Hearts (A)

[stokearab]

We've definitely dropped off the early standard we set. Maybe by doing so well after the first game it raised the expectation too high.

I'm not going to go down the route of criticising individual players for the loss on Saturday but there was several who underperformed. What it made me realise is that if we're going to perform to top 6 or even top 4 level consistently we need to add better quality into the squad. What I mean is I don't think Neilson is a better coach, he's just got better players at his disposal and it showed in both games v them so far this season. We just can't deliver that consistency with the players we have.

I think the owners and TA/TC will know this and be busy identifying quality players that we can bring to the club in the 2 upcoming windows.

To do that we will need to offload some player payroll cost and probably add more in.
Eg 3,4 or even 5 players out and maybe 2 or 3 much better players in. To start the kitty I would be inclined to let Kerr Smith go, assuming he and his parents are happy for him to go south to continue his development. Looks like we may get more than £500k now and some of that added to the player budget could get those 2 or 3 players we need to bring in.

Obviously if Harry Souttar moves there might be a few quid more released back to the player budget.

We're headed in the right direction though 🧡

[TerryTheTerror]

I'll not even sure he has better players. He's vastly more experienced as manger and I think that's what made the difference. But, who knows?

[shedka]

A good manager as he proved at Hearts first time, proved at United and now backing it up again at Hearts, we were in safe hands under RN that's for sure

However I'm happy with the direction we are now going in under TC and think he is right for us, just as RN is right for Hearts

Both clubs will do well

Also let's remember, there isn't much in it, we were below par and they were very much on it, 3 pts ahead of us, if we can get back on track then we can hopefully stay within touching distance, although I accept they are stronger overall at the moment

[stokearab]

I'll not even sure he has better players. He's vastly more experienced as manger and I think that's what made the difference. But, who knows?

I get what you're saying, but 5-2 and 2-0 says different. We have some better players like for like but overall they are currently stronger.

All I'm saying is we need to add quality not quantity if we want to compete consistently.
It's not a criticism....😎

[BackRowArab]

I get what you're saying, but 5-2 and 2-0 says different. We have some better players like for like but overall they are currently stronger.

All I'm saying is we need to add quality not quantity if we want to compete consistently.
It's not a criticism....��

That is it 100%. No point in bringing in 3 midfielders per se, who are going to be back ups to Levitt/Harkes/Fuchs, we would be better off bringing in 1 midfielder who makes either Levitt/Harkes/Fuchs a back up, we are stronger that way.

The above is just an example, I'm not saying midfield is the number one position we need to strengthen

[JamesMcClean]

Haven’t posted about the game as I thought I’d let it sit a bit before musing. I thought we played alright on Saturday. Put simply unfortunately Hearts played better - having spoken to a few Jambos post match In Diggers, that was the best they have played for a long, long time so from that perspective we were slightly unfortunate. Having said that (and I’m not making this up), I overheard a couple of Jambos saying that they were convinced it was going to finish 4-3 to United when Clark scored so we must have been doing something right.

We lost the game primarily because we didn’t defend. Yes, Hearts front three played well but we were all over the place at times. TC has to shoulder a wee bit of responsibility because particularly in that first half, they constantly found space down that left side, creating two goals from that area and making ump**** other chances. We didn’t appear to do anything to sort that out and if it was partly because Mulgrew wasn’t fully fit, then we shouldn’t have waited to half time to make that change.

Moving forward, I felt we got a wee bit carried away overall. Yes we want to play attacking football and score goals but you also cannot ignore the defensive side of the game and truth be told, it is that which has actually given us the platform for where we are currently. We don’t need to go peak Mellon-ball but for the next couple of games we need to go back to basics a bit, keep a shape, defend well and start to give the forwards a chance by re-starting the clean sheets.

[Whitfieldarab]

Robbie Neilson is a good manager and like MM I'd have been more than happy to have seen Robbie stay but Hearts played very UnRobbie like on Saturday and unfortunately it was a mix of our usually dependable defence and goalie having a nightmare and Hearts playing really well offensively.

5-2 flattered them though and our 2nd goal was a thing of beauty but we really need to tighten up against the Sheepies or we might get a similar scoreline..........Souttar called up to the Scotland squad coz he had a good game against us and the St Johnstone goalie too after last week......hmmm

[tHeArAb]

We did to them what we like teams doing to us, we tried to play football. It allowed them to exploit the gaps and they did this with conviction. We've been renowned for not being able to break teams down whilst having success against those who open up. This is what it felt like to me on Saturday. They took advantage of us actually trying to play football instead of parking the bus.

[stokearab]

We did to them what we like teams doing to us, we tried to play football. It allowed them to exploit the gaps and they did this with conviction. We've been renowned for not being able to break teams down whilst having success against those who open up. This is what it felt like to me on Saturday. They took advantage of us actually trying to play football instead of parking the bus.

Seems most of us are agreed on the being too open part. But to be fair when we did get possession we didn't do enough with it often enough to stay in the game. We've come a long way but if we're going to continue to progress we need a few squad departures so we can bring in that top quality we're missing.
I'm 100% confident that TA and TC realise it too.

[Chick A Saw]

Seems most of us are agreed on the being too open part. But to be fair when we did get possession we didn't do enough with it often enough to stay in the game. We've come a long way but if we're going to continue to progress we need a few squad departures so we can bring in that top quality we're missing.
I'm 100% confident that TA and TC realise it too.

Not seen the Hearts game and probably wont make the effort, but from what is said about this and what i seen at the St Johnstone game, we were up against the 2 best keepers in the league with mistakes and poor performances throughout on our part. There are gonna be bumps like this along the way and hopefully we have a management and team who can learn from this.