Hearts vs. Raith Rovers

[embow]

That's some amount of Union Jackery nonsense hangin' around in Tynecastle like a dirty washing. Trying too hard to be a west end Edinburgh Ibrox clone with the Hibs inhabiting Leith in the east

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

1 minute ago, embow said:

That's some amount of Union Jackery nonsense hangin' around in Tynecastle like a dirty washing. Trying too hard to be a west end Edinburgh Ibrox clone with the Hibs inhabiting Leith in the east

They sure like their stands tyled.

[San Starko Rover]

That Nielsen interview is embarrassing, no idea why Hearts brought him back he didn’t exactly have the Dundee Utd fans raving about him or upset that he left. Comes across as a very sore loser when ever Hearts are beaten and deflects the blame onto everyone else which is quite embarrassing (see Neil Lennon). Hearts should go up without much of a challenge but they’d be better shot of him as manager. Far better managers that a club like Hearts could attract. Big club, big support, great stadium, great city and cash to spend. No idea how long his contract is but Hearts should let it run out.

[Sarto Mutiny]

Hi lads. Thanks again for the six figure fee to take Robbie Neilson off us. Love you xx

[baillieinleeds]

1 hour ago, San Starko Rover said:

That Nielsen interview is embarrassing, no idea why Hearts brought him back he didn’t exactly have the Dundee Utd fans raving about him or upset that he left. Comes across as a very sore loser when ever Hearts are beaten and deflects the blame onto everyone else which is quite embarrassing (see Neil Lennon). Hearts should go up without much of a challenge but they’d be better shot of him as manager. Far better managers that a club like Hearts could attract. Big club, big support, great stadium, great city and cash to spend. No idea how long his contract is but Hearts should let it run out.
 

^^^^this. Unfortunately they keep hiring shite managers. Craig Leven was awful, then they doubled down and hired Stendel. By that time the rot set in. There was no way that team were turning around their fortunes. That’s why they’re here and blaming everyone else. 

[topcat(The most tip top)]

That Nielsen interview is embarrassing, no idea why Hearts brought him back

The fact that things went spectacularly well last time he was Hearts manager is probably a major factor.

Mind you Craig Levein’s first spell went well so there’s no guarantees in life.

[Scottydog]

Would have been a joy to behold if Hendry had scored that pen, 2-0 at HT.  I can just picture it, with fresh impetus and Neilson's griping fresh in Jambo lugs Duko makes it 3-0 while the taste of squeezed orange is still fresh in their mouths, I reckon their heads would have gone then big style and if not then majorly once Tumilty made it 4.

[topcat(The most tip top)]

15 hours ago, embow said:

That'll be John McGinn now of Aston Villa?

 

15 hours ago, steakngravy said:

I think his names McGlynn.

Apologies for the typographical error

In mitigation, I'd had a pretty stressful afternoon

 

 

[CALDERON]

Thought Hearts TV was excellent in terms of production value and commentary. Probably the best I've seen this season.  Really like the camera angle for the first pen. 

Best of all, managed to find a free stream. 

 

[Raith Against The Machine]

20 hours ago, Raith Against The Machine said:

Robbie Neilson either didn't think we'd push our fullbacks on or, more likely, decided to let Frear and Mackay-Steven not track back to create an overload on the counter, but it hasn't worked at all. 

Particularly in the early stages, Kingsley and Smith had to deal with their wide player and a Rovers fullback pushing on. 

There are going to be plenty chances for both teams as this game goes on. 

Just to illustrate this point, with the first penalty...

It's the Rovers' right-back, Reghan Tumilty, who starts on the ball. Mackay-Steven appears about half-way through to come and cover the winger, Dan Armstrong, who's hanging in support, which gives a good idea of just how uninterested (by instruction, I'm sure, as above) the Hearts' wingers were in tracking back. GMS must start about 40 yards away from "his man". And then once he gets there, and Kingsley hands Tumilty off to cover Armstrong with the ball, Mackay-Steven half-heartedly steps out to cover the ball back up the line, then switches off as Tumilty goes into the box. If Armstrong isn't fouled and finds the cutback, Tumilty has acres of space for a shot at goal. 

