DC92
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Posts posted by DC92
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57 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said:
Aye, you'd take a single-goal defeat. But I think we're well-placed to go out and be positive. They can't be a side with a lot of confidence.
And, looking at that league form, they're just fucking pish.
5 wins and a draw in their last 6 now. Although they have benefited from a red card in 4 of those 5 wins, so maybe they've just been lucky rather than turning a corner.
I'm cautiously optimistic, but I've seen Scottish sides going out to beatable opposition so often in recent years, including ourselves.
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Rosenborg was an objectively good draw and their league form is poor (despite picking up recently). One thing I've noticed though, despite not scoring loads of goals, is that they typically have a lot of shots - 18 shots to 3 so far today against Haugesund with the score currently 1-1. I think Zurich were similar last year. Bet your house on them suddenly find their shooting boots against us.
As long as we can keep it within a goal on Thursday and Jorge Grant doesn't play the second leg, we've got a decent chance.
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36 minutes ago, craigkillie said:
I don't see a situation where the defender is thinking "what I'll do here is touch the ball with my hand, that'll be a good laugh".
Wouldn't be the first time.
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Just now, RandomGuy. said:
He wasnt? Ill double check later tonight if nobody has by then, but from memory, as said it wasnt him that was offside when the ball came to him. May wasnt even offside as i thought it was maybe him going for the rebound that brought the flag
I only saw the replay once so I don't remember it clearly, but my recollection was that he was off and the commentators agreed (having thought he was onside initially).
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2 minutes ago, Widge said:
The one I didn’t get was the offside given for Carey’s chance. He was inside by a mile and it was Drey Wright who was offside, who stood with his hands up and didn’t affect play. Yet it got pulled back for offside, both the linesmen and the referee were abysmal yesterday and if that’s a sign of the standards to come then we’re looking at worse than last season which didn’t seem possible.
Watched on a stream. If it's the one where he had an effort saved by Clark then the replays showed Carey was offside.
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2 minutes ago, Lyle Lanley said:
Seriously thinking of cancelling my flights to Switzerland at the moment.
Dignitas?
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20 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said:
Aye. Found this whole narrative quite puzzling, really. We were always going to improve significantly even just with the players to come back.
There's a long way still to go, even in the transfer window, as you point out, but I did find it quite strange to see so many people confidently tipping Aberdeen for third and declaring they'd had a good window while implying we looked set to struggle. I don't see what those people are seeing.
From where things are with a few weeks of the window left, I wouldn't swap squads with any non-OF team. Not a prayer. We look pretty well-placed to me with both numbers and quality.
Plenty reason for optimism.
People usually tip the teams that finished the previous season with momentum or are perceived to have done a lot of business over the summer. Often that's not wrong, and plenty of Hearts fans have been doing the same. That said, Aberdeen did wobble a bit after their winning run ended and there were some signs of improvement for us in the last 6 games.
I'm sure Aberdeen in particular will have a bit of cash still to spend in the rest of the window. Hopefully they have similar luck to us last August in that endeavour.
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From observing here/Twitter/the media in general, there seemed to be a bit of a perception that we're a shambles who'll go backwards this season. Fair enough, we were dreadful towards the end of Neilson's time, the current "management structure" has extremely bad vibes, and it took us a while to start bringing players in. In the meantime, however, it looks to me like we've patiently built a squad that is significantly stronger than last year's.
I found last summer hugely disappointing. The early signings like Forrest and Grant felt like squad filler and I was waiting for the European cash to bring us some big hitters, but we did nothing in July and August other than Shankland and Kio (who was shite). The first XI ended up being worse than the season before and then the spine of the team was crippled by injury before the group stages even started.
This time Gino and Mikey Smith are the only starters we've lost. The latter was teetering on the edge of "finished" and Atkinson looks like he might finally be coming onto a game anyway. The former is a big loss, but with Oda emerging and Tagawa and Vargas coming in it definitely feels like we've got plenty of pacy options in the forward areas to cope with that loss.
Despite last season's failure, we were third top scorers by a decent margin and it was really the defence that let us down. We haven't added much there, but I've always maintained that even a bog-standard centre-half who wins his headers would be a significant improvement. He'll definitely have harder games, but Kent won 9/9 yesterday and looks like he could be the type we need while Halkett recovers.
