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meadowbank thistle V Heart of Midlothian


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10 minutes ago, FreedomFarter said:

Not the pitch. It's because aggressive high pressing in centre midfield is a huge strong point of Livi's. Pittman and Omeonga are brilliant at it. Holt too although he wasn't used today. It's very hard to play through. Omeonga was actually used specifically to shackle Snodgrass in the 1-1 match at Tynecastle earlier this season. Then Hearts don't have the numbers in wide areas (only a single wing back on either side) to build up down the flanks. So that left long through passes to spring a fast centre forward as Neilson's best option. Oda struggled but the tactic worked with Kuol second half.

That's part of it for sure, but other teams have pressed us well recently and we've stuck with trying to play through it. I guess we'll find out when Livi come to Tynecastle after the split.

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3 hours ago, VincentGuerin said:

In any given match the gap is small enough that the games are competitive, but over a 38-game season I'm pretty sure we'll see that Hearts are significantly ahead of the others.

I've been confident since the autumn that we'll be third by double figures.

We're not Man City, but we're a step above the others. I'd be surprised if it's not the same again next season.

I'd say the stats this season back up your point.

Last season against 4th-12th:

P30, W17, D8, L5.

57% wins, 83% unbeaten. Finished 13 clear in 3rd.

This season:

P19, W11, D6, L2.

58% wins, 89% unbeaten.

So essentially we're on the same course as last year. That course can change obviously, but it's a course that leads us to a comfortable 3rd with very few defeats to the teams below us.

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47 minutes ago, DC92 said:

That's part of it for sure, but other teams have pressed us well recently and we've stuck with trying to play through it. I guess we'll find out when Livi come to Tynecastle after the split.

Of the non-OF teams, only really St Mirren utilise pressing to a similar extent as Livi. Then they do it differently, they use their two forwards to press the opposition centre backs from the off. Livi instead wait for the opposition to play it into centre mid and then pounce.

As for the next Tynecastle match (if we make Top Six), decent chance it'll be a dead rubber for Hearts with 3rd place already assured by then.

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1 hour ago, Crawford Bridge said:

I don't even support Livi and I'm sick of the constant mewing about your pitch. It must be extremely boring for you guys by now? 

Mate, don’t. Just don’t. 

The thing that always gets me is, when people say the pitch is shite - compared to what? If we’re comparing it to a perfect grass pitch, with no drainage issues? Yes, our pitch IS shite. Are we comparing it to McDiarmid, or the fucking quagmire that is Hampden? Because if we are, then our carpet wins hands down. 

Anywho. Thanks for posting that pic. He is just pristine. 

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

whether the poor quality of spectacle is more to do with the pitch or tactics is open for debate but
 

The Livingston pitch has seen less goals in total (at either end) than any other ground in the league 

 

It saw 5 this game.

 

 

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4 hours ago, Tony Wonder said:

Quite clearly not as bad as it would've been on that monstrosity. It runs long, it bounces all over the place, the ball sticks because it's too dry.  It's absolutely shite and the wind added an extra factor. 

Decent point given how many we had out/rested. Didn't let Livingston close the gap, but we really have to be taking the chances we missed. Sitters.

It ran long today in the first half for Hearts because of the wind and them over hitting it, not adjusting their game to the conditions. 2nd half they had more joy playing into the wind and getting onto their passes. Grass pitches bounce all over the place, esp in the winter when they're all cut up, and they're absolutely shite to play on but hey, that's fine because they're grass.

Listen i understand folk not liking plastic pitches, but most of the reasons given are visual, and everything else just complete shite. Best just saying you don't like them and leaving it at that. We're 5 seasons in playing on it and Killie's has been around in the top flight even longer, nobody is ever changing their opinions on it now and it's boring.

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19 minutes ago, Insert Amusing Pseudonym said:

Pitch, weather, lack of ability or a not from all 3 - both teams had only 60% completed passes today, which must be some sort of record low.

Dreadful stuff

Martindale's comments to  the bbc match report pretty much explains the reasons for that. 

Quote

"I thought I spotted Dick Campbell in the stands today - I think he borrowed the wind machine from Arbroath! The midfielders came off the park with a sore neck because the ball just went over the top of them. We were playing the conditions."

 

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It's not a bad point away to livi these days tbh,

Looking back at the highlights it looks like we had the better of the chances and if Kuol shows a bit more composure then we would have won that imo, but we need to be patient with him and I'm sure he will start putting those type of chances away soon enough.

