bargain.

[Del1812]

I'm not as hacked off with the Karipidis experiment as I am with the Jamie Mole one, that has to stop now. The Karipidis idea isn't a bad one in theory. You give freedom to your 4 other attacking midfielders to work with the lone striker to make advances in and around the opponents penalty area with the knowledge you have one midfield back who is only concentrating on defending. It's an unorthodox system (although one used by many bigger and more successful teams than Hearts) but as far as I can tell and what I've been told (not many Hearts games shown in Ibiza) it worked towards the beginning of the season.

 

So what's gone wrong? Csaba touched upon the players getting back to 'playing football' but herein lies the problem with the Karipidis experiment in practice, the players given the freedom just aren't of the required quality to make this tactic work in an attacking sense. Say you had Skacel, Hartley, Stewart and Cesnauskis (in his form early 2006) creating and running into the box around Jankauskas then you've got something. Poorer players just aren't going to be able to 'play football' on a consistent level - hence the dip in results, guys like Jamie Mole, Audrius Ksanavicius or Saulius Mikoliunas just can't keep that level of performance they held earlier in the season.

 

So what do we do now? You could change the way we play to fit around this game, but with the players still trying to get used to the new system it could be possible this would be damaging in the long term. It may just be a case of Csaba having to trust his instincts and stick to his game plan, hoping he gets better performances out of some of the players than he has in the last few weeks.

 

A slight change of personel will still be required. Lee Wallace can keep his job for this game, purely because it would be foolish to throw a youngster (Matej Rapnik or Jonathan Brown) into his first start in an Edinburgh derby - especially as he may find himself going up against Derek Riordan for most of the match. The centre half partnership may be weak (although I rate both seperately) but again this is not the day to be trying out new things there. Kingston should be played in the middle. His erratic play can be best masked there at the same time as giving him the ability to be at his most dangerous. At the same time Mikoliunas should start out right with his new found workrate but this hinges on Driver being fit, if not Miko will most likely be pushed out left, Kingston out right and the dreaded name of Ksanavicius rearing it's ugly head in the middle. Nade should start up front. I have full faith in Csaba that Tullberg is a better player but Nade is fitter, sharper and that strange burst of pace that he shows every now and again could really do some damage to Hibs.

 

So I'd go with a team of:

 

-------------Kello------------

 

Jonsson-Zaliukas-Berra-Wallace

 

------------Karipidis----------

 

--Mikoliunas-Stewart--Driver--

 

------------Kingston----------

 

-------------Nade------------

 

 

Driver being fit is massive.

[Mr Romanov Saviour of HMFC]

I'm not as hacked off with the Karipidis experiment as I am with the Jamie Mole one, that has to stop now. The Karipidis idea isn't a bad one in theory. You give freedom to your 4 other attacking midfielders to work with the lone striker to make advances in and around the opponents penalty area with the knowledge you have one midfield back who is only concentrating on defending. It's an unorthodox system (although one used by many bigger and more successful teams than Hearts) but as far as I can tell and what I've been told (not many Hearts games shown in Ibiza) it worked towards the beginning of the season.

 

So what's gone wrong? Csaba touched upon the players getting back to 'playing football' but herein lies the problem with the Karipidis experiment in practice, the players given the freedom just aren't of the required quality to make this tactic work in an attacking sense. Say you had Skacel, Hartley, Stewart and Cesnauskis (in his form early 2006) creating and running into the box around Jankauskas then you've got something. Poorer players just aren't going to be able to 'play football' on a consistent level - hence the dip in results, guys like Jamie Mole, Audrius Ksanavicius or Saulius Mikoliunas just can't keep that level of performance they held earlier in the season.

 

So what do we do now? You could change the way we play to fit around this game, but with the players still trying to get used to the new system it could be possible this would be damaging in the long term. It may just be a case of Csaba having to trust his instincts and stick to his game plan, hoping he gets better performances out of some of the players than he has in the last few weeks.

 

A slight change of personel will still be required. Lee Wallace can keep his job for this game, purely because it would be foolish to throw a youngster (Matej Rapnik or Jonathan Brown) into his first start in an Edinburgh derby - especially as he may find himself going up against Derek Riordan for most of the match. The centre half partnership may be weak (although I rate both seperately) but again this is not the day to be trying out new things there. Kingston should be played in the middle. His erratic play can be best masked there at the same time as giving him the ability to be at his most dangerous. At the same time Mikoliunas should start out right with his new found workrate but this hinges on Driver being fit, if not Miko will most likely be pushed out left, Kingston out right and the dreaded name of Ksanavicius rearing it's ugly head in the middle. Nade should start up front. I have full faith in Csaba that Tullberg is a better player but Nade is fitter, sharper and that strange burst of pace that he shows every now and again could really do some damage to Hibs.

