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OFFICIAL HEARTS JUGGERNAUT THREAD 2020-


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As good a goalkeeper as Zander Clark can be, Hearts fans are in for a bit of a shock. I’ve seen some comments online about him coming in and being more comfortable than Gordon at playing out and distributing as well as coming for crosses. Those are actually his glaring weaknesses, he’s not great with his feet and unless the Hearts coach has instilled some confidence in him, he’ll stay rooted to his line. Don’t get me wrong he’s as good a back up keeper you could hope for and he’s a very good goalie on his day, but I don’t think this is the change of keeper some Hearts fans have hoped for. 

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7 hours ago, Widge said:

As good a goalkeeper as Zander Clark can be, Hearts fans are in for a bit of a shock. I’ve seen some comments online about him coming in and being more comfortable than Gordon at playing out and distributing as well as coming for crosses. Those are actually his glaring weaknesses, he’s not great with his feet and unless the Hearts coach has instilled some confidence in him, he’ll stay rooted to his line. Don’t get me wrong he’s as good a back up keeper you could hope for and he’s a very good goalie on his day, but I don’t think this is the change of keeper some Hearts fans have hoped for. 

Anybody actually arguing that this is an upgrade is clearly just putting a brave face on a scary situation. However it’s considerably less scary than it would have been when Ross Stewart was plan B 

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8 hours ago, Widge said:

As good a goalkeeper as Zander Clark can be, Hearts fans are in for a bit of a shock. I’ve seen some comments online about him coming in and being more comfortable than Gordon at playing out and distributing as well as coming for crosses. Those are actually his glaring weaknesses, he’s not great with his feet and unless the Hearts coach has instilled some confidence in him, he’ll stay rooted to his line. Don’t get me wrong he’s as good a back up keeper you could hope for and he’s a very good goalie on his day, but I don’t think this is the change of keeper some Hearts fans have hoped for. 

Interesting to hear. I don't think the majority are expecting an upgrade on Gordon who probably saves us double figures in points over a season. Hoping that he'll be a solid shot stopper who rarely drops clangers but we'll see. It was poor goalkeeper recruitment that led in a big part to us going down so it's a touchy subject for jambos.

I suspect 3rd place is now much more up in the air than before. A solid commanding cb is a must in January, failure in this respect would be farcical. 

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7 minutes ago, Falcor Roar said:

Interesting to hear. I don't think the majority are expecting an upgrade on Gordon who probably saves us double figures in points over a season. Hoping that he'll be a solid shot stopper who rarely drops clangers but we'll see. It was poor goalkeeper recruitment that led in a big part to us going down so it's a touchy subject for jambos.

I suspect 3rd place is now much more up in the air than before. A solid commanding cb is a must in January, failure in this respect would be farcical. 

Ohh I don’t for a minute think any Hearts fans are expecting and upgrade, because you’re not getting one. I just thought it interesting that some were hoping that he might level out Gordon’s other weaknesses, when in actual fact he’s almost a lesser version of Gordon. He’s a good shot stopper who’ll occasionally have a blinder, but he’ll also let in goals where you wonder should he have saved that. Even when he was at his best for us, there was always that “what next” moment in him. 

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Clark had ~18 months of being a reliably solid goalkeeper who could throw in absolutely storming games. He single handedly kept us in a game v United last season, and his "goal" at Ibrox the season before overshadowed another one man show in goal. That followed 18 months worth of clownshoe performances which peaked with him literally giving up against Rangers after sclaffing a clearance straight to their striker, letting other folk take goal kicks while he leaned against the post, and included Motherwell scoring from about 30 yards with a shot that was moving slow enough he could've literally just put a foot out to stop it instead of whatever it was he done to let it past him.

In essence, its hard to know what you're getting aside from the inevitable punt out for a throw in, and resultant throwing up of his hands, every time he sees the ball.

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I respect the St Johnstone fans' input on this one, but you have to understand where we're coming from in terms of who our back-up keeper was before we signed Clark.

Had this Gordon injury happened a year ago, it would have been a catastrophe. As it is, I think it's perfectly survivable for the team. Centre-half a much bigger issue.

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10 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said:

I respect the St Johnstone fans' input on this one, but you have to understand where we're coming from in terms of who our back-up keeper was before we signed Clark.

Had this Gordon injury happened a year ago, it would have been a catastrophe. As it is, I think it's perfectly survivable for the team. Centre-half a much bigger issue.

You also have to understand how bad Clark is when his confidence is low. Last time he played in front of a shite, shakey, CB pairing it evaporated and shit like this was happening.

giphy.gif

Full power to him for turning it around once the team in front of him improved, but im not lying when I'm saying he was the worst keeper in the league for 18 months (through watching him and figures, he was conceding a goal every 2 shots on target over a season) and almost everyone bar the "back every player at all costs or your not a real fan" crowd wouldn't have minded him being replaced.

