Santa comes again and again and again

Hey Hey, Merry Christmas one and all!

Santa came a second time this year, after his Christmas day exertions he found the strength to visit us on boxing day at Tynecastle to serve us up a crazy, dramatic, 3 - 2 of a storming game of football - i loved it.

Coming into this game Hearts had a nowadays very creditable victory away to Dundee Utd under their belts and Hibs had a stupendous tanking of St Mirren to bolster their confidence levels. So both teams had good cause to feel that this game was there for the taking.

The supporters on both sides of the Boundary Bar certainly thought that way as the atmosphere on the run up to kick off was electric, full of expectation and excitement.

The game then started at lightning pace , with first the Hearts defence in disarray as a Hibs attack in the first minute was not dealt with well and the ball spun free to Abdessalam Benjelloun (Benji), he really should have done better but it was maybe just too early for him, he took the shot with his right foot when his left was the obvious option and the ball spun a foot or two wide of the mark. The Hearts defence looked troubled, as ever the back four had been changed again, Robbie Nielson out and Nerijus Baresa back in and Takis Fyssas replaced by Jose Goncalves. Failure to clear lines under some pressure from Hibs attack led to that chance and may well have led to more, so it was prudent of Hearts to remember that they were also in the game to score as well as stop the other side from doing so. This they done with their first attack of the match after just a few minutes. A decent ball clipped forward into the path of Roman Bednar on the right side of the penalty box was cut back well for Hartley to scream onto and slam the ball home. Found out later that there were big cries for an offside decision against Bednar.

HMFC 1

Hibs 0

A pretty shocked, but wholeheartedly delighted Tynecastle faithfull lifted the roof from three quarters of the stadium, and lifted the lid off this match. The game moved rapidly into hyperdrive, with tackles flying in from all sides, and controlled football at a premium the game was hugely exciting but definitely not for the purest. By 15 minutes in it was pretty clear that somebody was going to walk today, the only surprise being that it took to well into the second half before the hammer fell. No that is not the only surprise, the manner of the sending of was also a major surprise, more of that later.

Whilst both midfields were tearing around the park, at 100 miles an hour, I guess you would argue that Hibs midfield when on the ball were looking the superior outfit. Hibs do move off the ball well and they are happy to play passes through with either feet. Hearts style is a touch more direct, prefering to play a longer ball to the front two who then try to bring the midfield into play. These comparisons however pale into insignificance when the panic that could befall either defence is brought into focus. For a period in the first half the Hibs defence seemed incapable of completing a pass to or from their long suffering keeper. The perpetual goading from the Hearts crowd at this mallaise was wonderfully cruel. As the game took it's second major twist this was to reach a whole other level of cruelty - professional sadism on a mass scale.

The argument goes that Hibs are the best footballing team in Scotland at the moment. This has been argued now for an annoyingly long time and what does it mean anyroads. Thats best footballing team as opposed to best football team the best football team being the one that wins the league ofcourse. The best footballing team is the one that can deliver an exciting and impressive display of footballing skill and guile and flair, the team who can play brilliantly and give teams a sound thrashing at times but which ultimately fails at vital hurdles and in the final analysis flatters to deceive - well if Hibs want to lay claim to that title they are welcome to it. The better football team will always finish above the better footballing team every time.

I am not sure i agree with it anyway, looks to me like Hibs success for what it is is as much down to a good old fashioned pressing game which i have to say is mighty impressive from what i have seen. That pressing game folks is exactly the tactic employed by the Hearts midfield today and it too was mighty impressive. For the remainder of the first half Hibs were limited to a fortunate bounce that allowed Chris Killin straight through on goal, 12 yards out with Craig Gordon rushing out, Gordon made himself big and the ball was knocked wide, when it looked like the equaliser was a certainty. I would like to put that down to great goal keeping.

Whilst Hibs were limited in attack to just those two opportunities, Hearts were not exactly peppering the opposite end. A shot screamed aross the Hibs goal with Jankauskas already pulled back for offside, still he should have buried it. A number of shots hide and or wide of the mark and a few corners were as close as Hearts came to extending their lead in the opening half.

Many weird dramas in that first half, one to note was the full on volley to the dogs preverbials that Paul Hartley took, 3 seconds later as he was just scrambing to his feet he got passed the ball from Salius Mikoliunas with three Hibs players bearing down on him. I could smell the fear! He done really well to collapse under pressure and get the foul.

Half Time

HMFC 1

Hibs 0

Half time stand about is always more pleasurable when you are a goal to the good but the half time entertainment which i have actively avoided this year from them first couple of games ( is it still that stupid try to score through the big advert for a taxi company or whatever? ) was well received by the crowd. Some old Jambo favourites - Jimmy Sandison and Jose Quitongo were playing the game and you do shoot at the Hibs end so maybe thats why the cheers were louder than usual.

Second half started much as the first ended.

Then.

Looked awfully like Santa visited us again, this time in the shape of Zibi Malkowski the Hibernian goal keeper, as he cost Hibs the second goal with a dreadful fumble from a free kick that allowed Edgaras Jankauskas to sneak in.

During the warm up before the start of the second half i noticed Malkowski stretching, doing the splits etc like a proper gymnast it was. Very impressive, he really should concentrate on his hands though, being able to do the splits really is not that useful in goal.

Que the sadistic taunts from the Hearts end, which at this point surrounded Malkowski.

The poignant ballad.. Zibi is a Jambo, Zibi is a Jambo.

Followed immediately and at 5 million decibels by the anthemic ..We love you Zibi, oh yes we do, we love you Zibi, oh yes we do.

The poor man, but he should not worry too much though his time as Hibs goalkeeper will soon come to an end.

HMFC 2

Hibs 0

Now then it is pretty much unforgiveable to through away a 2 goal lead, the team who have managed to attain their lead should really go on to control the game, run it down and frustrate the opposition. Hearts are dysfunctional though are they not, they proceeded to allow Hibs a lifeline back into the game with a poorly defended corner which allowed Chris Killin in unmarked to bring the deficit back to the single score.

HMFC 2

Hibs 1

The crazy panic in defense this time rooted itself in the minds of the Hearts back 4 and with their tails up Hibs seized control of the midfield and pressed hard.

Hearts found it almost impossible to clear the ball any further than 20 yards upfield and if they did it would be picked up by The Hibs defensive line and sent straight back down the throat of the Jambos. Mikoliunas sent what was probably his best through ball into the box, trouble was it was meant as a pass back to Gordon and resulted in a completely needless corner.

Another failure to just get rid of the ball was picked up by Hibs and a good ball put through the inside left channel, Baresa was turned and the penalty if a little soft looked inevitable.

The Penalty was dispatched well into the bottom right corner with Gordon going to his right.

HMFC 2

Hibs 2

Then Santa returned once again this time in the guise of Dean Shields the penalty taker who got himself sent off for accosting Craig Gordon immediately after equalising from the spot - Absolute bonkers, just a complete mental case, no doubt Iron John Collins will have some words for the lad, he certainly deserves it. From the touchline JC looked as though he wanted to give him a cuff round the ear for his madness.

So with Hibs down to ten men you would expect the superior numbers to tell in the end and Hearts could finally take control of the game. I could not tell though that Hibs were the team with diminished numbers, as they worked extra hard to continue their revival in the game.

For the most part Hearts were not firing on all cylinders, runs were made but the pass was not or vice versa. The single diversion from this frustration resulted in the winning goal, a run down the left was cut back missing everyone except Mikoliunas 16 yards out. He took his shot really well and clipped the ball into the top right corner leaving Malkowski, this time with no chance of being blamed.

HMFC 3

Hibs 2

Hibs continued to belie their numbers and fight hard for what they must have thought was a deserved point from the game. Was not to be though and if Hearts had been closer to their best they would have picked them off on the break.

As a final point, it was me who coined Hearts as the dysfunctional team, in the last entry but lets look at the evidence on this one -

Who are the team with the seriously dysfunctional goalkeeper and the outrageous lack of internal discipline which sees their penalty taker who has just equalised attack the opposition keeper. A player who was then subjected to a similar accostment by his manager as he left the field off play.

Who are the dysfunctional adolescents this week.

Dysfunctional

A short one here which will need to suffice as a little summation of the last week at Tynecastle and also a pre-match build up for the big one against the stinky Hibees at Tynecastle today.

Craig Gordon went through his disciplinary hearing this week with Vlad's henchman - Egor, i mean Pedro Lopez.
Now there was a lot made of the fact that he was dropped to the bench for the game against Dundee Utd.
My only take on that was that it was par for the course, the other two also dropped for the game immediately following their hearing.
So why the fuss this time? Anyway, who cares i am tired of all this.