It feels like a real abdication of sensible management by Neilson. He seems (from the limited exposure I've had to Hearts this season) to be keen on letting his attacking players off the leash, without defensive responsibilities, in order to maximise their impact. But that seems totally backwards to me. If Hearts spent just a little more effort keeping it tight at the back, the attacking quality they've got would absolutely shine through more often than not when they do have the ball. 

Particularly at Tynecastle, Hearts are always going to have a lot of the ball, and they'll create a lot of chances. They don't need to get into these situations like this, and the Ayr Utd game, where they're trying to outgun teams. Especially with the Rovers well-publicised lack of training, they were never going to have the legs to keep it tight defensively all afternoon. If Hearts were just a wee bit more conservative, they'd have had a much, much better chance of keeping a clean sheet in the first half and then turning the screw in the second. 

You can see the same thing with the third. When the ball is turned over in midfield, Tumilty and Ginnelly are side-by-side in the top right hand corner here, albeit Tumilty is on his toes because he's going to close down Kingsley. By the time the ball goes into the goal, Tumilty is on the goal-line and Ginnelly isn't in shot, eventually appearing at the edge of the D complaining to the linesman about the alleged handball. 

When you look at this Rovers team and where they're going to damage you, it's going to come down the wings. Kennedy adds an extra dimension because he's happy to go outside or inside, but broadly speaking we've got inverted wingers and full-backs who are keen to push on. You can't expect your full-backs to defend that on their own, they need support. Neilson totally failing to give his own full-backs any extra protection is naivety in the extreme. If he asks Mackay-Steven and Frear (and later, Ginnelly) to play ten yards deeper and keep an eye on the overlap, Hearts probably still score at least twice - but there's no way the Rovers score three. 

Edited January 24, 2021 by Raith Against The Machine

[Ro Sham Bo]

Gozie's back heel 

Kennedy for the 2nd and 3rd goals 

MacDonald's late saves 

This Rovers team (that we'll sadly never get to see in person ) 

[Wee Sandy]

3 hours ago, San Starko Rover said:

That Nielsen interview is embarrassing, no idea why Hearts brought him back he didn’t exactly have the Dundee Utd fans raving about him or upset that he left. Comes across as a very sore loser when ever Hearts are beaten and deflects the blame onto everyone else which is quite embarrassing (see Neil Lennon). Hearts should go up without much of a challenge but they’d be better shot of him as manager. Far better managers that a club like Hearts could attract. Big club, big support, great stadium, great city and cash to spend. No idea how long his contract is but Hearts should let it run out.
 

Jist.....sshhhh! 

[Wee Sandy]

Does anyone have a link to Neilson's rant?   Thanks

 

[topcat(The most tip top)]

54 minutes ago, Raith Against The Machine said:

Just to illustrate this point, with the first penalty...

It's the Rovers' right-back, Reghan Tumilty, who starts on the ball. Mackay-Steven appears about half-way through to come and cover the winger, Dan Armstrong, who's hanging in support, which gives a good idea of just how uninterested (by instruction, I'm sure, as above) the Hearts' wingers were in tracking back. GMS must start about 40 yards away from "his man". And then once he gets there, and Kingsley hands Tumilty off to cover Armstrong with the ball, Mackay-Steven half-heartedly steps out to cover the ball back up the line, then switches off as Tumilty goes into the box. If Armstrong isn't fouled and finds the cutback, Tumilty has acres of space for a shot at goal. 

It feels like a real abdication of sensible management by Neilson. He seems (from the limited exposure I've had to Hearts this season) to be keen on letting his attacking players off the leash, without defensive responsibilities, in order to maximise their impact. But that seems totally backwards to me. If Hearts spent just a little more effort keeping it tight at the back, the attacking quality they've got would absolutely shine through more often than not when they do have the ball. 

Particularly at Tynecastle, Hearts are always going to have a lot of the ball, and they'll create a lot of chances. They don't need to get into these situations like this, and the Ayr Utd game, where they're trying to outgun teams. Especially with the Rovers well-publicised lack of training, they were never going to have the legs to keep it tight defensively all afternoon. If Hearts were just a wee bit more conservative, they'd have had a much, much better chance of keeping a clean sheet in the first half and then turning the screw in the second. 

