OrlandoDon

Ugh. Poor second half but to win that, I’ll take it. First 40 mins were good, the rest was pretty piss. Good god, Ambrose…. Yet to see anything to suggest he’s ever played before. Looks pathetic and unfit. How?? Like playing with 10!

Another shitty goal to lose, Molloy is not the best in the air, doesn’t win or judge the long ball header, much like the first game of the season.

I think he really helped with the transition to the new management team, and clarkson speaks highly of him in the Dundee pregame press conference. But is/was he simply this years Barry Robson? Robson did all the right things last year, it was leven this year, how much of a loss would he be? It’s not been that long, but JT now has a grasp of Scottish football, and I think leven staying was a condition of JTs hiring. Would think JT would bring in someone as good if not better as a replacement, no??

Yup. If it wasn’t for his goals Gueye is straight to the bench. Clarkson is a talent and probably brings more out of those around him, and either McGrath left and topi right, that’s a creative attacking 3. I think clarkson is a natural fit and, not trying to be negative, I expect gueye’s purple patch to end and clarkson returns to the 10 with topi on the right. much like with morris, I do see gueye as a good player to bring off the bench when we need a change or are chasing a goal.

Meh. Not a fan of grey, I think we had grey before. Looks like washed out white. Or at least what my whites look like eventually…

Curious to see how center mid lines up, I’d say palaversa is more of a sivert than a shinnie, and we maybe miss shinnie’s runs when he’s not in there. Hard to drop shinnie though when fit, do see palaversa on the bench. topi back to right mid or gueye again? Clarkson at 10 or gueye? Manager has some decisions to make. 2-1 us, McGrath and nisbet.

I think we all agree, and kinda why I listed many of them, what a pile of shite they are. Most mentioned the last few years when we were looking for a manager, and I agree hearts wouldn’t consider a few of them. No real candidates stand out domestically, or being Scottish, I suppose Tony Doc could be the up and comer, and would Del go to his 4th premiership team, I’m not so sure. I’d say foreign is the route to go, but as I said, we’d done more than enough research on JT, could see this taking a while.

Really curious to the direction hearts go. There’s Neil, mcinnes, Lennon, Tony mowbray, Paul lambert, and, pretty please, Craig levein. I suppose maybe callum Davidson, Scott brown, and Rhys McCabe should be considered too? Then you look at rangers and Celtic who have gone the foreign route, as have we and with a very positive start. And, Neil warnock is available! i don’t think hearts have planned for a new manager, and I doubt they’ll rush into it. I’d be surprised if they have anyone in place for our game. Popcorn at the ready, intrigued as to who comes in.

Sure, or not. 50/50. But I don’t see them hiring anyone over night and they have a bitch of a travel right before our game. New manager or not, tough ask of them.

Even with Naismith gone, to find a new guy right now and get their shit together will be tough. We play them in 3 weeks right after they’ve traveled to Minsk, it’s a tough ask just like we experienced last year. We appear to have aced it with JT but that took a couple of years in the making. Don’t see or hear of anyone legit that would impress me.

Think we put today in perspective. While a strong performance, they’re a league 2 side. I did like our press though, we never let them settle, it was relentless. think we have a player in palaversa. Curious to who are our best two in center mid. Clarkson is class and gueye isn’t a winger. Nice problem to have but we’ll have depth off the bench and maybe 6-7 are guaranteed to start. Competition for places keeps standards high and effort strong. Thought JT managed the game well with good subs. Interesting to see that we never saw Ambrose. Wonder if we see him again.

Hmm. Thought this may happen, but not a fan. Little bit of a square peg round hole, don’t see gueye as a wide player, more of a free roaming type.

Loving hearts season to date!

Don’t mind if we never see duk play again for us. At the same time, he’s come back , apologized, and pretty much silence since which suggests he’s keeping a low profile and working. The fact that he came back in arguably the best shape we’ve seen him in is a plus, even though I’m sure he was training in order to impress elsewhere. id certainly prefer to see duk off the bench than Ambrose who has done nothing to suggest he can contribute at our level. Give duk a few regular minutes so that we can get some pounds for him later in the season.

Said this before, leven would be smart to stay for at least a season and learn under JT. Going to more than double down on that statement now. JT appears to be something special but we have still to get drama, adversity, a bad loss, injuries etc, and how does JT handle that. Leven will learn a ton over the course of a season. If he’s smart, leven stays at least a season then gets a championship job, raith, Morton or the likes. To jump into a premiership relegation battle as your first head position would be very difficult.