In midfield, we had so many games where we had some combination of Halliday, Grant, Kio and Snodgrass and it felt so powderpuff and sluggish compared to the energetic ball-winning midfield we had the season before. When we restored the Devlin-Haring partnership towards the end of the season it made a big difference to our ability to impose ourselves on games. Beni has returned (for now) and we've added Nieuwenhof who is an unknown but at least seems to be more in the industrious mould.
On top of that, Boyce's return and the addition of Lowry gives Shankland and McKay the competition they've been missing, and the way the fixtures have worked out, we may even have Gordon and Halkett back before we play Hibs or the OF.
Another right-back is definitely needed and I wouldn't mind a physical option up front to mix things up, but we're looking pretty strong once everyone's back fit and bedded in over the next few weeks.
All of that said, it's way too early to get carried away about finishing third. There are still unknown factors (the management situation, the defence hingeing on Kent's ability and Halkett's fitness, injury returnees, Hibs and Aberdeen's new signings, etc.) but I'm cautiously optimistic, much more so than last year.
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1 hour ago, the jambo-rocker said:
St Johnstone played shite, we played slightly above shite. Don't think there was much difference today between that.
Edit: It's still nice to win away from home though.
I'm surprised by that. I think the first hour was pretty even, but we were the much better team in the end. It looked particularly ropy in the first 15, but we mostly settled down after that despite lacking invention in the final third. That last part isn't particularly surprising, though, since Shankland isn't a lone striker, Nieuwenhof isn't a number 10 and Forrest just doesn't have it.
But I thought we looked really dangerous after Lowry and then Tagawa came on and could have scored a couple more, while I can't remember us conceding a single chance in that period. Yeah, St Johnstone were poor, but you can only beat what's in front of you and it was far from shite after making those changes.
You'd think that second half team, with Shankland and Tagawa up front, and Lowry and Oda wide, will be much closer to how we line up for the rest of the season in these games. There's depth there now as well and we were missing quite a few today. Plenty of cause for optimism imo, at least in the attacking third.
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Just now, Empty It said:
With the depth we appear to have can't imagine we'll be seeing much more of Forrest and Grant, that's not a particularly bad thing in Grants case.
I don't think it's a bad thing in Forrest's case either. He was lively and willing today, but he just doesn't have it.
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Very uninspiring stuff for the first hour. Only one winner once we brought the subs on.
Lowry was excellent and Tagawa looked lively and dangerous. Shankland and Oda were much more involved after those two came on.
Kent had some dodgy passes, particularly early on, but it's a breath of fresh air to see a CB who can actually win a header.
Encouraging.
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48 minutes ago, Hoose Rice said:
Hearts due their pen soon.
23 minutes ago, Leith Green said:We are in the last 16 minutes, still a few mins to go before "Shanklandpen" gets his first of the season.
Lovely stuff.
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1 minute ago, Tony Wonder said:
Had a feeling Forrest or Grant would start. Him aside I think it's not a bad lineup. Nieuwenhof will play further forward. Bench looks strong.
I think it's a necessity that one of them starts, but I'm also not usually a fan of Shankland up front on his own.
Bench is strong. Hopefully we don't need it.
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Can see this being a struggle. Hopefully that starting XI is the weakest we'll field this season.
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1 hour ago, RandomGuy. said:
Hes contracted at Rangers until 2025 so i suspect if hes good enough that you want to keep then youll find hes also too expensive.
Strange loan for Hearts, really. Inter-league loans can make sense for clubs without financial pulling power as, especially from Celtic/Rangers, you can get someone better than what you could afford permanently. For Hearts though? Seems lose lose. Youre developing a player for a rival while, at best, getting 1 season out them, and also losing out financially in every way. Feels like you couldve signed someone to do what Lowry will permanently while also getting some longer term benefit.
Putting aside the rights and wrongs of loaning from the OF and Lowry's merits as a player, we've probably spent over £1 million on fees this summer and the squad is pretty much finished. I really doubt we've got room in the budget to spend another six-figure fee on a young player with sell-on potential to be back-up/competition to McKay. You're therefore looking at opportunistic loans to top up the quality in the squad at minimal cost.