Hearts also, and finally decided to pay up for Beslija this week! - that, for the most part long forgotten, embarrassment to our club has been cleared up -

This may be UEFA finally forcing Vlad into paying up, by threatening to restrict him during the transfer window in January. If so then great maybe he is intending to be active, after last January's madness hopefully he will have learned his lesson and just bring in 2 or 3 players that will enhance the team?

This may also be, deals already cut behind closed doors for Hartley and or Gordon have allowed Vlad to start clearing some of his debt, because he doesn't really have much money at all and has had to keep as tight a grip on the purse strings as he could.

Ofcourse this could also be Hearts about to offload Beslija in January, so we really should pay for what we are about to sell.

Which one is closest to the truth, you decide. Either way round it went on for far to long for anything other than embarrassment for your run of the mill Jambo.

The game against Dundee Utd was a victory of the functional variety at best, but from the team that are made out to be the most dysfunctional around, i am pleased to announce ...

Get it right up ye!!!

It was actually a pretty good game, Dundee Utd under Craig Levein are a totally different proposition than they have been for eons now. They are much much harder to beat and from that have become a team that has the confidence to attack without fearing that everytime they cross the half way line, the opposition will get angry with them and score (twice).
Both teams had good chances to score and maybe a draw would have been a the fairest outcome, but Hearts were marginally the more accomplished team when in possession of the ball. So a penalty for hand ball which Hartley dispatched ( is this his first goal of the season? he can make up for his slow start with a hatrick today!!) was the difference between the teams. It came when Hearts were well on top, they continued in that vein for another ten minutes or so and perhaps Hearts could have sealed the victory. But as Hearts are still frail and lacking in confidence themselves they allowed Dundee Utd to press them hard in the last 15 minutes, so in the end it was very much a 'held on well for the three vital points' type of victory. Pretty sure though that 3 or 4 weeks ago we would have lost this one.
Gordon was dropped to the bench, and Stevie Banks came in and performed well, he is a pretty decent keeper in his own right so the fuss made around the Gordon debacle was always over the top reactionary nonsense. Mind you i don't think i would be saying that if Banks had done a 'Henry, Henry, drop the ball' and cost us the game.

So to this afternoons festive fair, Hibs at Tynecastle, fantastic! You just can't beat it, boxing day and a whacking great game of football against your nearest and dearest. I am nervous as right now with a couple of hours to go before the kick off, it is not going to let up until we crush the life out of the game with a quick 3 goals in the first 20 minutes today.
Back down to earth.
Hibs as is all too frequently reported are a pretty good football team, generally revered as the most attractive playing side in Scotland at the moment. Their style is fast, one touch flowing football when in possession and a hard fought pressing game when not. This is not about them though this is about Hearts and i mean that about the game, it is more about Hearts than it is about Hibs, they will come and play their game, and if they do and they get a break or two they will be a tall order to beat. But, if Hearts play the right team so that we can compete in midfield and we play a decent game and get a break or two ourselves, this could turn out to be a stonking good Christmas present from us to ourselves. so

HOOOO ON THE JAMBOS

Ahh well at least it wasn't raining

The run up to the match against Aberdeen was as usual painful to witness.
This weeks Tynecastle tribulation surrounded member 2 of the Riccarton 3 - Paul Hartley.
For his part in the episode which was ultimately the beginning of the end for Stephen Pressley's time as Hearts captain, talisman and all round superhero - that hijacked press conference.
Paul Hartley had sat alongside and in support of Elvis as he delivered his verdict on the mess inside Heart of Midlothian Football Club. For his part then he was to turn up at a disciplinary hearing on Thursday this week with the now infamous Pedro Lopez - or who now is considered the 'spear with which Vlad does his impaling'.
Information is as yet, and typically, unclear at the moment. It is also unclear as to when information will ever be clear again on this or any other matter inside Tynecastle. Talking to a chap during the week about this he mentioned that, regardless of anything Vlad has done or not done, caused or otherwise, one thing is for sure - He has done a very good job of keeping people quiet after they leave the club. From John Robertson, George Burley and Foulkes and Phil Anderton, Graham Rix, Rudi Skacel. This list is getting to be a long one and all of have left Hearts under a cloud of varying degrees of the 'dark, grey and stormy' variety. None however has really produced much in the way of thunder on or since their departure. It is yet another unanswered question - How has Romanov managed that?
Without the facts we can all just take a flight of fancy and imagine the final meetings between Romanov and the vacating subordinate to be like that scene from Reservior Dogs - 'Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here i am ......'.
The only ex-Vlad employee that i can recall who has really opened up and spilled the beans is Lee Johnson and i guess Vlad just didn't think he was significant enough to merit the imposition of the gagging order.

I fully expected Hartley to receive a severe wrist slap for his 'outrageous' behaviour, perhaps a fine? and for him to immediately follow this up with a transfer request slapped firmly under Vlad's nose. Off in January to whoever would pay any amount of cash for him. That may still come to pass and the transfer request may already be under Vlad's neb.
But you just don't know, when Hartley finally came on after an hour or so yesterday he bust-a-gut and drove the team on and genuinely wanted to be there and to succeed. He single handedly lifted a dour, disappointing game and the team and he managed to wake the Hearts support up as well. No mean feet that since we seemed in a deep slumber, even the perpetual haranging from 'a far too pleased with themselves' Red Ultras failed to goad the Tynecastle faithful into any response other than, a dismal rendition of 'Your no famous anymore'. Got to say though, self satisfied and loud and perpetual they may have been but they lacked a bit in humour. The best they could muster being 'Your going down in a Russian submarine' sung obviously to Yellow Submarine. I guess Aberdeen really is a jocular backwater. Nice to see that they have all come out though and are happy to confess that they are all indeed 'only sheep sh*gging b*st*rds'.

Unlike the week before i had no idea what to expect from Hearts or the game.
I found out that Hartley was on the bench as i was parking the car on the way to the game. This surprised me not a jot and i was not too disappointed either - last week when he was suspended we played Julienne Brellier and Bruno Aguair as the central pairing in the middle of the park, it worked quite well so i could see why we would go that way again. But when i heard that Brellier was injured and Marius Zaliukas was playing in midfield instead of Hartley, my immediate reaction was - 'thats it we are beat'.
It is a shame, for weeks the Hearts support were subjected to Zaliukas in midfield and in equal measure Zaliukas was subjected to the Hearts support lambasting his shortcummings. Once moved into the back 4 however he has shown enough for us to know that he was just being played out of position and he may actually be not so bad after all.
So again we play people out of position rather than play the natural replacement, it just makes us want to scream.
The game started and immediately died on it's feet!
Hearts were guilty of playing the long ball up to Edgaras Jankauskas far too often, even if it was effective which it wasn't, it is dreadful to watch week after week.
The back 4 for Hearts continues to be a source of much frustration, and shredded nerves, Jose Goncalves and Ibrahim Tall in the centre both looked nervous and unsure of what the other was up to, this resulted in a good number of nervous moments and poor clearances - you know what it is like, if you can't clear your lines, you know you are in trouble!
Aberdeen looked quietly confident, playing pretty much within themselves, compact and assured as you would expect from a team who are on a good run, winning their away games with as much regularity as their home games.
That said the chances albeit only a few of them, were equally spread between the two teams.
Hearts had a decent effort from Jankauskas on the right squaring probably too well for Andrius Velicka who just didn't make it. Velicka was involved at the other end where a goal line clearance smashed off his face and onto the bar, leaving him pole-axed and me nerve-wracked.

Half Time
HMFC 0
ABERDEEN 0

Half time brought some solace in the news that Hibs were 2 down to Falkirk, and i thought to myself - 'that was turgid stuff indeed but at least Hibs are getting gubbed and it is not raining' ( for anyone outwith Scotland, it feels like it started raining here about 6 weeks ago and has not stopped since ). Ofcourse round about then it started to chuck it down, that crappy mix just north of rain and south of sleet. Didn't bother the sheep worriers though, they started the second half with a rendition of 'The northern lights of old Aberdeen', like i said they are far too pleased with themselves these days, i shall be glad when that is reversed.

