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OFFICIAL HEARTS JUGGERNAUT THREAD 2020-


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

The general sentiment in the autumn was that if we could get through a dreadful injury crisis and the demands of playing twice a week for a protracted period of time while staying in touch with the pack by Christmas  then we should be able to pull clear once those issues alleviate. We’re now one point behind Aberdeen who play Rangers on Tuesday and we only missing five players through injury

I’d  have taken that 

 

Aye, I think we all would and where we are now is probably a wee bit better than what we'd have accepted as fine back in mid-September or so. The team have done well.

The future's not ours to see, but as a starting point for the rest of the season last weekend was great. Time to go and deliver now.

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8 hours ago, VincentGuerin said:

Aye, I think we all would and where we are now is probably a wee bit better than what we'd have accepted as fine back in mid-September or so. The team have done well.

The future's not ours to see, but as a starting point for the rest of the season last weekend was great. Time to go and deliver now.

I'm pretty confident we'll go on to finish 3rd now, particularly if we are able to add a few more options as back up/ competition for Shankland. A long term successor to Michael Smith would be good as well, although Atkinson may yet prove to be that option.

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19 minutes ago, Navallion said:

2 goals 43 games

Although most of those 43 games are substitute appearances (They start when he's 19) so that ratio isn't as damning as it looks. Nonetheless if he's not starting regularly J League that's not encouraging but he's only 21. Probably best not to pin all our hopes on him though

Kobe have an aging Andres Iniesta in their side which should be good preparation for working with Snodgrass

Edited by topcat(The most tip top)
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8 minutes ago, topcat(The most tip top) said:

Although most of those 43 games are substitute appearances (They start when he's 19) so that ratio isn't as damning as it looks. Nonetheless if he's not starting regularly J League that's not encouraging. 

Kobe have an aging Andres Iniesta in their side which should be good preparation for working with Snodgrass

I wouldn't be worried about it. The J-League is a strong league and he's playing at a club that's participating (and doing well) in the Champions League.

A player of his profile should easily be good enough to play in our league.

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45 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said:

I wouldn't be worried about it. The J-League is a strong league and he's playing at a club that's participating (and doing well) in the Champions League.

A player of his profile should easily be good enough to play in our league.

Players tend to break through a bit later as well. The guy we were after last year that looked good, Ogashiwa, wasn't playing regularly til about a year older than Oda.

He might not end up great, but we have been looking at that market for a while. Savage has pulled a few gems out the bag and this boy will be pretty low cost and is a youth international.  I think it's the kind of signing that's worth making now and again. And even if he's a bit raw he looks lightning quick, which in Scotland can carry you a long way on it's own. 

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8 minutes ago, Tony Wonder said:

Players tend to break through a bit later as well. The guy we were after last year that looked good, Ogashiwa, wasn't playing regularly til about a year older than Oda.

He might not end up great, but we have been looking at that market for a while. Savage has pulled a few gems out the bag and this boy will be pretty low cost and is a youth international.  I think it's the kind of signing that's worth making now and again. And even if he's a bit raw he looks lightning quick, which in Scotland can carry you a long way on it's own. 

I was going to make the same point. Also, looking at more established players, Hatate appears not to have made a senior appearance until he was 22, likewise Furuhashi (and that was in the J2 League). Maeda was playing regularly in the J2 League.

Definitely looks like more of a "project" signing than the previous Korean and Japanese players we've been linked with, but as you say we've been scouting that market for at least a year now.

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Our luck with injuries is horrendous, Halkett looks like he will be out again for some time and Gordon's season is over imo, which is devastating for us.

It looks like we need to bring in some more reinforcements in January,

We could really do with a centre back similar to Halkett who can play 30+ games a season and stay injury free, Hallkett injury now looks like it's a recurring problem which is a worry.

I would like us to go out and invest in a right sided Centre back, that should be our priority now imo.

Yutaro Oda

Callum Paterson

Outside of that is there anything else we need? Another Striker or can it wait till the Summer?

Obviously he is not the same level but i am comfortable with Zander Clark coming in for Gordon.

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Probably no need to do anything keeper-wise unless Clark ends up looking Pereira-esque in these next few games. Thank f**k we signed him.

I've been going on about the need for a no-nonsense alternative to Halkett for a year now. I'm sure we'll bring someone in, but it's frustrating that we'll have to go several more games without being able to defend high balls until then. It would be nice if Sibbick can pick up where he left off before the World Cup but he'll never bring what Halkett does. Hopefully his injury isn't as serious as it looked because he'll be extremely difficult to replace.

Another forward or two is also a must. I've no idea what's going on with Humphrys but even if he's back soon 2 strikers isn't enough to rely on. Oda looks locked in so I'd like to see him plus someone with a bit of physical presence.

I'm not completely sold on bringing Paterson back. A great character who brings the aerial ability we've been missing in both boxes, but what's his position? I thought he had loads of potential at right-back but he's basically been converted into a lower league battering ram since going down south. Given the bulk he's put on I'd be surprised if he's still mobile enough to play the right-back role he did for us before and I just don't rate him as a striker or wide player. A good option to chuck on with 10 minutes to go but we'll need him to find a permanent position in the first XI given his wages won't be insignificant.

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RN has talked about players leaving in this window. 

GMS and Wee Hendo are maybe among the most obvious candidates, but GMS is still recovering from a broken foot.

Cheesy Stewart might have moved, but not now.

I suddenly have a bad feeling about Haring - seems to have had 'concussion' for some time now.

I had GMS feelings when Grant came off the bench yesterday in that I had no faith in him doing anything of any consequence - neat and tidy on the ball, and moves it about, but not much in the way of an end product, which is pretty much what we signed him for.

Grant and Kio are behind Connor Smith for me - hope we don't send him on loan again. 

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Completely agree that it's time to spend to address the defensive issue. No question now we need to prioritise a right-sided central defender. Up front is one where it would be nice to bring someone in, but it really depends what the club know about Humphrys, as if we have him and Shankland then that's not too bad, with Gino as a reasonable enough fall-back. Not against bringing another in though.

Could Paterson turn out to be a reasonable body to bolster both areas? I'm not completely convinced, but his height would certainly help with our defensive vulnerability from cross balls, and I think in our league he'd be useful in an attacking sense too and an option to mix things up, especially since we now often have good balls going into the box from Snodgrass. Not desperate to sign him, but I can see a rationale.

Goalkeeper-wise I'm fine with Clark, that was always a no-brainer of a signing for me. In our new situation, maybe wise to try and upgrade our now back-up option though. Even a loan back-up till the end of the season? With the luck we've had, would anyone rule out Clark breaking his arm or something? We'd be fucked.

On the plus side, I think that point at Tannadice was decent overall. United are coming onto a game at home, and it was never going to be easy.

Furthermore, that game goes along with the comeback from 2-0 at Killie after a European Thursday, grinding it out at Ross County post-European game, grinding out three points with ten men against Motherwell post-European game, then saving a point with ten men against Livi. The team are showing a level of backbone we have not seen in a Hearts side for years. To lose Halkett, Kingsley, and Gordon but still stick at it and dig out a point is another good sign. We keep picking up wins and draws from difficult situations that will frustrate our rivals for Europe. A team with less spine would have been 5-8 points worse off from our last couple of months. I don't think you could reasonably look at us trailing in a game with ten minutes to go these days and not have a decent level of hope that we'll get back into it.

Overall, pleased with where we are, but we definitely need to do good work in January.

Edited by VincentGuerin
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