 

So I'd go with a team of:

 

-------------Kello------------

 

Jonsson-Zaliukas-Berra-Wallace

 

------------Karipidis----------

 

--Mikoliunas-Stewart--Driver--

 

------------Kingston----------

 

-------------Nade------------

 

 

Driver being fit is massive.

 

That's a good summary of whats currently happening mate.

 

However, Karipidis needs to drop back into defence ASAP. It just isn't working at all.

 

If it was my choice I would bring Kingston back into the centre ... he just can't do it out wide and leaves us shockingly exposed at the back.

 

As you say, Driver coming back in should add another dimension.

 

How is Ibiza? I can only imagine staying for a whole summer ... I've seen the nick these workers get themseleves in!

[Tazio]

I have a feeling that Kingston will turn up for this one. Witness the way he plays for Ghana. I think he is one of those players that considers playing against "smaller" teams an inconvenience. A derby should get him up for it.

[boabyarsebiscuit]

The key battles I think will be down the flanks (will Hibs exploit our weaknesses at fullback to create chances). And will involve our striker (note the singular) and his (in)ability to do anything against central defenders who might ordinarily be got at; and their strikers and their potential effectivenss against our accident prone centre backs.

 

I have a bad feeling about this one. I would suggest Csaba is building his gameplan around crowding midfield and keeping possession. If previous experience of Csaba's "tactics" is anything to go on. Maybe we'll sneak a 1-0 (optimist hat on).

[richiehmfc]

I have a feeling that Kingston will turn up for this one. Witness the way he plays for Ghana. I think he is one of those players that considers playing against "smaller" teams an inconvenience. A derby should get him up for it.

 

I agree with that, he also seems to turn it on against the in-firm....i am confident for sunday but not over confident.

 

I also agree with that team that Ibiza posted and would expect them to get a result, as long as Larry, Miko and Nade were in the mood, big if though....

[Gershwin]

I certainly hope Kello vs Ma-calamity isn't a key battle. Do you think they'll both be coming up for corners?

[Coco]

Will there be yet another odd selection for us at Easter Road.

 

I haven't seen Hibs this season, but have no doubt that they will be busting a gut to beat us. I doubt that several of our regular players give a monkeys.

 

So add that to the usually perplexing team selections at Easter Road and it doesn't look good

[GforGallo]

if driver, kingston and mikolooneychoons can play well then the hibs midfield may struggle.

 

however drivers half fit and the other two aren't exactly consistent.

 

The important battles are

 

Thicot Vs Stewart

 

More composed and technically better than bamba if thicot can stop stewart from making hearts tick then hibs have a good chance.

 

Hogg/Jones Vs Mole(assuming hearts go 451)

 

Would imagine from the comments on here that Hogg/jones would win that one. Depends on hogg's fitness.

 

Berra+A.n Other vs Nish/fletcher/riordan

 

Tis a very good forwards line can the hearts defence contain it?

 

also a large number of hibs players/squad members are hibs fans/scottish and know what this game means. Can hearts say the same.

 

Hibs are favourites and IMO rightly so, game could still go either way though. Its a derby

[Ryan Gosling]

Peanut

Paul Hanlon not playing just now its Stevenson, whom is good going forward not so good defensively.

 

That'll do for me.

[Buffalo Bill]

This has got to be one of the worst derby matches ever "standard wise"

 

Never before can I remember both sides being so poor, and i think it will come down to who takes their chances on the day, sadly Hibs have a far superior frontline than we do so I'm not confident.

 

I would say we have a slightly better midfield, and that they have a slightly better defence, with us having by far the better keeper.

 

To be honest if you offered me the draw right now, I would take it.

 

You saved me writing a post there, John.

 

 

 

Buffalo Bill

 

.

[bighusref]

Its an old saying that games are usually won or lost in the middle of the park - more than not it is the case.

 

Dominate the midde and work hard on the flanks and Hibs will have to bypass the midfield. Ratboy will not want to survive on working the flanks out wide - he wants the ball in to feet in the middle.

 

I disagree bud.

 

Ratboy has been a constant thorn in our wing as a Hibs player. If Paatalainen has any sense, he will put him wide again, ESPECIALLY as our full back positions are so weak.

 

I absolutely agree with you re the middle though, IMO, if Karipidis starts in midfield with Stewart, we will be right up against it. IF Karipidis has to start, Hearts need to play three in the middle, Karipidis plus Stewart and Palazuelos/Aguiar/Jonsson.

 

I fear our weaknesses will play straight into the hands of their strengths.