The second half started marginally better for Hearts with a little more composure in possession and a little more flair going forward, a little but not much. Enough though to bring a few chances Hearts way but the game had that 0 - 0 tag written all over it.
Hearts had a free kick about 40 yards out on their left wing, this was in almost the same place where the second goal came from against Motherwell last week, that goal had it's element of good fortune, being an own goal off the head of an unfortunate Motherwell defender. It changed the game last week in Hearts favour. Similar good fortune was absent for this one as a great delivery was not met, just! and the keeper collected well. Good fortune being absent was to become a thought that rested in my head for the rest of the game.
Hearts needed a shot in the arm and it came with a knock to Zaliukas who at best just looks completely anonymous in midfield. He was replaced by Hartley to a standing ovation and much expectation. The team were immediately lifted by this and a period of dominance began for the home team. A few chances the best of which being a Hartley effort low to the keepers right, just wide and i think the keeper had it covered in any case but a decent effort nonetheless and then a ball to the back post that Velicka really should have buried instead of sclaffing wide.
Hartley then had the ball in the back of the net, but was chalked off for offside. Before i realised this fact my expression of delight at the goal was vociferous - i sat back down mumbling 'sh*te, sh*te, sh*te.
Aberdeen were never out of the game and continued to gain corners, but it was against the run of play that they got their winner. A throw in from the left, was played to Severin who was given criminally too much time to walk forward and dispatch a shot low to Gordon's left, he parried but only out to Steve Lovell who finished easily. The defence was nowhere, another shocking goal to lose.
Some fairly dismal attempt to get something out of the game was attempted by Hearts but it was clear nothing would come of it and in the end we have to take the defeat for not taking our chances and again for some dreadful defensive lapses.

Full Time
HMFC 0
ABERDEEN 1

A measure of our civility

Seems like ages, it has been ages since i have been able to write a match report that wasn't filled, consumed by a pantomime of events off the pitch, and some pretty shocking football on the pitch.
It is with great pleasure that i can firmly say, todays match report will be full of all that is good in the world of Heart of Midlothian Football Club. As such i will not comment upon that other momentous event of Saturday 9th December 2006 - the 'amicable' parting of the ways between our club captain Stephen Pressley and Hearts.

A few weeks back i mentioned a bloke in the work and his formula for predicting scorelines, well it is now 2 - 1 to 'the gut feel' against the 'method'. I predicted a 3 - 1 victory for Hearts yesterday whilst his formula had a depressing 1 - 1 draw as the most likely outcome. All i could put my finger by way of rationale for my prediction was - 'i just think the time is right for Hearts to start to turn things around' it's not often that i am wrong but i was right again.
I was 100% certain that Hearts would get the victory needed to kickstart the season, the signs have been there for the last few games, more and more we have looked to be hobbled by a constricting lack of confidence rather than any serious lack of ability. So for me someone was going to get it and Motherwell were as good as anyone to take the beating.

With Pressley out it would have been prudent i thought to keep Robbie Nielson in the team but no Ivanauskas moved Barasa back to right back slot, alongside Tall, Zaliukas and Fyassas.
Neil McCann was also back in on the left wing, Hartley suspended so the rest of the midfield was made up of Brellier, Aguair and Miko ( noticed during the game a difinite effort by the Hearts support to encourage Miko rather than berate him ). Up front Jankauskas and Velicka.

Hearts started the game well, playing the game well on both flanks, Fyassas/McCann in particular seemed to be working well together and Jankauskas looked hungry and capable up front, leading the line well and able to hold the ball up to bring the rest of the team into the game. Nothing brilliant but Hearts were well in control and looking strong and confident.
A fine inside ball by McCann put the overlapping Fyassas clean through on goal, he struck low and true and in off the far post.

Fyssas scores his first goal for Hearts is this a turning point for Hearts season?

This is brilliant it takes me back to the halcion days of last season, there was a time when the sum of our worries was - 'that Takis Fyssas, he is so desperate to score for Hearts i wonder when his goal will come' . At the end of last season i voted Fyssas as my favourite player of the year, see BRING IT ON I for one am absolutely delighted for him. On top of that he looked much more like his old self again, looking fit and reading the game well and linking up with midfield, by later in the game he was having a ball..
Hearts were in complete control and looking like number two was on it's way, Motherwell struggling to get out of their own half and you could have sworn it was a year ago. So here is where reality strikes to stop us from getting carried away - our perpetually manipulated back 4 is a bit ropey folks! As soon as the two Motherwell forwards started their run through the middle to beat the offside trap and the ball was played out wide, my heart was in my throat and the goal looked innevitable and so it was, the ball squared the Hearts defence posted missing and Gordon no chance as the ball was clipped into the net on his left, Gordon got a hand to it but not enough to keep it out.
I am not sure who was to blame for that goal, i just thought it was far too easy a goal to lose, Craig Gordon however knew exactly who to blame, directing his disgust at Zaliukas.
So this is where we are in our recuperation, it is still very early days, that goal served to knock the stuffing right out of Hearts for the rest of the half. In that remainder before the break the football was again pretty dire, Motherwell were not bringing much to the party but Hearts looked familiar in their mallaise, their inability to connect with each other.

Half Time
HMFC 1 - Motherwell 1


At the half time i pondered over the atmosphere in the ground, there had been a some chanting in support of Pressley but i think we had more or less accepted the innevitable and just wanted the team to succeed, not exactly bouyant but at least behind the team, all of them.
One guy a few seats behind me decided he would launch a vicious attack on the opposition strikeforce. To the tune, that back in the day when football was much more of a uncivilised adventure, you would hear such gems as - 'your going home in a f***ing ambulance', this guy coined the classic 'ginger hair is unnacceptable'. Which ofcourse it is, but did serve to remind me how much the game has civilised itself over the last 20 years - unless i guess you are a ginger!

Somebody, lets hope it was Valdas Ivanauskas had a word with the team at half time, Hearts were back to the way they started the game, again looking confident and hungry. That said games turn on a split second, a mistake a knife edge. Hearts had a free kick on the left about 40 yards out, a decent opportunity to send in a dengerous cross. Bruno Aguiar sent the ball raking into the box with venom, it struck a Motherwell defenders head, left the goalie no chance and nesteled into the top corner. Given the frailties of Hearts defence and our fragile confidence it is easy to see how if that had not gone in the game could have petered out to another depressing scoreline for Hearts. It did go in though and the important thing Hearts made the most out of it!
The next 15 minutes saw Hearts play Motherwell right out of the game with another two goals. The first came from a precise ball clipped through the centre right into that space behind the defence and in front of the keeper. Velicka running onto it. The race was on, the keeper tearing out, the rest of the defence trailing, Velicka got there first. He had a choice to go round the keeper or take the sometimes more risky route of clipping the lob over him. He went for the lob which he executed perfectly ( makes me think that a couple of weeks ago it would have gone over ). The response from the crowd was tumultuous, the first time in a couple of months that a Hearts support has witnessed a goal that they knew was the winner!
Hearts were now in full flow, Aguair running the show in midfield and both flanks working pretty well Fyassas and McCann were really enjoying themselves down the left, Miko and Barassa were a bit more industrial on the right but the balls were coming into the box just the same.
A free kick about 30 yards out slightly to the left of goal, i sit in the perfect position to high above the goals and could see that the wall was not positioned as well as it could have been, the obvious shot being to curl the ball round the left of the wall and into the bottom corner. That is exactly what Aguair did, splendid goal indeed. The keeper scrambled across but just couldn't make it.
McCann missed a sitter as the keeper saved from a point blank header it fell to McCann just 6 yards out, he skewed it wide and over, pity it would have capped a pretty good comeback game at Tynecastle for him. Miko also had a decent chance to make it 5 but it was one of those where he had too much time and ended up caught in two minds, made it easy for the keeper.

So that was it a great result for Hearts in the end and the kind of game where good runs can be started, we certainly need it.

HMFC 4 - Motherwell 1

HOOOO ON THE JAMBOS

Currie's Star is blown of course

Stormy conditions overhead, and treacherous conditions underfoot made Currie Stars game this morning away against EastHouse difficult to say the least.
Especially given a couple of the lads had forgotten their boots so had to play in their astros and consequently spent a fair chunk of the game on their butt's.
After a dodgy start to the game where an avoidable early goal was lost, Currie regrouped and pushed hard for the equaliser, this came midway through the first half. The Star then went on to control the possession and territory in that half and were unlucky to see the interval at 1 - 1 and not a goal or two to the good.
The second half brought a change in fortunes, maybe the switch of sides benefitted the home team, the wind seemed to be blustering right across the pitch though. In any case Easthouse hit Currie Star with two quick goals to take the game by the scruff of the neck at 3 - 1. To their credit the Currie lads stuck to their task and got themselves back into the game with a goal born out of pressure leading to forced errors, 3 - 2. After that the game flowed between pressure to get the equaliser and dangerous looking breaks by Easthouse. No more scores to be had however as the game finished 3 - 2 to the home side. Well done to them ( i believe that was their first win of the season ) and well done to Currie Star for good work and some decent stuff in harsh conditions - It will build up the stamina in their legs if nothing else.

