Hearts vs Dons

[manc_don]

Yikes, not a great place to be heading to when confidence is having a bit of a wobble and we appear to be a bit fragile. Hearts are always hard at home, unless you're celtic it would seem. I see they're already down against Cercle Brugge, do we want them to get pumped and be demoralised, or does that just fire them up? Personally, I don't think it'll make a difference, they hate us as much as we hate them and they'll see this as an opportunity to slay us.

Question is, do we shake up the defence for this one? My thoughts are no, but we probably need the midfield to do a bit more legwork to assist them. Can't legislate for switching off, it just can't happen. Hopefully Sokler get's a big boost from his finish (said that plenty of times, but it's getting a bit more frequent now), and leads the line well. Not sure what was up with Nisbet, he was well and truly pish against hibs. Do we see the return of Dante? Not quite sure where he fits tbh.

Out

Bed

Bed

recovering from Covid 

2-1 them, sokler

[RicoS321]

I'd start with the team that started the second half against the other Edinburgh cheek.

[OrlandoDon]

I know what I want but not sure it will happen. I think we need a win to get back on track, I’d start shinnie palaversa and sivert, McGrath left and topi right. Morris and duk make an impact coming on second half. Sokler starting up top.

sadly, I think our bubble has burst, 2-2. Sokler and shinnie. 

[Jute]

Devlin being in the squad is a positive as really did not want to go to Tynecastle with Milne at right back. I would start with Sokler up front with Clarkson behind him and McGrath and Keskinen wide. I agree with Orlando that Duk and Morris are more effective off the bench plus Morris does not contribute enough defensively. I would be tempted to maybe rest one of Nielsen or Shinnie with the Victims up next but not sure we will. Cannot start game way we have in last two as Hunbos have players to hurt us and that lard ass Shankland always tries against us. 
 

In

Pub

away end

bus home

2-1 Sokler and McGrath

[Jute]

[STFU_Donny]

I have the fear.

[RicoS321]

Wild. No Rubi or Shinnie. That's a fair chunk of aggression missing. MacDonald probably deserves a chance, and I'm glad that he'll at least be able to play on his right side for once. Palaversa been poor of late, so interesting to see how he gets on. Polvara on the bench again, good to see.

[STFU_Donny]

McGarry is a massive concern for me. From the limited game time he has had, he hasn't looked up to it at all. 

[KennyFuckinPowers]

Well, this will be.....interesting. I think. 

[Jute]

I am assuming McKenzie is injured as not in team at all. McGarry has looked poor everytime he has played. Morris starting is odd one as all of his impact has come from the bench against tiring players. He also is defensively suspect. 
 

Putting both on to score anytime. 

[OrlandoDon]

OOft. Interesting line up. Obviously trust Jimmy but tough game to make these changes. On the positive side he’s placing a challenge on squad players, good for him to have faith, but we know what they are capable of…concerningly. 
time will tell….but I’m not a fan of this line up.

[RicoS321]

I totally didn't notice the McGarry inclusion. Jesus.

[RicoS321]

Hearts lads dropping like flies. Delayed reaction to @BigAl's wish for them to suffer career ending injuries.

[RicoS321]

Yasss. Clarkson. Great finish. Shady Mo again 

[redordead]

That was a rough second half. Again, struggling to get a foot on the ball up the pitch. 

Thought despite a couple of slack passes Nilsen was everywhere winning the ball. Shady was outstanding for the first half and Milne was excellent. 

The games changers on the bench struggled to get into it though.

Not a bad result at tynecastle 

I'd still question playing McGrath wide instead of someone that can get past their man. Especially the way we spray it wide early.

I think it's him or Clarkson, not both.

[OrlandoDon]

Pretty painful watch. Think we scored our only shot on goal. That’s three games in a row now we’ve been pretty shit, and it’s Celtic next. Expected to lose today, especially after seeing the line up, and we looked god awful first 5 mins. 
we looked tired for much of that, as did hearts, although they were still better and more energetic. 
thought duk was poor again, palaversa did little, and I agree, we need a left winger, that’s not McGrath. While the service was shite, another game we have no number 9.

didnt hear half time, whats mitov’s injury? Also think devlin is pretty beat up and running himself into the ground.

[manc_don]

Haven’t caught the game yet, but how did the defence and in particular mcgarry play? I’m guessing not great. I’ve the fear of we have to play doohan for any stretch of time.

[redordead]

4 minutes ago, manc_don said:

Haven’t caught the game yet, but how did the defence and in particular mcgarry play? I’m guessing not great. I’ve the fear of we have to play doohan for any stretch of time.

Actually thought doohan looked comfortable and was quick off his line when needed ( the goal was a bit of a fluke with a deflected cross then it comes off Devlin from the header)

Mcgarry played ok until going off.

