Dunfermline Vs Hearts

[Insert Amusing Pseudonym]

We'll look back on this and laugh when we win the league by 15 points.

Not really, it'll still be mildly annoying

[Derry Alli]

5 hours ago, Grant228 said:

I Think some are getting a bit ahead of themselves

It certainly reads like that. After beating the league favourites you obviously get folk going on the wind up but some of the Dunfermline fans need to pull in their excitement. It was a decent result and probably a deserved three points. Good to read a sensible head Grant. 

[Black and White Tragic]

We'll look back on this and laugh when we win the league by 15 points.
Not really, it'll still be mildly annoying

Most league winners have a defeat that jolts them out of complacency. Time will tell if that was yours or if we might have an exciting Championship race this season.

Hoping for the latter of course.

[milton75]

10 hours ago, 101 said:

Neilson straight over to the ref obviously asking why play wasn't running until they scored. 

Get it up you Robbie you greasy shite

Has anyone ever straight-out asked Neilson why he modelled his look on Steven Pressley? I honestly can't think of any situation in which anyone, looking at Pressley across a dressing-room, would have thought "that's what I should look like".

[RandomGuy.]

No shock to see it looks like Boring Bob is going to stumble his way to another Championship title with numerous losses on the way, despite being handed, yet again, a budget that blows the rest of the league combined out the water.

[Bucuresti Par]

A very good performance from us, everyone contributed but our central midfielders in particular were excellent and McManus did well in his normal 'being a pain in the arse' role up top. We need to defend set pieces better as we were lucky Popescu hit the bar twice when it was easier to score, but in general our defending as a team so far looks a lot more solid. It was competitive, Hearts had more possession, territory and a few other very good chances (Boyce & Naismith). We did have a few good chances on the break second half as well, so overall 2-1 was about right but it could easily have finished 2-2. 

I'd like to see us swap Thomas and Dow over more often during games, because with Thomas on the right, there is always a chance he can cut in like that and gets shots away. Anyway an excellent start to the season for us, will it enjoy whilst it lasts, no point in looking too far ahead, a tough game at Arbroath next weekend and then a top of the table clash with the wee team which is always a battle. We have a hard working, well organised team with some good attacking players who should be competitive in every fixture, you can't ask for more than that, we will see where that takes us.

[Sarto Mutiny]

No shock to see it looks like Boring Bob is going to stumble his way to another Championship title with numerous losses on the way, despite being handed, yet again, a budget that blows the rest of the league combined out the water.

I resemble that remark

[Shandon Par]

2 minutes ago, Bucuresti Par said:

and McManus did well in his normal 'being a pain in the arse' role up top.

Thought he was superb and that he’s a better player than first time around. Always looks to me like Crawford must work hard one-to-one with the forwards as they all show flashes in games of stuff that he used to do. 

[101]

29 minutes ago, milton75 said:

Has anyone ever straight-out asked Neilson why he modelled his look on Steven Pressley? I honestly can't think of any situation in which anyone, looking at Pressley across a dressing-room, would have thought "that's what I should look like".

That's true hadn't really noticed that, at least he has updated the shoes from pishy brown ones to "pundit favourite" black with white soles.

 

Also folk saying we are getting ahead of ourselves? Don't know what they mean, I've booked the Monday after the final game of the season of.

[Stoo61]

Getting ahead of ourselves?

Its quite clear we are going to go undefeated this season. 

[DAFC.]

It was a disappointing evening from our point of view but if that constitutes a metaphorical “pumping” then I’m guessing their wives have far more disappointing evenings than us.

[Shandon Par]

1 hour ago, 101 said:

That's true hadn't really noticed that, at least he has updated the shoes from pishy brown ones to "pundit favourite" black with white soles.

 

Also folk saying we are getting ahead of ourselves? Don't know what they mean, I've booked the Monday after the final game of the season of.

I hope you're busy writing your letter of apology to Mr Crawford for saying you'd be happy with a draw here. 

[101]

5 minutes ago, Shandön Par said:

I hope you're busy writing your letter of apology to Mr Crawford for saying you'd be happy with a draw here. 