1874

Well the great number came and went and nobody came forward with their favourite charity.

Ah well.. the £20 goes to mine then

Charity of your choice for visit 1874

Just noticed that the hit count for the blog is fast approaching

1874

To celebrate this momentous occassion i will give £20 to a charity of your choice if you are the visitor who clocks in at this most wonderous combination of digits.

Just send me a screenshot of the hit counter at 1874 and details of your favourite charity and i will send £20 off to them.

blakdreem@jambosforever.net

Moved

Jambosforever has moved -
new URL is http://jambosforever.net/blog.html

Steve is on the bench, Frailties in defence

There is no point in speculating anymore, no point in attempting to read between the lines or pre-empt any happenings at Tynecastle or Riccarton. There is no point whatsoever in endeavouring to uncover the hidden truths behind the fog of war that has settled over Heart of Midlothian Football Club - in your very best Dick-Van-Dyke "it sure is a pea souper guv and make no mistake".
After my speculation of a couple of weeks ago that Stephen Pressley would soon be brought back in from the cold, his punishment for past crimes against the club forgiven, it all goes the way of the pear once again. Maybe the speculation that divisions were being healed and wounded egos were on the mend was correct (at the time) afterall Elvis was back as captain for last weeks game up at Inverness, but as they say "a week is a long time in politics"
If a week is a long time in politics then 15 minutes is a long time when involved with Hearts.
All parties at the moment are keeping very tight lipped about things but the upshot is that Stephen Pressley has been suspended by Heart of Midlothian.

Elvis in happier times at Hearts











Why?
Has he played his last game for Hearts?
Will he go to Dundee Utd in the January transfer window? or will he go to Rangers? Both could do with him!
Or will Vlad take the huff even more and sit on him until his contract is up?

Who knows, i don't, the media certainly don't so they really should keep shtum about the situation, Elvis probably hasn't much of a clue and i would be surprised if any of the Romanov regime could guesstimate the outcome either.
Good grief.
Stephen Pressley was offered ( 3 times apparently ), a player coaching role at the club and turned the position down and now he is out on his ear!

Opinions, as ever i guess, are stretched right across the spectrum of possibilities, the truth ofcourse will be somewhere in the middle. The trouble is though as each of these episodes forces Hearts season to lurch and wheel further out of control, that mid point where the truth hides is drifting ever closer to one end of the spectrum - disaster for Hearts.
The Scottish press and to some extend radio and TV media are culpable for at least some of this debacle, if there genuinely is not an agenda against the Romanov regime in Scotland's media then it is pretty hard to see.
An example -
A few weeks back when Romanov came out with the statement about selling players in January if they did not buck up their ideas, the press went nuts, this was more evidence of that menatlist Russian Romanov running roughshod all over the sensibillities of the poor downtrodden players at Hearts.
This week the same press were applauding Craig Levein's strong management for laying down an ultimatum to his players in order to get the best out of them. That ultimatum being, "if you don't improve i will sell you in January".

I rest my case, no i don't. The media can bleat on all they want about the fact that they simply report what they see and they have a duty to tell it as they see it, but they must realise the power they wield. It is a dangerous game they play with one of Scotland's great sporting institutions all in the name of flogging a few newspapers.

Hearts turned up in Paisley on Saturday desperately needing a win, can't remember the last time that was not the case. St Mirren also were in trouble, after their good start to the season. The momentum generated by last seasons promotion into the SPL has now ebbed away, the last victory for StMirren was ... the last time they played Hearts!
St Mirren have been in free fall down the league, i guess they were delighted it was Hearts who were calling this week, they must have seen this as a rare chance to get back to winning ways.
St Mirren then would have been shocked almost immediately as a deft chip through by Edgaras Jankuaskas was sneaked onto by Saliunas Mikoluinas for Hearts to go 1 - 0 up in the first minute.
My pulse was racing, nothing would help to get Hearts back on the right path than a whacking great 5 or 6 - 0, was this the day?
Er no.
With John McGlynn now departed our youth team coach Stephen Frail was in the dug out to offer his capabillities ( he can speak English ), it was however frailties in the Hearts defence that allowed StMirren to take a grip of the game. Two goals in quick succession 19 and 21 minutes in, turned the game upside down. The Hearts defence guilty on both occassions. Christophe Berra took the brunt for the problems by being replaced by Marius Zaliukas almost immediately after St Mirren's second goal went in. The goals stopped going in but this is probably more down the the scorer Stewart Kean going off injured than any replacements in the Hearts defence.
Worth a mention here though, Zaliukas shows a lot more promise now that he is being played in the correct position. I hope the hearts support can now find it in themselves to get behind him and not on his back.
This was a good game, open and played with pace and exciting stuff to watch, Andreas Velicka had the ball in the back of the net for what seemed to be the equaliser however was called back for offside and Craig Gordon once again brought off some fine saves to keep Hearts in the game.
Towards the end of the first half Hearts had recovered from the double strike and were controlling the game, pressing the Saints back and looking for the leveller. This came after a foul on Paul Hartley. A stinging delivery into the box was met by Zaliukas for a glancing header and 2 - 2.
There was only one winner after that, things were looking up. As is the way of things when they are not going your way however, they continue to not go your way. Hartley managed to pick up a second booking and walked with 15 minutes to go, leaving Hearts to hang on for the point rather than press for the winner. Hartley was captain in place of suspended Pressley, when he attempted to hand the captains armband to Gordon, he appeared to reject it, eventually it was picked up by Neilson. More needless speculation by the media.

On the upside, that was the first game since probably mid September that Hearts have had more possession than the oppossition. Not that that means much but is perhaps an indication that we starting to come together again.

Sportingo

I have started publishing some of these articles through a fairly new sports website -










They add photos and edit the articles a bit and just make them seem a bit more professional really.
Have a look at http://www.sportingo.com/football/scottish-premier/2,2
Think i may need to temper them a little tho so for the full Commentary/Rant stick around here.

Voting now complete

Voting is now complete for the OleOle.com competition, to send bloggers to the Club World Cup in December.
Unfortunately i did not win, however many thanks to all who took the time to vote for me and good luck to those who are going.

The folks at OleOle did mention that there may be other opportunities to send bloggers to future events so maybe i will have better luck there - a shot at the Champions League Final in Athens next year would be braw don't you think.
Knowing my luck tho i would probably get the UEFA cup final at Hampden between Celtic and Rangers next May... oh god i think i am going to be sick

cheers

Intuition V Algorithm

It has been a long, tedious week for Hearts supporters, after the defeat to The Evil Empire last Sunday.
Things were not exactly exploding all over the place like they had the week or so earlier, but they were trundling along in their now usual Tynecastle in Crisis strife and misdemeanor. This was mostly centred around the actual start date of new interim head coach - Riabovas.
It seemed that everyday this week in the press, he had a different start date, from the 1st of December for a 6 month trial to Tomorrow to never. Meanwhile Malofeev was offski to get his UEFA coaching certificates which he didn't need ( not for a while anyroads ).
Malofeev in charge has been a disaster really, regardless of his coaching/managerial capabilities - the fact that he can't speak a word of English has made his position nonsensical and just added to the Hearts headlining the panto season subplot of the last few weeks. Trackside advice, tactical changes and rants need to be translated to McGlynn and this week Stevie Frail before being shouted out across the pitch, woefully too late ( obviously ). A few pundits on the radio i think Billy Dodds in particular have actually come across as being really pretty angry about that?

After last weeks i game i was firmly of the belief that Hearts still had a way to go before we would turn the corner and things would start to get better. So why then was i just as adamantly of the opinion by Friday that Hearts would win one nil up in Inverness. Where was the evidence for that.

I passed this divination onto one of the blokes in the work, his response being 'crap it will be 1 - 1'.
Bloody hell, i think, he is just as adamant as me in his prediction.
So i inquired as to how he got to be so confident.
Turns out he has a system. He is a bit of a gambler, not big time but he knows his way round the bookies and a fixed odds coupon. He has a system based on the product of the number of goals for and against for each game coming up, this runs to the last 5 years. There is a factor added to this based on actuals which makes things more realistic. He can then simply input a game - in this case Inverness Caley Thistle V Hearts into his system and it will pop out the most likely scoreline based on the info and the system.
This came out with 1 - 1 hence his confidence in the scoreline.
So he asked me how i got to be so confident - 'I just feel it in ma water man'

There was a bit more to it than that but not much. Based mostly on a few factors that came through and came to mind during Friday.

