OFFICIAL HEARTS JUGGERNAUT THREAD 2020-

[DC92]

1 hour ago, VincentGuerin said:

This is certainly true.

I think there's a bit of misunderstanding of the point here. I absolutely would not swap squads with Aberdeen at the moment.

I think the point is that we're going to need to be patient this season.

Yeah, it's nothing to do with Aberdeen being good, bad or indifferent. I'm not sure they'll even be the team to beat for 3rd yet, but they've made a good start and have a good run of fixtures.

Our first 13 games contain 4 games against the OF and visits to Pittodrie and Easter Road. Most of the games are away from home.

Only 2 of the following 20 games are against the OF and one of those is Rangers at home.

That chunk of games from December onwards are a really good opportunity to make up points if we find ourselves behind. But that might be psychologically harder to do if we're well off the pace.

26 minutes ago, Tony Wonder said:

I don't disagree it could happen, but if it does and we have a decent enough start ourselves there shouldn't be added pressure or people losing the plot is my point. You can only play what's in front of you and Aberdeen will have tricky spells as well. Good thing is Naismith will keep patient and not panic, even if some of the fans do.

I agree people shouldn't lose the plot, but they absolutely would. The bedsheets would be out in force.

[DC92]

1 hour ago, DukDukGoose said:

Penrice and Spittal have weakened your squad.

Both are never good enough for Hearts.

If you can get Dhanda playing to a high level, without being the fical point, then he'll be a gem.

There is basically no chance that's true because Penrice is filling a gap vacated by no-one and Spittal is replacing Scott Fraser who contributed nothing at all. At worst they won't improve us.

I'm also happier signing Spittal now than I would've been signing Jamie McGrath a year ago, so let's see.

[Mr. X]

https://x.com/JamTarts/status/1824083633709232384

 

Edited August 15 by Mr. X

[DC92]

Two chaotic Latin American full-backs with squad numbers in the 80s. This season has real potential.

[Tony Wonder]

5 minutes ago, DC92 said:

Two chaotic Latin American full-backs with squad numbers in the 80s. This season has real potential.

9 red cards between them before the season is out. At least one a straight red for celebrating a Derby winner.

[Insert Amusing Pseudonym]

1 hour ago, DukDukGoose said:

Penrice and Spittal have weakened your squad.

Both are never good enough for Hearts.

If you can get Dhanda playing to a high level, without being the fical point, then he'll be a gem.

Spittal is in, Halliday is out, so checkmate me

[D TOTAL]

Genuine question, who is hearts’ scout or contact to get all these random players from South America and even Japan?

he’s doing a heck of a job, more hits than misses I think imo

[Tony Wonder]

4 hours ago, D TOTAL said:

Genuine question, who is hearts’ scout or contact to get all these random players from South America and even Japan?

he’s doing a heck of a job, more hits than misses I think imo

Savage built a decent recruitment team. William Lancefield runs it and we have a boy called George Brown who had been working in Mexico back with us. Think we have eyes on quite a few markets. Some won't work out obviously but if you get one or two it's worth it.

[Darren]

5 hours ago, D TOTAL said:

Genuine question, who is hearts’ scout or contact to get all these random players from South America and even Japan?

he’s doing a heck of a job, more hits than misses I think imo

Early days. You can't really say any of them have been a complete success - Vargas probably closest.

Tagawa probably goes down as a failure, while the jury's out on Oda. We shall see with Taylor and Salazar.

Mixed bag with the Aussies.

The best signings of the last couple of years have arguably been closer to home - Shankland especially. That's not really a surprise, of course.

[VincentGuerin]

Recruitment in the last three seasons has been mixed, that's fair. But I think it's ultimately got to be judged on the outcome for the team, and since our wee Covid holiday we've been third by a mile twice, fourth once (three points off third) and made a cup final and two semi finals.

Miles and miles better than how we recruited before.

I'd say recrtuitment has overall been unspectacular but solidly successful.

[Tony Wonder]

I don't think the jury is out on Oda personally, he's a solid option who's young and improving. Or the Aussies who are mainstays tbh. We have a first choice CH, a really good central midfielder in Devlin. All will be relatively cheap as well compared to players from England. On the more expensive side Vargas has been a success IMO after a slow start and improving, Taylor looks a player (outside of last Saturday) and Salazar we obviously haven't seen but his pedigree suggests a player we shouldn't be near.

