Heart of Midlothian v Saint Mirren, Scottish Cup 1/4 Final, ~12th March 2022

[Kyle Reese]

I’m a bit old fashioned and I love it when the good guys win in the end.
 

Yours in football,

The good guys

[GAD]

I can understand why Robinson made the change he did at 3-2, but it really backfired and killed our chances of getting back into it. It didn't actually make us more attacking, because we completely lost the midfeild.

Thought Hearts were really good, especially Halkett, Haring, Baningime and Boyce, who was motm for me. I actually also thought Simms was really good, surprised some Hearts fans didn't tbh. For Saints, Ronan, Brophy and Gogic played well.

In the end, there aren't many Hearts players who wouldn't get a game for St Mirren, they are clearly a better team, but I think we can be very dissapointed with the goals we lost. We can defend far better than that.

[ZingaliMan]

The better team won some dreadful defending from Saints which is quite hard to take as its one of our strong points . For the neutral it must have been a great game end to end stuff. Lastly Saints should have had a penalty not like Scottish refs to miss that. That's the best Hearts team I have seen in many a year. 

[topcat(The most tip top)]

I'd add Baningime and Haring to the superb category and take away Atkinson.
Baningime seems to be back to his best after looking a bit jaded immediately pre- and post-injury. I'm sure that goal will be the first of many.
Atkinson did really well to set up the 3rd but he'll need to improve a lot defensively to make it here. We largely controlled the 2nd half but St Mirren had 2 flurries, the first one caused by Woodburn dribbling into the middle of the park and losing it (again) and the 2nd caused by Atkinson fannying around with a ball over the top to let Jones in, eventually leading to the 2nd goal. He had a good 2nd half going forward but ultimately defending is his primary job.
Not fixating on the negatives though as it was mostly a good performance and 2 of the weaker performers even produced good assists. The swap to 4-2-3-1 has really helped us to recover our form recently and we look far more threatening going forward. 3-4-3 suited us for a while but, inevitably, it got found out eventually and, frankly, the back 4 suits our players better. The strikers are thriving with more space, we're not relying on full-backs playing wing-back and, contrary to previous conventional wisdom, Halkett is fine in a 4 when his partner isn't Popescu or Berra.
As for yesterday's opponents, a tidy enough team who've now provided us with 9 league points and a trip to Hampden this season. St Mirren FC, thank you.

Robbie has talked about playing a back 4 that becomes a back 3 when we’re in possession. Atkinson is generally going to be the one that switches role.

When this strategy works it’s going to produce a best of both worlds solution but the Achilles heel is immediately when our opponents gain possession we’re vulnerable as we reorganise. Most of the times St Mirren looked dangerous last night we’re when they were quickly transitioning from defence to attack. If we’d had time to reorganise we were pretty secure. St Mirren would then have so few options that they were reduced to overly ambitious long range efforts of the kind that are never going to …. Oh bugger!

Atkinson occasionally getting caught out of position is as much a deliberate calculated risk as it is an individual flaw in his game and running that risk is a statement of trust in the other three

It would be easy to argue that Atkinson shouldn’t be first choice right back but until Michael Smith gets back the point is somewhat moot anyway.

Especially as we won and don’t need to whine about how many first choice players we were missing j

[Kyle Reese]

2 minutes ago, topcat(The most tip top) said:

Robbie has talked about playing a back 4 that becomes a back 3 when we’re in possession. Atkinson is generally going to be the one that switches role.

When this strategy works it’s going to produce a best of both worlds solution but the Achilles heel is immediately when our opponents gain possession we’re vulnerable as we reorganise. Most of the times St Mirren looked dangerous last night we’re when they were quickly transitioning from defence to attack. If we’d had time to reorganise we were pretty secure. St Mirren would then have so few options that they were reduced to overly ambitious long range efforts of the kind that are never going to …. Oh bugger!

Atkinson occasionally getting caught out of position is as much a deliberate calculated risk as it is an individual flaw in his game and running that risk is a statement of trust in the other three

It would be easy to argue that Atkinson shouldn’t be first choice right back but until Michael Smith gets back the point is somewhat moot anyway.

Especially as we won and don’t need to whine about how many first choice players we were missing j

Completely agree. His attacking contribution more than makes up for any slackness or getting caught out of position. Bit of a yin and Yang thing about his game imo.

[paranoid android]

McEneff is like Samson - sort your Barnet out, sort your life out.

Tip top Saturday night entertainment - that's prime time, baby!

[DC92]

42 minutes ago, topcat(The most tip top) said:

Robbie has talked about playing a back 4 that becomes a back 3 when we’re in possession. Atkinson is generally going to be the one that switches role.

When this strategy works it’s going to produce a best of both worlds solution but the Achilles heel is immediately when our opponents gain possession we’re vulnerable as we reorganise. Most of the times St Mirren looked dangerous last night we’re when they were quickly transitioning from defence to attack. If we’d had time to reorganise we were pretty secure. St Mirren would then have so few options that they were reduced to overly ambitious long range efforts of the kind that are never going to …. Oh bugger!

Atkinson occasionally getting caught out of position is as much a deliberate calculated risk as it is an individual flaw in his game and running that risk is a statement of trust in the other three

It would be easy to argue that Atkinson shouldn’t be first choice right back but until Michael Smith gets back the point is somewhat moot anyway.

Especially as we won and don’t need to whine about how many first choice players we were missing j

My concerns with Atkinson aren't so much to do with being caught up the pitch, more his basic defending. Letting the ball bounce and then getting on the wrong side of Jones in the incident I highlighted and giving away the penalty v Aberdeen haven't been isolated incidents. He's a young player with some good attributes who's just arrived so I'm far from writing him off but there are a few areas he needs to improve on before he becomes a reliable option.