Kind of, but what is our strongest 11? Does a fit clarkson start ahead of an on form gueye? Is palaversa as good or better than shinnie or sivert? We don’t know yet. We have to remember that while we are not guaranteed a win , they are 4th in league two! I would not be surprised to see clarkson and palaversa start, although I hope we play gueye and clarkson off the bench, and I hope he doesn’t play clarkson for McGrath and move gueye wide. Wouldn’t be surprised if Vinny started over keskinen given he was away on international duty and had travel and two more games. its a big advantage that we haven’t chopped and changed weekly but we still have to prioritize long term. Our starting 11 is pretty much oozing confidence, I think we can tweak it a little to get others up to game speed without sacrificing quality. sivert doesn’t need another full game, he’s an experienced pro who can do without another 90 minutes and another booking! I use the term resting as that’s the word used these days, but much like we rotated Simmy Cooper and Dougie Bell, we can do likewise to have all three in the middle contributing strongly.

You cant go with your ‘best’ 11 every week. Impossible to keep a squad happy, particularly as you sign better players. You have to manage personalities and egos, and players need minutes. I’m proposing one change against Spartans at home in the cup to develop and further integrate a former 7M player, I didn’t suggest we play our bench next time we go to ibrox. agree we can go with less rotation since we dont have Europe, but we still need a first team squad who are match sharp and playing regularly.

I use the rest term loosely, it’s more get palaversa match sharp(er) as he’ll be needed and we have tougher games coming up. Not underestimating Spartans but let’s see more of him and I don’t think he was signed to be a benchwarmer. We’re seeing JT use all his 5 subs each game for the most part and squad harmony is a challenge. I think this is a good opportunity to start palaversa and bring sivert off the bench if needed. Agreed, don’t want shinnie taking 3 weeks off but no clue what’s going on there. Yes it’s one game a week but it’s two 33 yr olds we’re heavily relying on that why not keep the OAPs as fresh as possible.

Don’t want to underestimate Spartans but I’d be inclined to rest sivert and start shinnie with palaversa, give them the opportunity to gel a little, assuming shinnie is fully recovered from whatever the issue was last week. If shinnie hasn’t fully recovered then it’s same as last week. I also think palaversa will be clearly needed thru the course of the season that let’s get him match sharp for October and tougher games. I also think with two 33 yr olds, if palaversa is a player, we want him happy and extended to the 3 years (are years 2 and 3 purely our call??) clarkson needs to get match sharp too but impossible to bench gueye. I think gueye will fade but let’s milk it while we can (although I’d love to be proved wrong!) Our team pics itself with sivert on the bench with McDonald, clarkson, sokler, Vinny, morris, mcgarry, and Ambrose. 4-0 us. Nisbet, gueye, McGrath, and Keskinen.

Mitov looks legit. Very good signing, back up is fine. devlin backed up by Milne, Mackenzie backed up by mcgarry, ruby and Molloy have Macdonald to cover, with Milne an option in the middle too. not a great back 4, I wouldn’t call any really strong, but decent. Ruby, molloy, and Mackenzie are all young so should improve. Priority moving forward is a new contract for Mackenzie. Pleasing to say, on first impressions, shinnie, sivert, and palaversa have our midfield 2 covered. With the ages of the first two, hoping we can keep palaversa happy with plenty of playing time as he can be long term, although someone will pay if he’s good. Clarkson and gueye can compete for the 10, with polvara to come in once fit, not sure where he’s best. McGrath can play any role in there if we’re stuck too. Again, priority here is McGrath new contract. Keskinen and McGrath left and right, backed up by Morris and Vinny who have both contributed this season already. up top certainly hope Nesbit comes good. I’d say sokler has been one of our few disappointments season to date, and Ambrose has shown nothing to say he deserves minutes. once clarkson is fully fit I’m assuming gueye could play 9 if needed. A new 9 must be a priority if nisbet is not long term.

Considering it’s early season work in progress, over the moon. Still feel we’re finding our feet, integrating players, and will become more ruthless. From today palaversa, nisbet, and clarkson aren’t match sharp. I understand fresh legs too but against the toughest teams I doubt we’ll sub so much, all lessons for JT to learn as he navigates teams in Scotland. good to hear palaversa seems solid, nice to be able to still enforce in midfield without shinnie. Think we’ll be solid in there all season provided two play, and McGrath and clarkson are given the freedom to be creative…..maybe adding gueye here too. while our start is impressive, equally impressed with hearts. And their next league game isn’t easy, love it. Hoping Huns and utd draw tomorrow.

First impressions of palaversa?

Yeah, we’ve tried to start him, he’s had chances, but confidence has certainly improved. coming off the bench when opponents are tired may be helping him.

Loving this new signing pape gueye!!!

Haven’t seen much but good ball movement at times, little sloppy too though. Lovely goal, palaversa looks decent, more sivert than shinnie by the looks of things. Topi reminds me a little of mcginn, confident on the ball and wants it, but certainly more pace.