Tagawa probably is classed as a failure due mainly to never getting a real sniff. Atkinson not as good as hoped but still contributed. Agree with Vincent that the fact we are in an incredibly consistent period in the cups and league suggests it's been more good than bad.

[the jambo-rocker]

I actually thought Oda had good instincts to be played on the shoulder, rather than play him on the wing. There was a goal last season that stemmed from him showing good instincts to latch onto a poor back pass from the Livingston defender and win a penalty out of it ultimately.

I do wish he was more fearless on his takes ons however as he's got more than enough pace and presence to burn, but it's just not materialised yet.

[Insert Amusing Pseudonym]

Oda i think causes teams issues without ever looking like he's going to be a consistent starter.   Scores a few goals,  including some important ones but not involved aa much as you'd like him to be.

He's rapid, pretty strong and has a good shot so if he can put it together he'd be a good asset but suspect he'll be a sub mainly then eventually leave

[DC92]

23 minutes ago, the jambo-rocker said:

I actually thought Oda had good instincts to be played on the shoulder, rather than play him on the wing. There was a goal last season that stemmed from him showing good instincts to latch onto a poor back pass from the Livingston defender and win a penalty out of it ultimately.

I do wish he was more fearless on his takes ons however as he's got more than enough pace and presence to burn, but it's just not materialised yet.

 

Agree with this. His crossing/wing play have never looked up to much, but his pace and finishing have potential. He'd need to improve his back to goal game to be a proper all-round striker though.

[Tony Wonder]

I agree btw, he's not the finished article and you want a bit more, but he's very capable and for what he is, a squad option, he's more than good enough. That's what I was meaning when I said I don't think the jury's out, I would tend to use that on someone you could still label a failure. I don't think that's the case with Oda

[DC92]

Kent out for 9 months.

[Insert Amusing Pseudonym]

35 minutes ago, DC92 said:

Kent out for 9 months.

When that loaded I just saw your comment at first and nearly had a heart attack

[DC92]

14 minutes ago, Insert Amusing Pseudonym said:

When that loaded I just saw your comment at first and nearly had a heart attack

Apologies. Although it wouldn't be too big a surprise given how many of these "not serious" injuries seem to last for ages, and how often we seem to lose multiple players through the spine of the team when these big European games have come up.

Halkett is probably his most natural replacement, so it'll be interesting to see if he comes in given how off it he looked in pre-season.

Edited August 16 by DC92

[Darren]

I like Oda, but I think it's perfectly legitimate to say the jury's out. We all seem to agree he's a squad player. Does he rank above Alan Forrest, for example? If he doesn't contribute much this season he's not going to get notched up as a hit, is he? Perhaps I should have given a Scots law verdict of not proven instead.

If you look at the Japanese market then it's one miss and one maybe in the last couple of years.

South America it's one hit and two maybes.

Extending that out to the Aussies, you could argue Devlin and Rowles are hits (although both have glaring deficiencies), it's probably too early to say either way on Nieuwenhof, Atkinson is rightly on his way and Kuol was a bit of a disaster for all parties.

If Taylor and Salazar turn out to be great then I think we can start really lauding the recruitment in these markets. For now I think it's been decent.

Edited August 16 by Darren
To too

[topcat(The most tip top)]

25 minutes ago, Darren said:

I like Oda, but I think it's perfectly legitimate to say the jury's out. We all seem to agree he's a squad player. Does he rank above Alan Forrest, for example? If he doesn't contribute much this season he's not going to get notched up as a hit, is he? Perhaps I should have given a Scots law verdict of not proven instead.

If you look at the Japanese market then it's one miss and one maybe in the last couple of years.

South America it's one hit and two maybes.

Extending that out to the Aussies, you could argue Devlin and Rowles are hits (although both have glaring deficiencies), it's probably too early to say either way on Nieuwenhof, Atkinson is rightly on his way and Kuol was a bit of a disaster for all parties.

If Taylor and Salazar turn out to be great then I think we can start really lauding the recruitment in these markets. For now I think it's been decent.

Ultimately with Shankland nailed on there was really only one vacancy for a regular up front which means that it was almost inevitable that  between them Vargas and Tagawa would be a "hit" and a "miss" the remaining question was which order

And that kind of effect is repeated elsewhere

If becoming an established first choice is where we're setting the bar for being a "hit" then there's going to be some "misses" from this window unless we somehow end up lining up something like

Fulton
Penrice, Salazar, Oyegoke, Taylor
Boateng, Denholm,  Spittal, Dhanda
Drammeh , Shankland

 

Edited August 16 by topcat(The most tip top)