Last week Pressley was on the bench, we all know that reading Hearts and predicting a teamsheet is next to impossible - but i thought in the last blog entry that given he was on the bench then maybe his punishment was almost over and he would be back in. So thats a plus that would lift the team.

Likewise i suspected, no basis for this other than it is quite sensible, that Hartley, Aguair and Brellier would again make up most of the midfield. Three games together and now it should start to fall into place again, so maybe we would not be so disjointed.

Vlad was back over and making noises that he was in concilliatory mood, he wanted to calm the stormy seas - meeting with supporters groups etc. Ivanauskas was also back and apparently ready to go back to work - Riabovas now no longer necessary?? Ivanauaskas was actually over for a court appearance for speeding, but i guess decided to kill two birds with one stone and thought he might as well manage Hearts for a week or two whilst he is here. No really this i thought was a good thing at least, for more upheaval it is a return to a known quantity.

So these things brought the idea into my head that against all the odds Hearts would actually turn up in Inverness on Saturday and be confident and upbeat and ready to take on the world and on their road to recovery and 2nd place.

Premature i think, and not because, what i say here is not true it might be, we didn't get beat!
Premature because it was Inverness up at Inverness - a flying Hearts team on the top of their game would and always does struggle up there. So why would i think this would be different, pretty simple really i just put my maroon specs on again.

Did not catch too much of the game, i watched the Scotland v Australia rugby match until we were getting hosed and gave up the ghost on them. Tuned into the coverage from http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/sportscotland/sportsound/
The Hearts team changed again looked much more like last years with a back 4 including Neilson, Pressley and Fyassas and Brellier, Aguair and Hartley were in the middle. So was that a good thing?
The game did not quite have 0 - 0 written all over it but it wasn't far a way from it.
Hearts could have won it, Hartley brought out a very good save low to the keepers right, near the end but ICT also had their chances and could have taken all three points. A defeat yesterday would have been a disaster for Hearts we would surely have plunged deeper into the mealstrom so getting away from Inverness with a point was not so bad really, even if it does mean we lose ground on Rangers and Aberdeen.

There is a crucial fixture list coming up over the next few weeks leading up to the visit of the stinky Hibees on Boxing day, we have
ST Mirren Away
Motherwell Home
Aberdeen Home
Dundee Utd Away
Hibs Home

Right now it sounds like nonsense but ( last year it would have tripped off my tongue ) if we can somehow pull out a run of results from these games running up to Xmas our season can be turned round and saved.

It is time now for the players to once again come to the fore, starting in Paisley next week, we need a performance and we need a win.
So

HOOO ON THE JAMBOS

I guess i need to conceed that method and algorithm have won out over intuition this time round.

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Nearly Brilliant

After Currie Stars fantastic result last week there was much optimism for the game this Sunday Morning.
Cold and breezy Scottish weather has decided to miss autumn and go straight to winter, so it was great to see the coffee shop open in the Star's pavillion.

The game was even across the board and very exciting too with the young lads on both sides putting everything into the game and getting lots out of it, it was 3 - 3 with 10 minutes to go.
I overheard the coach saying, see just a few weeks ago this side ( Edinburgh City Tens ) would have steamrolled over us. I couldn't agree more, they have come on a huge amount over the past month or two.

That was the death knell for Currie though, they did get steam rolled in the last ten and lost 5 goals, a real shame for the lads. Still on the up side, the coach was right and a few weeks ago it would have been the whole of the second half that was lost not just the last ten.

So keep the heads up, it was nearly brilliant.

Jocular Backwater

THIS IS A GOVERNMENT HEALTH WARNING, YOU ARE NOW ENTERING A JOCULAR BACKWATER. THERE IS NO ENTERTAINMENT HERE, NO FUN AND NO JOKES. JUST DEPRESSION AND DESPERATION.

Just in case you were wondering, there will be no warped entertainment to be had from this blog entry. Those times are long gone along with any interest Heart of Midlothian Football Club may have had in this seasons league.

As i sat in the stand yesterday watching two desperately poor and just plain desperate teams try desperately to 'do anything but get beat' the thought struck me that last year watching Hearts it was a mad tumultous roller coaster ride, with as many peaks as there were troughs, the cascade between the two being sickeningly rapid at times. This year alas the ride is only down and worse i can't even see the bottom yet.
Football teams struggle at times! it happens and it is clear that you have to hit the bottom before you can start to climb out of it and it is amazing that in those troubled times all supporters need is to know when they have hit the bottom. The merest sliver of hope, one possitive act or a decent performance is all that is needed and the mood can switch again to one of optimism and expectation.
Hearts have not yet hit the bottom of their trough, i hate to say it but i think we have a way to go yet.
More depression i am afraid.
The world has turned, there is a lot of disquiet, bucket loads of disgruntled Jambos, we are not happy. I have heard and read and blogged my thoughts on the mayhem at Tynecastle. Our owner Vladimir Romanov seems hell bent on destroying any good work he may have done over the last couple of years or so and the first of the 'sack the board' banners was seen inside the ground yesterday.
Vlad's other team Kaunas have now won their league in Lithuania and behold we get ... their coach Riabovas to take over (interim again) from ( also ex coach of Kaunas ) Ivanauskas.
This betrays the often mooted idea that Vlad is a madman who has no idea what he is doing. Vlad knows exactly what he is doing and so do I - Kaunas don't need Riabovas for a few weeks so Hearts get him, if this works and we somehow manage to pull ourselves together, Riabovas will stay and Ivanauskas will get his old job back at Kaunas. If it doesn't work Riabovas will go back to Eastern Europe. Whether Ivanauskas comes back to Hearts is a different matter.
This is a tactic left open to Romanov a tactic he has thought about and employed. It is one of the very few left to him since he has painted himself into a ridiculous corner where he and our beloved team have no credibility whatsoever in a football context. What happens if Riabovas doesn't work, lets face it this is a distinct possibility. I am not even sure any of us can determine what Vlad would accept as 'working'. Where does Vlad go then, there is not a coach or manager on the planet that would give Hearts a second look, they would run a mile. So all that is left to Vlad is his cronies from Russia and Lithuania and they are patently not up to the task and in any case he must be running out of gimps by now.
This led me to me to a previously unthought fear that has now planted itself firmly in my head, this has mortally shaken my previously solid belief that Vlad was good for us even if it is mental and painful at times.
How many young guys - 15,16,17 with talent and a choice of teams to go with, how many of those guys would choose to risk their precious future at Riccarton. All they would see amongst the turmoil is a bunch of big scarey Russians who don't speak English and have a tendency for management by fear. Could this lead to a generation(s) of squads coming through from Riccarton with no young talent from anywhere west of the Volga. That may be a bit exagerated but it scared me thats for sure.

The Pressley saga continued this week with more stuttering news and posturing on all sides. I just wish it would conclude now, we are all too bruised and battered to keep on with it all.

Pressley was on the bench on Sunday and hartley had the captains armband on. What can we read into that, i read
Pressley is being punished but will not receive much more punishment. So on the bench rather than in the stand and Hartley must be up with the script or else i don't think he would have accepted the captaincy and would himself probably have been on the bench.

It has come to the point where the press are styarting again to mention talk of consortiums and takeovers. How does this one work, Vlad bought Hearts for the princely sum of around £1.2m or thereabouts so how come the first number mooted to oust Vlad is £35M. Now he is fantastic but i don't think Craig Gordon is worth £33.8m.