You can see the same thing with the third. When the ball is turned over in midfield, Tumilty and Ginnelly are side-by-side in the top right hand corner here, albeit Tumilty is on his toes because he's going to close down Kingsley. By the time the ball goes into the goal, Tumilty is on the goal-line and Ginnelly isn't in shot, eventually appearing at the edge of the D complaining to the linesman about the alleged handball. 

When you look at this Rovers team and where they're going to damage you, it's going to come down the wings. Kennedy adds an extra dimension because he's happy to go outside or inside, but broadly speaking we've got inverted wingers and full-backs who are keen to push on. You can't expect your full-backs to defend that on their own, they need support. Neilson totally failing to give his own full-backs any extra protection is naivety in the extreme. If he asks Mackay-Steven and Frear (and later, Ginnelly) to play ten yards deeper and keep an eye on the overlap, Hearts probably still score at least twice - but there's no way the Rovers score three. 

Good post. One of the annoying things about having to watch Hearts on TV is that you can't see the whole pitch at once

committing forward and taking risks  at the back is probably more forgivable at the 3rd than the penalty because it makes it more sense at 2-0 down in the second half than 1-0 down in the 25th minute.

Going behind early was obviously a shock but if they had kept calm they had 85 minutes to put things right. Instead they reacted as if time was quickly running out . 

 

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

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

 

Apologies for the typographical error

In mitigation, I'd had a pretty stressful afternoon

 

 

Were you 8 miles high at the time?

Oh, hang on, that was McGuinn.

[topcat(The most tip top)]

4 minutes ago, Zen Archer Esq. said:

Were you 8 miles high at the time?

Oh, hang on, that was McGuinn.

Are you the Irish Rover?

Oh hang on, that was MacGowan

[Raith Against The Machine]

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

Good post. One of the annoying things about having to watch Hearts on TV is that you can't see the whole pitch at once

committing forward and taking risks  at the back is probably more forgivable at the 3rd than the penalty because it makes it more sense at 2-0 down in the second half than 1-0 down in the 25th minute.

Going behind early was obviously a shock but if they had kept calm they had 85 minutes to put things right. Instead they reacted as if time was quickly running out . 

Yeah, I agree. By the time of the third goal there's a clear justification for Ginnelly hanging back, in case the ball is turned over again. I think the issue, though, is that Neilson took that attitude even at 1-0. 

A more pragmatic manager would look at the pattern of the game up til that point and make the change, but I think Neilson looked at it and thought "f**k, we're getting beat, we definitely need the boys forward now". But that just let the Rovers continue and left the door open at the back for the remainder of the game. 

[Broken Algorithms]

1 hour ago, Raith Against The Machine said:

When you look at this Rovers team and where they're going to damage you, it's going to come down the wings. Kennedy adds an extra dimension because he's happy to go outside or inside, but broadly speaking we've got inverted wingers and full-backs who are keen to push on. You can't expect your full-backs to defend that on their own, they need support. Neilson totally failing to give his own full-backs any extra protection is naivety in the extreme. If he asks Mackay-Steven and Frear (and later, Ginnelly) to play ten yards deeper and keep an eye on the overlap, Hearts probably still score at least twice - but there's no way the Rovers score three. 

Kennedy's ability to dictate the play was incredible yesterday. For both the run up to our second penalty and the third goal, he slows the play down then zips away using his low centre of gravity to turn quickly and get away from his man. On both occasions, it looked like the passage of play was going to just going to fizzle out with no meaning but on each occasion he's turned and got away. I think John Robertson said the main issue with him will be consistency but if he's doing that every few games he'll be a huge player to have. 

[Wee Sandy]

2 hours ago, Wee Sandy said:

Does anyone have a link to Neilson's rant?   Thanks

 

Anybody? !!

 

[Beachbum]

Even if Hearts do go up Neilson's just the man to bring them straight back down again. Promoted way above his ability.

The irony is that another former Hearts' manager, John McGlynn, is streets ahead of him.