If we spend a few grand a week on a loan player and they help us to finish 3rd then it's absolutely not a financial lose-lose. Scales' goal v Rangers ať Pittodrie last season, which was crucial in winning them millions through European football, being a good recent example of that.
This also potentially allows us to punt Jorge Grant to some English lower league dross for £100k, so that would be nice.
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20 minutes ago, Stylish Kid said:
Have we actually signed this guy?
Personally if we have a buy option like McRorie then great.
Ultimately our first goal is to get 3rd and progress in cups. I'm not convinced that Lowry is a better option than either Beni, Cammy or even Grant
Not sure where he usually plays, but he's been wide left when I've seen him. He'll be an alternative to McKay (currently injured) rather than competing with the CMs I think.
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I'm probably missing someone obvious, but have we had a player on loan from the OF before?
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Watched the extra time there. Rosenborg looked tidy on the ball and dangerous going forward but gave up chances at the other end and seemed to struggle with Crusaders' physicality. We don't exactly have a team of brutes at the moment, though.
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Before his inevitable ACL rupture on Saturday, I'd like to confidently predict that this guy will be class.
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1 hour ago, Thenorthernlight said:
Those Aussies you mentioned…..I wouldn’t take one of them at Pittodrie.
Devlin & Rowles are the best of a bad bunch, and they’re both bang average.
46 minutes ago, HarleyQuinn said:Apparently, this new left back has only completed 90mins 3 times in the past 2 seasons. He's struggled to hold a regular spot anywhere he's played. At least Rowles, Devlin, Miller etc were all standouts in the A-League and like you've said, they are bang average. I don't know what to make of this signing if I'm being honest.
Devlin is probably at his ceiling but he's a good player at this level, in spite of his dip in form post-WC.
To say Rowles and Atkinson have struggled with the step up in physicality would be an understatement. Aside from it obviously being a poorer level, that would be my biggest concern with signing Aussie-based defenders.
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26 minutes ago, Stylish Kid said:
This feels most likely. That said you could easily switch any of Sibbick/Kent, Cochrane/Kingsley, Forrest/McKay
McKay and Cochrane are definitely better than Forrest and Kingsley imo, but one hasn't featured in pre-season due to injury and the other is suspended.
No idea about Kent, but hopefully he proves he and Sibbick are not interchangeable.
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Clark
Atkinson Kent Rowles Kingsley
Oda Haring Devlin Forrest
Shankland Boyce
No Cochrane and probably no McKay. Nieuwenhof and Tagawa (if available) likely short of match fitness.
I'd also be cautious and utilise Baningime from the bench if we can. Ideally we'd do the same with Boyce, but we aren't awash with other options and if St Johnstone are going to be defending deep it might be a good time to use him and Shankland together.
Hopefully Forrest is nowhere near these by the end of August.
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2 hours ago, Hoose Rice said:
Of course I'm guessing, it's all part of the fun. Patterson confirmed he turned down a deal to sign for you guys but you would put that down to Robbie leaving too I suppose
it's all fun and games DC.
Not familiar with those quotes, but it's probably reasonable to suggest Paterson was a Neilson target rather than being identified through the scouting system. Likewise Devlin. After Neilson left, getting Paterson in would still have been a no-brainer if possible, but the same logic doesn't really apply to Devlin.
Original point was, rightly or wrongly, it's not really been our style recently to target Scottish-based players who are under contract.
51 minutes ago, kingjoey said:"Swing and a miss" turning into the new P&B "seething".
As a veteran of this website, I can assure you both have been P&Bisms for ages.
Seethe and a miss.
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3 minutes ago, Hoose Rice said:
You don't read about every player you have bids rejected for tbh. Devlin you are completely guessing because he went to Aberdeen.
Are you trying to say you aren't guessing?
We were linked to Devlin when Neilson was here and then it went quiet. Seems a pretty solid guess.
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it's all fun and games DC.
OFFICIAL HEARTS JUGGERNAUT THREAD 2020-
in Scottish Premiership General Chatter
Posted
Not implying any inside knowledge. Just that he's back from a long time out with a knee injury and missed a couple of months with another knee injury prior to that. Hopefully he's completely clear of it now.