The Game
I have always, without exception always, for as long as i can remember, always had a deep hatred of all things Rangers. Don't get me wrong i can't abide the other half of the gruesome twosome either. Rangers just pip it tho for me as the team i most like to beat/most hate to get beat by. Maybe it goes back to the Graeme Souness mid eighties superiority complex they built into themselves based on bringing in a pile of English hard men. I don't care i just hate them.
So suitably nervous about the occassion i sat through the first half dirge both teams offered up.
Rangers are under loads of pressure too, their French manager Paul leGuen has not had the best of starts and doesn't seem to know what to do about it. Another indication that winning in the SPL is not as easy as it may first appear. The Sun has an image of a guillotine hanging over his head, as a sack-o-meter. It goes up and down dependant upon the Rangers result at the weekend. If they had done the same with the Hearts coach it would ofcourse be Russian Roulette and the gun would have 5 bullets.
Don't think there was anything in the game, both teams are bereft of cohesion so the football was poor at best and at times desperate. Hearts were possibly marginally hungrier but Rangers had a bit more quality into the box.
The Hearts support has banged on for ages now that we don't play our best team and all the changes have had an adverse effect on the play. I used to and not that long ago either, i used to be able to take the team that was picked and then dissect it and come up with the correct team for the day. I can't do that anymore it is now so broken that nobody knows what the first team is anymore. Quality into the box has been a problem all season but believe me Barasa is not the answer to that and wallace is lost in his current role of left midfield/wingback.
We did however play with Hartley, Brellier and Aguair in midfield - we can't complain about that we have been calling for it for weeks, so why doesn't it work?
We played with a back 3 again of Berra, Zaliukas and Tall, i guess at least Zaliukas doesn't look quite so much like me playing football when he is at the back.
Velicka and Mole up front, why are we persisting with Mole and where are all the other 38 strikers we have are they all injured?
Which reminds me do Hearts have a medical staff?
A couple of efforts from both sides in the first half but 0 - 0 was as good as it deserved.

The second half was a bit better but i still thought it was poor stuff, Miko came on for Mole and got pelters from the crowd. I had to feel a bit sorry for him he has become the butt for a lot of our frustrations, he did not help himself with a comical effort at a cross which skewed way up in the air and in entirely the wrong direction. But for the most part everytime the ball canme his way the rest of the team switched off so what the hell was he to do.
We did have one chance, Velicka got through on goal on the right, shot low and hard but McGregor got down well to save. At the other end Gordon made 2 or 3 good saves to keep Hearts in the game.
I never felt comfortable and there was an air of innevitability about Rangers goal, a nowhere ball caught between midfield and defence was not cleared by Hearts and the ball broke out to Novo. He was not closed down and got his shot in from 30 or so yards, low into the corner of the net.
My immediate reaction was to blame Gordon's positioning. This to me looked exactly like the goal Celtic scored against us at Parkhead to win the league last year. He is the bestkeeper in the country by a mile but he can still get it wrong. As it turned out i discovered today there was a deflection and he had no chance. That'll be me clamped then.
We don't have enough in the tank to recover from such set backs so we sloped to the defeat rather than fought to the death to get the point back.

The Hearts support were guilty of booing Miko, Zaliukas and Barasa, this led one of our coaches to claim that the Hearts support was racist against the Lithuanians. Naw man we are crappist against crap players. If this joker thinks he can win over the support with that sort of nonsense he is sadly mistaken.

Rubberneckin

Today is the day after the latest episode in the continuing unravelling of Heart of Midlothian Football club.
At the end of last season i remember reading a pile of comments on various sites from, mostly jealous Hibee fans, they would say something like - Just wait til next season where it will all unravel and you will be left homeless and devoid of any hope, after that mental Vlad has torn the Hearts out of your team then F&*ked Off, Ha ha ha ha BELIEVE.
Never knew where those eejits were coming from or why other than just the jealousy factor of Hearts doing not bad considering.
Well now i am not so sure, maybe they had a point.

It goes a bit like this, and you understand this is purely my take on the situation from my limited vantage point.
That statement two weeks ago from Pressley, i said at the time - it read like an abdication of his Captaincy. And so it turns out.
Another head coach ( interim ( aren't they all )) is appointed and Pressley blows again, i think he may well have just gone off on one, a step too far ( who could blame him really but the statement he made was the killer for me, his days were always numbered after that ). Apparently the management team at Tynecastle attempted to orchestrate a vote of no confidence in their captain by the players. This sounds all too much like a coup it is like some great communist plot to overthrow the aristocracy. You just couldn't write it.
Elvis gets wind of this and walks stating that he is not mentally able to play tonight.
Hartley was asked to captain the team and when he refused was dropped, then Neilson was asked to captain the team and when he refused he was dropped too. Then Gordon was asked if he would captain the team, when he refused he was dr.. no he wasn't Stevie Banks was injured so we only had 3rd choice keeper so Gordon wasn't dropped.
Finally Berra accepted the captaincy for the night.
It is all just too sad for words really, to watch this great institution parade its dirty washing so puclicly it hurts us deeply. Like an episode of Jerry f'n Springer we look like a bunch of inbreds screaming and bawling like a bunch of uneducated morons.
I fear for Pressley at Hearts, i fear his time may be up but all that really bothers me about that is that his end is not as it should be, he should waltz into retirement or player coaching role after a glorious Hearts career with his head well and truly held high, marked down as one of the truly great captains of this team. No matter how much bloody money or power Romanov thinks he has got he has absolutely no right whatsoever to deny Elvis this privilege. That said the statement made by the big man was just enough rope that he handed straight to himself.

New coach from, you guessed it Kaunas, their season is over, they have another league title and don't need a coach for a couple of months so we get him. Romanov must have worked it out that league titles in Lithuania are not the same thing as league titles in Scotland. No disrespect and come on lets not play down our downtrodden game again, it is a sight more difficult to negotiate a challenge over here than it is over there. This merry-go-round or Lithuanian's is not going to do the job. You could take them all back bar Chesny and Velicka and have almost any bog standard Scottish manager and the team would improve overnight.

After the initial 20 minutes of the Falkirk v Hearts game which i watched in the Railway in Juniper Green, Falkirk started to play footbal around us. The thought crossed my mind that i didn't really expect to see any football from Hearts, instead it was like rubbernecking a crash on the opposite side of the bypass, it all seemed to go in slow motion you knew you shouldn't but you just couldn't help watching with morbid fascination. By this morning i decided that in Hearts we are actually witnessing a gargantuan train wreck, it hasn't even happened yet but the rails are beginning to buckle under our wheels and the carraiges are beginning to rear up in the air.

Said it before but it just makes no sense, If for whatever politics you feel the need to drop 2 of your back 4 then for all footballing gods you must retain the other two. So Tall and Goncalves were nowhere to be seen either, the back 4 then was,
Wallace, Berra, Zaliukas, Karipidis
The midfield without Hartley, had at least a couple of midfielders Brellier and Aguair, Brellier ( never thought he would ever play for Hearts again ) looked pretty much off the pace from start to finish.
Hearts actually started the game OK, if totally disjointed allows that. We had a couple of decent efforts in the first 20 minutes and could easily have been 2 up. Falkirk owned the last half of the first period tho. Did not really do much. That Stokes bloke looked for too much like he was thinking 'I am really only here on loan you know, actually i play for The Arsenal' some decent touches but mostly he just got frustrated and lashed out a bit.
Half time came and it is 0 - 0
Hearts what the hell can you say about us, the one thing we most definitely are not is a football team, just a bunch of players who happen to get paid by the same club. This shows so much in our game. No one knows where anyone else is, or has any idea what is expected of them, we play the game far to far away from each other and no one is making any runs and oh it is just crap.
This disjointed aberration continued in the second half but at least we were fighting, we were winning every 50 50, got to put this down to the much maligned Baresa and Brellier and the back 4 and Miko ( had not a bad game considering ). One split second of space for Aguair to find Velicka, he collected still outside the box and took it early, keeper should have got it but hey, you gotta take that.
From the minute we scored we dropped ten yards and handed the game to Falkirk, aaarrggh
Mole did have a chance as he was clean through just to hit straight at the keeper, pretty shoddy and he should be left out of things for a while. Reminds me of the mental decision to loan out Callum Elliott ???
It was innevitable really that Falkirk would equalise, a well worked carving of the Hearts defence allowed Latapy to stroke the ball low into the corner.

1 - 1 a fair reflection on the proceedings.
Falkirk could have won it right at the death, but fortunately for us we managed to scramble away.

Must take umbridge at the Setanta commentary, it was so clear that Hearts could do no right and Falkirk could do no wrong. There was good and bad on both sides but no real balance there. The best example being a wee knock in the back of Latapy ( a foul for sure ) but the wee man flings himself down for a blatant dive not a word from the commentary. If that had been one of the Lithuanians they would have been all over it as more evidence of the cancer Heart of Midlothian Football Club have allowed into our beautiful game.. give it up for gods sake.
Everyone knows that the media attack a wounded animal like a bunch of hyenas but it really is going too far, it really is not helping the situation.

Lastly, i took note of the body language etc of Hartley / Neilson on the bench, they did not look in the least bit perturbed to me. No idea what to make of that but i expected soor pusses.

