joewarkfanclub

Hearts have signed a lot of good players, so you would expect that, even with squad rotation, they would have started the season more impressively. Given our injury woes, you would have thought it would be a stick on win for them. Now Im not so sure. It will be interesting to see how they get on midweek and how much that takes out of them.

Thought we looked solid first half yesterday without doing anything spectacular. We shaded it on possession and territory with more of the game being at the Kilmarnock end than ours. Neither keeper having a save of note to make. Second half I thought we looked sharper even before the sending off. There were anumber of crosses across the 6 yard box that Robinson should really be gambling on. He could have had a couple of tap ins if he had. Findlay can have no complaints about the sending off. It was madness to commit to that tackle having already been yellow carded. After that I felt it was pretty much one way traffic. The subs certainly improved our attacking threat. Moses looks a far more instinctive finisher than Robinson and seems to know where to be in the box. Watt and Maswanhise improved our attacking intent and creativity. The young winger looks a real find if he can replicate that most weeks. We look much more solid defensively this season and I dont think we will concede as many goals. Killie never really troubled us at the back until the latter stages when we seemed to panic and lose our composure a little. Personally, I felt we thoroughly deserved to win the tie, and although being far from the perfect performance, there are signs of encouragement that once the injury crisis begins to clear, we will be more than fine this season.

A fit Ryan Jack is exactly the type of player we need. A real proper defensive mid who would protect our backline and let Miller (& others) go play their football. He should be out of our price range and probably doesnt view us as his next club. However, the closer to deadline day it gets, then we might have a chance of getting him. A 6 month deal would probably suit both parties. We dont extend any risk on his fitness beyond January, and he gets to look at other clubs again in the next window whilst guaranteeing some game time. Giving someone like Jack a 2 year deal given his injury record and our current predicament, I agree, would be nuts.

Personally Id love us to ditch the 5 at the back and move to a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 or similar. But Ketts seems wedded to it for some reason. Hopefully our suffering will be short lived and we get some of our injured players back quicker than expected.

I dont disagree, but the majority of our midfield is injured. If you play Watt as an advanced midfielder he can link the play and let Miller get back to doing what he does best.

Its not about being vocal on social media. Its having the analytical mind and enthusiasm to identify the flaws in the argument of the thing that threatens the existence of the thing you care about. And then using social media to get that out there......

Im guessing it will be a 5-4-1 of some description. The only guess will be if Watt is fit enough to start and if so how the 4 are organised. Heygi might get a start in the Cup just to keep him and his parent club happy. Personally Id stick with the Ox. Ox McGinn Gordon Casey SOD Seddon Davor Miller Watt Wilson Robinson There is an argument for starting Halliday instead of Davor or Watt, possibly Wilson, but Im still not sure what he brings over and above his experience. Id keep him on the bench in case we need to close the game out or Davor gets injured / runs outta steam. Personally, Id like to see young Wells in one of the advanced midfield roles with Watt and try and play on the front foot. But SK is probably too conservative to do that.

I agree with pretty much all of this. Having already cast my votes, I used a similar logic. Thankfully, a number of candidates have both the skillsets and are able to evidence their unwavering support for fan ownership. My only regret is that there were not more votes available as there was 1 guy who was deserving of a vote for the work he did getting our story out there and I had to chose between him and another worthy candidate. Regardless, I think this whole episode proves that there are enough of us who care deeply about the club to make sure fan ownership not only continues, but is likely to thrive. Many thanks to all those who ran the hard yards to get us here.

He is the very definition of a perma-crock. No doubt a fit Ryan Jack would do a job for us. But given our current injury status, even I would be questioning SKs decision making if we go down that route!

The support needs to be up for this and park any frustrations we may have surrounding the manager, signings and injuries. The cup is important to us financially and we have a home tie against a beatable opponent with similar resources to ourselves. Lets get behind the team and leave any recriminations until the game is over.

Watt has balls of steel and the hide of a rhino. He will need them if he doesnt hit the ground running. That said, he is in the last year of his contract and will be eager to impress potential suitors. So, if we can benefit in the short term while he earns his next deal, Im fine with that. But Im under no illusions that Tony thinks he owes anyone anything. I will be shocked and stunned if he was anywhere near Fir Park next season.

I thought I did. Maybe not. Too late now anyway. Will just need to get feedback later. Thanks.

Is there a zoom link to the agm? I didnt get an email.

Have a good one Grizzly. Hopefully we might have one or two back for your return. Who knows. Maybe even a couple.of loanees!

I suppose it depends on your definition and use of the word. When I see it used, I think of a player with a poor injury record that will continue to be unavailable due to a poor injury record. Im thinking Obika. And tbf, it could reasonably be used in his case and was proved to be so. Im not sure any of the players that we have signed are likely to be crocks in that regard. Sure we have a few who currently have bad injuries, but does that mean they wont be available for the rest of the season? It could well turn out that way. Im just not sure it isnt too early to judge right now.

Not the point you made though. I agree that life for SK looks pretty tricky right now. But as you said, he doesnt care what you or I think. Thats only a problem for one if us.

Tough watch as expected given the selection issues. Thought we dug in well for the most part. Couldnt really see the first goal. Second is a great finish but Wilson is caught wrong side and neither he or Seddon get close enough to put any pressure on the ball. Very disappointing having got back into it. Second half was a bit better. Got up the pitch more without creating too many clear cut chances. Looked like a really good save by Butland from Robinsons shot. AVS looked more of a threat than Robinson before he had to go off which is frustrating as it looked like some sort of muscle injury when he went down, so could be out for a few weeks. We reallly need some bodies in the door. Itherwise its going to be a geim few weeks.

Thought SOD had another decent game. Made some great runs going forward. If any of his team mates would get their heads up he might see more of the ball. Young Wilson showed some decent touches in an advanced position and was generally solid. Halliday looked better, albeit its still a low bar. Thought the defence did ok for most part although it was a bit harem scarem at points. Didnt get a clear view of the goals so cant say if anyone was at fault. MOTM for me though was Lennon Miller. Showed the most composure on the ball. Held it up well and tried to bring others into play. His weight of pass was beautiful at times.

Id say its more unfortunate for those that cant stand every manager we have ever had and want them sacked 2 minutes after they have been appointed.......

Dont let facts get in the way of blaming SK for every injury we have!

I agree. But if you are the manager and want to play a certain way, you should identify and sign players that fit with that philosophy. Its an entirely different situation SK finds himself from when he got the job and had someone elses players. I think this is one of the valid criticisms of him as a manager so far, in that he has signed the players. He should be committing to a tactical set up that maximises the sum of the parts. Once he has all HIS players fit and available for selection he should be judged at that point.

Looked more like a 10 to me but I could be wrong. Regardless, I hope SK can use his man management skills to get a tune out of him wherever he plays......

No arguments there.

I understand what you are saying and I would agree with it to a point. But we dont know that he was brought in as a direct replacement for Spittal. Particularly as Spittal was still at the club when he signed. If he was then its a valid criticism. If he was signed as a back up, less so. I think Stuparevic is more likely to have been signed as a Spittal replacement, but again I have no evidence of that. What I do know is, that despite having good technical ability and no significant injury record, he was released by Watford and has now ended up with us. It would suggest that mentality is maybe his problem. Again something SK has taken a chance on. By and large its the market we are in.....

Are you saying we shouldnt be discussing it?