Positives for us are that we rested 2 or 3 starters and still came out with a point at a tough venue.

I do fancy us to take something against Rangers on Wednesday, I just hope that we get a fast start and get after them from the start, we are capable of a result if we play to our best imo.

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13 hours ago, hoobahabba said:

Think Hearts fans are a bit guilty of overstating the impact of the pitch on the quality of the match. Effective though it has been of late, you don’t play a particularly scintillating brand of football. I would have thought the “sticky” nature of our pitch, if anything, would have suited your more direct approach.

The merits of the pitch aside, it's an odd decription of Hearts' play this season to claim it relies on the 'direct approach'. We do score the occasional goal that misses out the midfield (see Sibbick's magesterial long pass for MIchael Smith against HIbs, for instance) but generally we play through the midfield and out to the wing backs to a sometimes frustrating degree.

Edited by lennyzer0
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Neilson is a meticulous tactician who is very flexible and pragmatic with his approach. He regularly sets up to counter specific opposition threats, especially in away matches where the opposition will attack Hearts more. Even in-game yesterday, we saw him subbing Ginelly on at right wing back as a counter to Livi having given left back Penrice free reign to bomb on. Ginelly both had the pace to match Penrice's forward runs and the attacking mentality to try and force Penrice onto the back foot. It successfully neutralised Penrice (scored twice in our last league match) who'd been growing increasingly influential for Livi until then. Neilson is always making these little tweaks. He got his tactics spot on yesterday and would've got the win had Oda and Kuol not fluffed their lines. Hearts fans just going "pitch" are doing their own manager a disservice.

As for Hearts playing a shorter passing, possession-based build up, of course Neilson instructs that regularly especially in home matches. It's no doubt his preferred strategy and we did still see a couple of glimpses of it yesterday. He knows, though, that Livi can be hard to play that style against. The last Tynecastle match between the sides saw Livi disrupt Hearts midfield build up expertly. Then at Almondvale, where opponents play more conservatively, Livi push even harder for that midfield dominance.

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3 hours ago, lennyzer0 said:

If you don't, and one of Hibs or Aberdeen do, it'll be a travesty.

Yeah great chance for us to get top 6 this season the way Aberdeen have performed, fancy St Mirren will finally get their top 6 spot too. Hopefully Aberdeen don't get a lift from appointing a new manager, and St Johnstone don't do their usual charge for top 6 coming into the split.

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3 hours ago, lennyzer0 said:

The merits of the pitch aside, it's an odd decription of Hearts' play this season to claim it relies on the 'direct approach'. We do score the occasional goal that misses out the midfield (see Sibbick's magesterial long pass for MIchael Smith against HIbs, for instance) but generally we play through the midfield and out to the wing backs to a sometimes frustrating degree.

Well yesterday’s approach was certainly much more direct than we’ve seen from other teams who have not said a word about the pitch. I think hearts fans and players (Humphrys’ tweet) are taking their cue from Neilson who decided to be vocal in his disdain for the pitch before and after the game. Possibly because he knew he was going try to fight fire with fire instead of “superior” football. Easier to blame the pitch for a shit game of football than your own setup. 
 

I’ll freely admit that our style of play frequently results scrappy contests like the one you saw yesterday. That’s what we have to do to succeed in this league with our budget. Your club and fans are making a meal of the pitch.

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1 hour ago, hoobahabba said:

Well yesterday’s approach was certainly much more direct than we’ve seen from other teams who have not said a word about the pitch. I think hearts fans and players (Humphrys’ tweet) are taking their cue from Neilson who decided to be vocal in his disdain for the pitch before and after the game. Possibly because he knew he was going try to fight fire with fire instead of “superior” football. Easier to blame the pitch for a shit game of football than your own setup. 
 

I’ll freely admit that our style of play frequently results scrappy contests like the one you saw yesterday. That’s what we have to do to succeed in this league with our budget. Your club and fans are making a meal of the pitch.

Used to be our big physical players, in a team full of short arses, saying that our most aggressive players are Omeonga and Holt, 2 wee guys, and yesterday Kuol was Hearts', another slight built wee guy.

 

However it isn't a bad thing for us having opposition managers and players psyched out before a ball is kicked thinking about our physicality and plastic pitch, doesn't really do them much good having that in their heads going into a game with us. Some teams are so hyped up about it they forget their natural game and just want to get into a battle with us, which suits our style of play more than theirs.

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