Lastly ( again ) Malofeev, attacks the 4th official and gets sent off and apparently takes it out on the changing room furniture - working for Vlad sure is a stressful gig.

Star goes supernova

It has been a few weeks since there has been a Currie Star boys game and it has been even longer since there has been a victory for them.

Today the lads to our total suprise went supernova on us and against their nearest rivals too Currie Boys Club.
The Star were 6 - 1 up by half time, took their foot off the gas a bit in the second half, lost concentration here and there, but still ran out very worthy of their 7 - 4 scoreline.

Fantastic lads you played brilliantly today.
The fifth goal especially was an absolute beauty in anybodies book - a sweeping move, one touch all the way from defence through midfield and up to the striker who put it away with clinical precision - best goal i have seen all season at any game i have been to.

There were times in the game today where they clicked as a team and really started to look the part i was chuffed to bits to see it. More, beneath that higher plain of football excellence there was a real steal and determination from the lads, they tracked back and the tackles went in when it mattered and Currie Star won the vast majority of 50 - 50 balls.

Hearts could do with picking up a few tips from the young lads today, they might start to look like a team again if they can adopt some of the team work and determination showed by the Currie Star 10 year olds this morning.


HOOO ON THE STAR

Low

Can't write too much about this one as it was all just too depressing.

I have a bee in my bonnet, i can't be doing with that thing where people just can't accept that the oppossition were somehow better than your team. You know the sort, they will allways say "we were shite" could never bring themselves to just admit that "you know what you lot were pretty good"
Just too hard for them to do.
I hate that crap.

So i am not happy about it, far from it i am gutted but lets face it Hibs were streets ahead, leagues ahead of Hearts at Easter Road on Wednesday night. Even the beers and whisky before the game couldn't cloud the chasm between the teams in front of my eyes.
After a decent show at Celtic Park i was pretty upbeat about the game, but oh my god what a disaster.
I have heard stats like 82% possession to Hibs is that right? My god that is probably a record for 2 teams in the same league playing each other.

Hearts lined up with a what is worryingly, looking like, Malofeev's favoured formation, with 3 centre backs and two wide of them too, just one up front.
Robbie Neilson was left to plough a right back/midfield furrow and Goncalves the same on the left. It just didn't work and after an initial 5 minutes where we looked OK Hibs kicked into gear like a well oiled machine the complete antithesis to Hearts - They all knew where each other was, they all worked for each other and knew what to expect. We on the other hand had no idea what we were about. The number of times a Hearts player would fight for a ball and be left stranded with nobody near him or even interested in the trouble he was in was a disgrace. Every time - there was a pack of hungry Hibees bearing down on them.

The only thing you could label against Hibs was that they did not score 3 or 4, there seemed to be a few balls flying across the goals in the second half, any of which looked as tho it could have crept in. Hearts on the other hand did not have a 'get this' did not have a single shot at goal!! The worst keeper in the history of terrible keepers did not even have a single save to make.

We play what will be a very tough game against Falkirk on the Setanta game next Monday night.
I wish i knew the answer, but i haven't a clue maybe a bit of...

Play the same formation as we did against Celtic 4-3-3
Or at least play 4-4-2
Play Brellier or Aguair ( Aguair was terrible on Wednesday mind you )
Play someone who will sit on top of Latapy
Do not play Zaliukas
Play Football for christ sake play Football

Hibs v Killie final in the diddy cup with Killie taking it 2 - 1

The magnanimity can't go on for ever!

String of garlic and a silver bullet

Well i for one am just glad we put in a bit of a show.

It's a measure of how much we have fallen since this time last year, how much our expectations have diminished and sloped back to where they came from, remember...

BELIEVE

The only time i see that these days is from those truly sad Hibees who for some reason need to comment on articles about Hearts in the Scotsman. Dripping with sarcasm, these comments are always neanderthal, mostly spelled kurectly mostly? and always always sad. Who are these people what is their purpose and is removal from the gene pool an option. This has been affecting me for a few weeks now, i log on to the Scotsman at lunchtime say, to pick up on the latest nonsense from Count Vladula and the rest of his Eastern European monsters. As an aside i am reading a book just now - The Historian it's a Dracula novel of sorts with a particularly heavy bent towards the history of the legend.
There are very strong links between :-
Dracula & Vlad the Impalor and some great battle with an evil empire ??
In the case of the book it's the evil Ottoman empire ( at least they brought us big boxes to keep your towels in ) but this can easily be replaced with Old Firm, SFA, Weegie Media whichever suits at the time.
Anyroads i have found myself spending 2 minutes skimming the article for a snippet of news then spending the next 20 pouring over the debates as they fly between the good old Jambo readers and their Hibee nemeses. Pathetic really where can i get my gene pool removal registration form. On the other hand, the articles are 99% garbage so why bother, they are nearly always full to bursting with anything that makes the Hearts set up even in the slightest bit unhinged. Which it is, truly unhinged but for christ sake WE KNOW!

Hearts are a victim of media hyper sensitivity.. aw shutup, if anyone in the media ever read this they would probably release a 12 page special in the Daily Rangers about the level of incomprehensible ranting their support has stumbled down to.
Now theres a thing Rangers, eh eh - them and the Hibs goalie are the only thing that are making this season bearable.

No one at Tynecastle has believed for quite a while now. I'll tell you what i do believe tho i believe that Hearts will go to Easter Road on wednesday night and win the game.
Do You ?

Now Saturday's game, on the run up i feared the worst. I just couldn't see where Hearts would find the mental strength to cope with a visit to Parkhead. It is true that it almost all depends on the team that gets picked and i have to say i was both mildly surprised with what transpired, confused as usual but on the whole i was not distraught.
Pressley was out due to a stomach virus, dahn dahn dahn, this was not lost on the radio pundits who continued to speculate on his future at the club after last weeks outburst - the medical staff should investigate Elvis's neck for any tell tale, twin puncture wounds. Mind you maybe thats how Miko keeps getting his game, he has been fully converted to the ranks of the undead. And Chesny lets face it if anyone looks like a vampire who needs a pint of '0' negative it's him.
The back 4 then were Goncalves, Berra, Tall, Neilson this is the back 4 of the future for Hearts. The loss of Pressley was pretty bad but that 4 was the best we could do to make up for it, so good start on the mental team choice stakes.
Some debate then with the formation - was it a 4-3-3 or was it a 4-5-1.
There was Hartley, Aguair, and Zaliukas in the middle with Miko and Chesny our two wide blood suckers making up the front 3 or the middle 5. Velicka as the striker.
This was OK because although the team had the much maligned Miko and Zaliukas it also had Aguair in the middle. Really doesn't matter to me, in a modern team in this day and age it's 5 in midfield when they have the ball and 3 in attack when we do. Not convinced either Miko or Chesny have got what it takes, the bit that really gets to me and both are as much to blame as the other, their final ball has a 5% chance of being the right ball - not good enough.
Velicka 5 goals in 4 games, what can you say, he has become our #1 striker and no questions asked. A Velicka-Panilla partnership may just be something worth waiting for.

Celtic were coming off a 3 - 0 gubbing in Lisbon against Benfica, the team they had beat by the same margin a fortnight earlier. They were not only beaten tho they were truly hounded out of Portugal a very poor performance. So maybe Hearts had a slight edge, not having played midweek and all. Never really felt it would be like that. As it turned out it was quie a bit like that.
Celtic though, in the last three SPL games have gone a goal behind and gone on to win the game, the sign of the championship winning team for sure. No one will catch them in the lang haul but i think it may just get a little more exciting before the shouting starts. A lot down to Rangers really they really do need to show up and start beating celtic too. And if those narrow wins start to turn into narrow draws they may just get pulled back in - so come all .. Hibs, Aberdeen, Killie and everyone else, we all need to take points of Celtic, all of us.
In those games Celtic have not started playing until they go a goal behind, it generally only takes them 20 minutes to turn they game once they do, mind you.
So i was pleased that Hearts squandered a few guilt edged chances before finally opening the scoring in 72 minutes.
As was the way of things in this game, it was very much an 'up for it' Hearts team that dispossessed Celtic in midfield and quickly countered, Velicka picked the ball up, still 40 odd yards out, he was allowed to run all the way to the edge of the box unchallenged ( a good run mind you ) and equally unhindered to dispatch his shot low into the far corner. An excellent goal from Hearts point of view but if i was a Celtic fan i would have been tearing my hair out. Shocking defence.
72 minutes gone and Hearts were 1 up and the title race was back on by a thread and the ignamony of PaddyPower paying out on the title bets in November was held off.
Just before the goal went in i was getting the impression that Hearts were tiring, we had put masses into the game and were pretty much shot. A lot has been said about the tactics of sitting back against Celtic after the goal went in but under the circumstances i am not sure what else we could have done.
The removal of Aguair for Fyassas seems once again mental, just can't see why Brellier was not the correct choice, confused again.
Not sure if it really mattered in the end but it is just one more indication of our self destructive tendancies.
Celtic eqaulised with 4 minutes to go, a corner from Nakamura which Jarosik fought hard to get his head to, just plain beat Tall for strength and aggression.
With 4 minutes of injury time more or less up... another whinge
There has been a lot of debate about the extra extra time that Celtic got to net the winner and Gordon has taken pelters from Celtic fans for his obvious time wasting - people has nobody worked this out yet - every keeper in the world wastes time when the clock is running down and a result is imminent, every keeper everywhere. I think that sometimes the old firm do get more than their fair share of time when it counts but in this case half of the injury time was itself taken up with an injury.
Anyroads a goalmouth scrap, and a shot comes in that Gordon saves and the ball loops into the air. Gordon stretches his arms out to collect the ball but it bounces of his wrists and into the net - an absolute Hibee of a goalkeeping error and the game is lost