[BigAl]

1 hour ago, OrlandoDon said:

Pretty painful watch. Think we scored our only shot on goal. That’s three games in a row now we’ve been pretty shit, and it’s Celtic next. Expected to lose today, especially after seeing the line up, and we looked god awful first 5 mins. 
we looked tired for much of that, as did hearts, although they were still better and more energetic. 
thought duk was poor again, palaversa did little, and I agree, we need a left winger, that’s not McGrath. While the service was shite, another game we have no number 9.

didnt hear half time, whats mitov’s injury? Also think devlin is pretty beat up and running himself into the ground.

We actually had 50% more shots on target than Hearts had 

Whilst not a great watch, when all is said and done a one each draw is one of our better results in recent years down there 

[BigAl]

1 hour ago, OrlandoDon said:

Pretty painful watch. Think we scored our only shot on goal. That’s three games in a row now we’ve been pretty shit, and it’s Celtic next. Expected to lose today, especially after seeing the line up, and we looked god awful first 5 mins. 
we looked tired for much of that, as did hearts, although they were still better and more energetic. 
thought duk was poor again, palaversa did little, and I agree, we need a left winger, that’s not McGrath. While the service was shite, another game we have no number 9.

didnt hear half time, whats mitov’s injury? Also think devlin is pretty beat up and running himself into the ground.

Oops

Doubler 

[BigAl]

[RicoS321]

1 hour ago, manc_don said:

Haven’t caught the game yet, but how did the defence and in particular mcgarry play? I’m guessing not great. I’ve the fear of we have to play doohan for any stretch of time.

Defence was fine, McGarry played well for a guy who hasn't played all season. Wouldn't want him against the Tims, as he was shaky defensively, but he wasn't bad. Struggled to get past his man, but used the ball well for the most part. He was better than Milne was when he came on, but I expect a lot of that is due to him being on his wrong side. 

Overall, it was a reasonable point. We are hitting a wall, I think, in terms of the squad. We looked tired, and the fresh legs didn't feel particularly fresh. It's the first time I felt that Thelin didn't quite get the changes right. He was slow to change it, and the sporadic changes just seemed to interrupt the flow of the game rather than being freshness. Given they were the better side at times, that might have been deliberate. Mitov was a big loss in that second. He's loud and commanding (even when he's not playing well or coming for things he shouldn't). Players are confident in passing it back to him, and we didn't have that at all with Doohan. I can see the niggling little injuries starting to happen as we move into winter, and I think we'll struggle. Would have been good to see Polvara get on today. 

[STFU_Donny]

7 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

I can see the niggling little injuries starting to happen as we move into winter, and I think we'll struggle. Would have been good to see Polvara get on today. 

I’m not too concerned as most teams are in the same boat and we have options in midfield and up top, defensive cover is an issue though. At least after the St. Johnstone game the team get 2 weeks before facing Hibs on 21st. 

[OrlandoDon]

Arguably the third hardest ground to go to and as I said before, I expected a loss so 1-1 isn’t bad. And bigger picture, still an excellent season and clear second. But definitely our wobble and some players look tired. Celtic will come up fresh, curious to what 11 we field.

thought Mcgarry was really poor the first 15 mins and gave the ball away almost every time. He looked nervous but I do credit the guy, he didn’t hide. With a little more determination too could have had a goal. Certainly hope to god jack is fit for Wednesday. Thought McDonald and Malloy were decent, no real errors. Devlin looked gassed.

First game I think we looked weak off the bench. Topi is off form and I don’t think he gave us a boost, whereas I do believe morris is a good sub to make and worries opponents. I don’t think we could bring on anyone who would significantly change the game. Duk is back to the duk I’m happy to see leave.

i agree it really has to be clarkson or McGrath, I don’t think it ultimately works with both. With polvara coming back I think it allows us to play shinnie sivert and palaversa together too, with Dante the natural central midfield sub. While I think morris is better off the bench, if JT is going to start him, why not topi left? Seen a few highlights of him playing left before. But hopefully a position we recruit for.

was a game where sokler got little, not sure miovski would have made a difference. 

[BigAl]

19 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

Defence was fine, McGarry played well for a guy who hasn't played all season. Wouldn't want him against the Tims, as he was shaky defensively, but he wasn't bad. Struggled to get past his man, but used the ball well for the most part. He was better than Milne was when he came on, but I expect a lot of that is due to him being on his wrong side. 

Overall, it was a reasonable point. We are hitting a wall, I think, in terms of the squad. We looked tired, and the fresh legs didn't feel particularly fresh. It's the first time I felt that Thelin didn't quite get the changes right. He was slow to change it, and the sporadic changes just seemed to interrupt the flow of the game rather than being freshness. Given they were the better side at times, that might have been deliberate. Mitov was a big loss in that second. He's loud and commanding (even when he's not playing well or coming for things he shouldn't). Players are confident in passing it back to him, and we didn't have that at all with Doohan. I can see the niggling little injuries starting to happen as we move into winter, and I think we'll struggle. Would have been good to see Polvara get on today. 

Your first couple of sentences literally contradict one another.

Was McGarry ok or shaky ?

I was cacking it when Doohan came on but I was actually ok with him over the piece.

Two wicked deflections on the goal he conceded