Edited by RandomGuy.
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1 minute ago, RandomGuy. said:

You also have to understand how bad Clark is when his confidence is low. Last time he played in front of a shite, shakey, CB pairing it evaporated and shit like this was happening.

giphy.gif

Full power to him for turning it around once the team in front of him improved, but im not lying when I'm saying he was the worst keeper in the league for 18 months and almost everyone bar the "back every player at all costs or your not a real fan" crowd wouldn't have minded him being replaced.

The worst one, IMO, was the Ross County one 😂

Proper Sunday league stuff.

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5 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

You also have to understand how bad Clark is when his confidence is low. Last time he played in front of a shite, shakey, CB pairing it evaporated and shit like this was happening.

giphy.gif

Full power to him for turning it around once the team in front of him improved, but im not lying when I'm saying he was the worst keeper in the league for 18 months (through watching him and figures, he was conceding a goal every 2 shots on target over a season) and almost everyone bar the "back every player at all costs or your not a real fan" crowd wouldn't have minded him being replaced.

I'm sorry, but

image.jpeg.8a95de6637bf5471a4bd852b1bab97e4.jpeg

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3 minutes ago, The Saintee said:

The worst one, IMO, was the Ross County one 😂

Proper Sunday league stuff.

Which one?

The one where he passes it to the unmarked player 6 yards out? Or the one where he comes for a simple claim, tries to punch it, and completely misses it while taking out a CB?

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I was thinking that sounds like the Czech daftie. Brilliant one game, hilariously inept the next.

A bit worried how Clark will work with a defence who have not been able to deal with cross balls. Having Rowles and Halkett back will make a difference, but I wonder if it's also a weakness in the coaching at Hearts. Neilson seems to have a blindspot for the importance of a solid defence. 

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12 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Which one?

The one where he passes it to the unmarked player 6 yards out? Or the one where he comes for a simple claim, tries to punch it, and completely misses it while taking out a CB?

The pass in particular. It was something else.

 

You just know he's going to turn into Lev Yashin for the Jambos now.

Edited by The Saintee
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14 minutes ago, Falcor Roar said:

I was thinking that sounds like the Czech daftie. Brilliant one game, hilariously inept the next.

A bit worried how Clark will work with a defence who have not been able to deal with cross balls. Having Rowles and Halkett back will make a difference, but I wonder if it's also a weakness in the coaching at Hearts. Neilson seems to have a blindspot for the importance of a solid defence. 

Our defence made Zlamal look competent, so I think it’s safe to say it did the same for Clark. As @RandomGuy.has said, he’s at his worst with a fluctuating and porous defence in front of him, so the signs may be ominous. Give him a settled and solid back line and he’ll be one of the best in the league. 

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3 minutes ago, Widge said:

Our defence made Zlamal look competent, so I think it’s safe to say it did the same for Clark. As @RandomGuy.has said, he’s at his worst with a fluctuating and porous defence in front of him, so the signs may be ominous. Give him a settled and solid back line and he’ll be one of the best in the league. 

I think the defence certainly did him no favours at the point he was bottom of the stat charts as RG mentioned above. We went months of every other shot being a free hit from six yards out. It was little wonder his save percentage was so low - he was left helpless constantly.

He cut out the mental stuff in his last 18 months and, for me, was the main reason we weren’t automatically relegated last season and was absolutely integral in the cup double. His performances in all the Hampden games were faultless including some exceptional saves. Very much capable of absolute heroics (see the very late save he made away at Galatasaray to secure a draw there) and did that more often than not over his time as Saints number one.

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End of the day Clark is a great keeper and a great signing for us, he knows this is his chance and I'm sure he'll take it and do a great job.

As for the defence, major work needed. I have no idea whats happened with Kingsley this season, no the same player at all compared to the past two.

Halkett looks to be the new Souttar with all his injuries, but when fit can be an absolute unit.

Sibbick needs a huge kick up the arse, still want to like him but he's been here a year already and I think I've counted 3-4 good performances from him? Not anywhere good enough at this moment in time.

Smith not getting any younger at what, 34/5? A good backup at the very most.

Atkinson probably on same level as Sibbick, except he's never a defender for me, exceptionally good at attacking however.

Neilson is young and I think he'll get a run of games soon enough, I like what I've seen maybe apart from the red card against Fiorentina.

Rowles Royce's name speaks for itself.

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49 minutes ago, Stylish Kid said:

I'm not counting chickens after 2 consecutive second half switch-offs. Admittedly, injuries impacted that. 

 

If we keep up well in the league, priority must be a cup win 

One of these days we’re going to produce a full 90 minutes and rip someone to pieces

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