Don't know if you missed my plane over East End Park this morning?

[the jambo-rocker]

Dunfermline should have been out of sight. No way the scoreline reflects how far Dunfermline were ahead of us last night.

I wish I could say that's the worst I've seen us play, but that performance was probably an accumulation of most our performances (not including Hibs and first half Dundee) all manifested. Neilson has turned us into Dundee United of last season, but with no Shankland to bail us out.

[Salvo Montalbano]

Good result and performance last night which is very pleasing. If we can get something from Raith and Dundee then I'll start to think we might even have an outside chance of challenging for the title rather than just aiming for the play offs.

In terms of last night's match, one big difference was in the performance of both sides "big name" players. For Dunfermline, Whittaker was excellent in an unassuming way, just mopping things up and keeping Naismith quiet for the most past. McManus never stopped running and managed to get us up the park a few times and win some free kicks. Thomas scored one and assisted another. For Hearts, Gordon had one good save and could do nothing about the first goal but gave away a needless corner and should have done better for the winner. Naismith looked short on confidence and obviously has no pace any more. Boyce fell over a lot and missed a sitter.

Another was the full backs. For us, we'd have been expecting Comrie and Martin to play this game at the start of the season but instead we had Mayo - a centre back on loan from Rangers - and Edwards - who started off reasonably well last season but didn't get a look in once he had a poor game and Lewis Martin made the position his own. For both of them to play well is a huge plus. Mayo should have scored and did well down his side (although Hearts seemed very narrow do he didn't have much to do until they went to a back three) and Edwards was solid barring one mistake which he then immediately made up for with a fantastic recovery challenge. For Hearts, Smith is someone who I was expecting a lot from but didn't offer a huge amount and Frear was pretty poor. Halliday didn't do much when they changed shape either. To not get any width when you have someone like Boyce up front seems wasteful from Neilson.

Finally, our central midfield pairing of McInroy and Turner were superb. They covered every blade of grass, got stuck in when required but also showed some great feet to get out of tricky situations or win free kicks to relieve the pressure. They'll both be disappointed not to score - McInroy's shot wide was the wrong option as Billy Dodds mentioned in commentary but Turner's chance was just awful - but they can be happy with their showing. I wasn't sure about Turner often last season because he often tried the fancy thing rather than the sensible and easier option and he looked a bit lightweight but he has came on leaps and bounds. With Iain Turner on the bench there is some competition there and although our squad is quite light we can change shape fairly easily with the personnel we have. Reasons to be optimistic for the DA. Hearts will still probably win the league as other teams will take points off each other more often than Hearts drop points but it doesn't make last night any less enjoyable.

[mac.i]

Has anyone ever straight-out asked Neilson why he modelled his look on Steven Pressley? I honestly can't think of any situation in which anyone, looking at Pressley across a dressing-room, would have thought "that's what I should look like".

Worked in Sports Connection at the west end of Princes Street when they were both players at Hearts, one day in walked a wee group of hobos wearing Hearts training gear..... then I noticed it was those two and friends.
The wee homeless boy who sat along the street looked better turned out......

[SandyCromarty]

Well done Dunfermline a great result for yourselves and for the Championship.

[Ludo*1]

24 minutes ago, mac.i said:

The wee homeless boy who sat along the street looked better turned out......

Paul Hartley.

[RiG]

1 hour ago, Salvo Montalbano said:

Finally, our central midfield pairing of McInroy and Turner were superb. They covered every blade of grass, got stuck in when required but also showed some great feet to get out of tricky situations or win free kicks to relieve the pressure.

I think the tone was set when McInroy (I think) right from kick off when steamrollering into one of the Hearts players. Seriously impressed with the work rate of those two charging about the pitch to close down Hearts when they had the ball but also to get back into position to maintain Dunfermline's shape. 

As has already been said letting Thomas cut in from the right side onto his left food is daft. He scored a wicked goal against us last season doing something similar and given that Murray has already scored 23 goals from corners this season bold of Hearts to not bother marking him last night.

[VinnyPar]

Morning lads