Given the position we're in I'm more than happy for him to have a run until the end of the season. Having said that, I thought Sibbick looked promising in his brief spell at right-back v Dundee United and it's the position he started in at Wimbledon so he could be another option there if needed.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

On reflection, I’m gutted to go out the cup, but I thoroughly enjoyed Ronan’s goal and overall thought it was an excellent game of football.

[topcat(The most tip top)]

Completely agree. His attacking contribution more than makes up for any slackness or getting caught out of position. Bit of a yin and Yang thing about his game imo.

I was meaning that it’s as much a function of the job that Nielson is asking him to do as the strengths and limitations of the individual

Last time Robbie put a good hearts team together he had the luxury of Callum Paterson to do that job.

[Kyle Reese]

26 minutes ago, topcat(The most tip top) said:

I was meaning that it’s as much a function of the job that Nielson is asking him to do as the strengths and limitations of the individual

Last time Robbie put a good hearts team together he had the luxury of Callum Paterson to do that job.

I was thinking about Paterson when I replied actually. I like Atkinson and think you just have to accept the poor defensive side of things because he can create chances, and I think that is what Neilson is thinking too. I’m okay with attacking fullbacks and wingbacks to be honest. Skacel playing there for Southampton was a weird one however.

[topcat(The most tip top)]

My concerns with Atkinson aren't so much to do with being caught up the pitch, more his basic defending. Letting the ball bounce and then getting on the wrong side of Jones in the incident I highlighted and giving away the penalty v Aberdeen haven't been isolated incidents. He's a young player with some good attributes who's just arrived so I'm far from writing him off but there are a few areas he needs to improve on before he becomes a reliable option.
Given the position we're in I'm more than happy for him to have a run until the end of the season. Having said that, I thought Sibbick looked promising in his brief spell at right-back v Dundee United and it's the position he started in at Wimbledon so he could be another option there if needed.

And if there’s one lesson from yesterday it’s the importance of having credible options ready to step in

[Tony Wonder]

I think with Atkinson he's shown more than enough that he's a good prospect. But he's young and wasn't brought in to start every week, Smith would be playing in an ideal world and he'd get the chance to bed in with less pressure. He's learning a new style of football in a much more physical league, I'm more than confident he'll be a good player for us.

[Tony Wonder]

Really enjoyed that game last night, credit to both teams for being committed to actually trying to win it. Even after we got ourselves back ahead we went for a 4th rather than sitting back. Given we were missing players I thought we looked very good. More games should be on a Saturday night, the atmosphere was quality.

[Aylo vanal]

Really good game of football, everything you want from a cup game with two teams trying to win. 

Hearts were the better team overall but Saints going for it made it really enjoyable, the pass from tait was better than brophys finish and Ronan has hit a worldie.

I thought Haring and baningime were excellent, two DCMs but they got forward very well to support and it made it night and day compared to a few weeks ago when we weren't very productive going forward. 

Kingsley is so good in a back three imo, happy to carry the ball forward. 

Good game. 

[topcat(The most tip top)]

I think with Atkinson he's shown more than enough that he's a good prospect. But he's young and wasn't brought in to start every week, Smith would be playing in an ideal world and he'd get the chance to bed in with less pressure. He's learning a new style of football in a much more physical league, I'm more than confident he'll be a good player for us.

As the prospects of finishing 2nd or 4th continue to diminish it’s fast becoming a perfect low pressure environment

[lennyzer0]

3 hours ago, Aylo vanal said:

Really good game of football, everything you want from a cup game with two teams trying to win. 

Hearts were the better team overall but Saints going for it made it really enjoyable, the pass from tait was better than brophys finish and Ronan has hit a worldie.

I thought Haring and baningime were excellent, two DCMs but they got forward very well to support and it made it night and day compared to a few weeks ago when we weren't very productive going forward. 

Kingsley is so good in a back three imo, happy to carry the ball forward. 

Good game. 

Agree with all of this, though my main take away from recent matches is how much better Boyce looks now that he's not our main striker. Hope Robbie shows some sense and starts McEneff instead of Woodburn on Saturday, though.

St Mirren much better than I expected after the league game (where, tbf, going down to ten men didn't help). That Ronan goal is one of the top half dozen strikes I've ever seen at Tynecastle, but the finish for the first wasn't exactly shit either - but what the hell has happened to Jordan Jones? Wasn't he quite good at one point in the past?

 

[Guest]

4 hours ago, lennyzer0 said:

Agree with all of this, though my main take away from recent matches is how much better Boyce looks now that he's not our main striker. Hope Robbie shows some sense and starts McEneff instead of Woodburn on Saturday, though.

St Mirren much better than I expected after the league game (where, tbf, going down to ten men didn't help). That Ronan goal is one of the top half dozen strikes I've ever seen at Tynecastle, but the finish for the first wasn't exactly shit either - but what the hell has happened to Jordan Jones? Wasn't he quite good at one point in the past?

 

He scored a belter against Kelty in the last round. 

[NorthBank]

Agree with all of this, though my main take away from recent matches is how much better Boyce looks now that he's not our main striker. Hope Robbie shows some sense and starts McEneff instead of Woodburn on Saturday, though.
St Mirren much better than I expected after the league game (where, tbf, going down to ten men didn't help). That Ronan goal is one of the top half dozen strikes I've ever seen at Tynecastle, but the finish for the first wasn't exactly shit either - but what the hell has happened to Jordan Jones? Wasn't he quite good at one point in the past?
 

Aye, we were quite excited getting Jones but besides against Kelty he has been a passenger. Never seen a guy fall over so much. Has talent but lacks commitment.