Still, Hibs on Wednesday and if we play with the same application and more importantly something like the same team/formation we can beat them and things won't look so bad again.

Prediction - 2 - 2 Hearts win 6 - 4 on penalties

so

HOOOO On The Jambos

The Big Softy

Lets start with Friday. Friday was a perfectly normal Friday, pretty good as days go i am sure you will agree.
My wife woke me on her way out to work, saying some garbled stuff about an announcement on Forth 1 - "Romanov rhubarb stadium rhubarb blurb blurb February Plans rhubarb 12,000 seats"
This registered ( just ) and off i plodded to work, ( the reason i plodded and didn't cycle as usual is another story, suffice it to say i bought a new bike on Sunday. One day i might tell that tale ).
I think it was around lunchtime when i remembered what my wife had said to me, so i had a quick look around the sites to see if there were any announcements about redevelopment to Tynecastle.
The first one i went to was http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/default.stm the main news being a statement made by Steven Pressley about the untenable situation in the Hearts dressing room. Hearts were in turmoil once again.
I won't go into the details as i am sure all Jambos have taken it in and spat it out by now.
Basically on Friday morning Romanov came in to Riccarton all John Wayne on the Players arses and threatened to sack the lot of them if they did not beat Dunfermline. This was the camel that broke the straws back i think for Pressley. He had to say something and i don't blame him for that. He has been a giant in the Hearts team over the past couple of years, without him it would all have gone to crap long before now. A few loosely connected thoughts :-

Romanov is a megolomaniac ( it answers every question you have about him ).

Managers and Chairmen have threatened footballers with the sack since the beginning of time.

That statement from Pressley read like an abdication of his captaincy.

The reason that Romanov threatening the players with the sack, hits the headlines like a tornado is because .. well people believe it.

I can't think of any other football team in any other situation that would ever have played Pressley after the statement.

The fact that all 3 played is 100% proof of a climb down by Romanov.

I do not think that Romanov meant what he said, it was in his mind a much needed pep talk, he is however a megolomaniac and has therefore no real control or balance in his actions.

A wee story to back up the - it's a cultural thing - argument.
I used to work for a company called Ferranti, became GEC. Anyroads there was for a while back in the early 90's a group of South Korean Air Force officers on site. They were software engineers developing some customisations for their display systems ( Ferranti made avionics Systems amongst other things ). They had been there working for about 6 months when a design review was called by the higher brass in the Korean military. These poor Korean subordinates had to stand up and explain their designs to their superior officers, one of them made a complete arse of it. He got all mixed up and lost the plot and just plain made a fool of himself. Now half an hour later, me and a few other lads were making our way round to the canteen when we spotted this poor guy round the back of the building with his superior. The superior was ........ kicking the living daylights out of this poor guy, giving him a real pasting.
This was apparently, perfectly acceptable retribution for making an arse of your design review, we on the other hand would simply get sacked.

This is what is known as "Management by Violence"

So most people seem to be happy at least that things are out in the open, we now know that the team are sick to the back teeth with the whole Romanov style. It has been pretty obvious for a long time that things were not right and were getting worse. I hope it helps to clear the air and allows us to settle down to a period of stability.

This was a no win situation for Hearts - Dunfermline at Tynecastle, managerless and basically crap. Almost any other weekend and Hearts would have eaten this lot up walked away with 3 or 4 - 0. That scoreline would have vindicated Romanov's pep talk - "see my little submariners, i give you a choice, you win or you die and you win, i know what i am doing". Anyhting less and the team were in danger of being shipped off to Ayrshire on Sunday afternoon.

It was an impassioned opening few minutes, the crowd were clear in their opinions and abundant in their delivery, we were the 12th man and i am sure it was appreciated by the team - Pressley, Hartley and Gordon not the least. I for one was pretty emotional in those opening few minutes, there is a lot of passion and desire and sometimes desperation in the Hearts support at times.
After those initial moments i began to inspect what was on the park - the first question answered with the Riccarton 3 in the team.
But
But
I feel the need to swear
for f&*ks sake
We have 6 defenders on the park and 3 of them are playing in midfield. Doesn't Ivanauskas i mean Malofeev read this blog.
I have no idea if this is 5 - 4 - 1 or 3 - 5 - 2, worse the players have no idea either. Read in the paper that it was a 3 - 4 - 3. I just can't believe it.
Aguar and Brellier both on the bench, these are our two understood first team central midfielders after Hartley so why are they not being played. I just can't believe it.
At the back we played 3 with Goncalves, Pressley and Berra. Good to see Goncalves back but i think he nursed himself through the game, and this smarted of desperation or appeasement to the fans, his comeback has been long awaited now. Why did we have to fanny about with our formation to bring him in. Neilson and Berra seemed to get themselves sorted out on the right but Goncalves and Wallace were seriously dodgy on the left. How many times was Pressley spare in the middle with Goncalves and Wallace overloaded looking at each other.
Tall as our holding midfield, last weeks blog nails my feelings about that to the mast.
Once again Hartley was our only true midfielder so was left to run himself into an early grave or the DSS whichever comes first.
Chesnauskis, Bednar and velicka up front. Can't take anything away from Velicka he seems to know where the goal is but Chesny and Bednar don't look dangerous enough for me just now. But that is not the problem. This time last year, one of our concerns was that all our goals were coming from midfield thanks to Skacel and Hartley by now it was something like 11 and 8. That has now completely dried up and it has dried up because we don't have a bloody midfield!
We play Celtic at the weekend then have Hibs in the diddy cup down at Easter Road, unless whoever picks our team finally acknowledges this fact and lets sanity take it's course we will continue our painfull demise and be sunk by both of those two.
I promised that i would not go back to Easter road after the recent 2 - 2 but bought a ticket today so we better get it sorted, going down there with a bloody Hibby as well.

Oh Aye the game. Hearts actually looked not too bad in the beginning, but it was Dunfermline so i couldn't get too excited about it. Our goal was typically ugly as has been our want over the past weeks. A hopeful ball played through the middle landed between the on rushing Hartley and outrushing keeper. The keeper misjudged and had to parry wide, Hartley got to it and back heeled for an easy tap in by Velicka.
Pressley played like a man possessed for a bit in that first half, at one point he ran the length of the pitch, played a one two and found himself straight through on goal. He skewed his shot wide, if it had gone in we would have scored six.
As the half wore on though our lack of a midfield was becoming more evident as we used the long ball more and more to less and less effect.
Half time

Hearts 1 - Dunfermline 0

Discussing things with my dad at half time, we were both pretty confident that we would get another or two and finish this lot off. So it was to no surprise whatsoever that Jim Hamilton bundled the ball in with his hands by all accounts the level the score.
This Hearts team cannot recover from such knocks. We huffed and puffed but just didn't have it as we got more desperate the football got even longer and less likely to penetrate.
Aguar came on and at least we looked a bit more like a team or at least we might have if Hartley hadn't got pushed far out on the right where Chesny had been before he got hooked.
The one chance we really did have came very late, it fell to Neilson about 16 yards out, he steadied and hit his shot high, struck a head though and flew wide for a corner.

Hearts 1 - Dunfermline 1

And the Hearts first team squad was placed on EBay by Saturday night, apparently Vlad has just offered £25m for them, the big softy that he is.