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.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Punch drunk
Sometimes, watching Hearts this year has felt like watching the referee count out some punch drunk hasbeen, who should have jacked it in years before.
Yesterdays game against Kilmarnock was one of those days.
I was really looking forward to the game, i have enjoyed games against Kilmarnock recently, because generally they come to Tynecastle and play football, and generally we win.
A bad, bad day for Hearts tho.
Things are going pretty seriously pear shaped just now, the crowd at Tynecastle are definitely losing their patience and i can see things getting pretty nasty if we don't improve. The biggest problem for the support is thay they are pretty much to a man clear in the ideas that -
Yesterdays game against Kilmarnock was one of those days.
I was really looking forward to the game, i have enjoyed games against Kilmarnock recently, because generally they come to Tynecastle and play football, and generally we win.
A bad, bad day for Hearts tho.
Things are going pretty seriously pear shaped just now, the crowd at Tynecastle are definitely losing their patience and i can see things getting pretty nasty if we don't improve. The biggest problem for the support is thay they are pretty much to a man clear in the ideas that -
- The rotation system is not working - the constant tinkering with the team is having a detrimental effect.
- Valdas is not picking the best team. Is Valdas picking the team at all, no idea? Whatever, the best 11 is not walking onto the park at 3pm on a Saturday.
- Valdas's substitutions are bizarre at times and have a low success rate.
Yesterday showed me once again tho that there is a deeper problem than those. Hearts are just pretty pish and thats the truth of it. There is some stat i heard earlier this year that goes something like -
The team in Scotland outwith the gruesome twosome that has some measure of success ( like a cup win or finish high up the league ) in one season, generally has a shocker the next. Flirts with relegation even. The 98 - 99 season if i remember rightly was a bit of a shocker. It is as if the emotional energy required/expended on the exploits of the season before need to be paid back in the next. It is only the old firm that are big enough and ugly enough to sustain the constant drive to perpetual challenge on all fronts. There may be some truth in that. In any case Hearts don't look like they have the Heart for it just now.
I was pretty disparaging of Hibs inability to hold onto a 2 goal lead last week, but i am even more certain of that after Kilmarnock's stroll through the last hour of the game yesterday. The catalyst for both goals was a slip by some Hearts player. Pressley hitting the turf to allow the space to open up for Naysmith to run into and create the chance for the first. Beslija slipping just as he tried to play the ball out of defence which allowed the Kilmarnock attack to pounce. In both cases tho there was still work to do and the first at least was a cracking finish. The second was deflected to beat Gordon. If anything Hearts were marginally the better team when the goals came, which added to the feeling of - a left to the ribs followed by a right upper cut straight on the chin. Hearts deserved nothing out of the game from that point on, there was only one winner.
Worryingly it feels like any team could do this to Hearts at the moment. We had a stroll against Dundee Utd a couple of weeks back but if they had gone into an early lead ( and they could have ) i am not sure if we could have pulled it back. If we get in front we can beat anyone in this league, but that is no certainty and it is only when we are in front that we seem to find ourselves and start to play like a team. I said plenty of times last year that if hearts are not 2 up by half time then i am worried. Now i am confident enough when the first goes in - it just isn't happening often enough.
Dissection :
Tactically, we play the long ball to the front two far far too often, and in that front two yesterday we had Jankauskas back from an 8 week injury and Bednar who forgive me but just hasn't got it when he is expected to deal with a high ball knocked 40 yards and a big centre half up his ass. I don't think he won a single ball in the air all day ( he has never been any good at that ) Hearts however continued to pump long balls at him all day - i just despair. We were pretty much forced into that situation given that the management seem incapable of playing two midfielders in the centre of midfield, leaving Hartley. Paul Hartley is forced into turning in some superhuman performance every week jsut to keep the midfield from capitulating completely. This weeks nonsense was Tall in with Hartley, Tall our right back or perhaps centre back. Look Valdas - Tall does not have the mobility of a midfielder, he struggles with the football too when in there. We do have the midfielders, so why on earth Aguair was not on the park from the beginning is beyond credibility. The crowd knew this and expressed their vitriol by calling for Brellier, and sure he would have done the trick in there too but i fear he is a lost cause now and it was Aguair who was on the bench.
Aguair did come on, too late ofcourse ( another of Valdas's well documented failures and general frustrations ). It was a bad day for Hearts, no one was playing well, we were struggling just to knock the ball forward with any degree of accuracy, far too many efforts were skewed, technically poor. Aguair however was again spraying balls 40 yards straight onto the feet of our wingers, he can do this with his eyes shut and no one else at Tynecastle can so why?
Dunfermline at Tynecastle next week and we have again layered loads of pressure onto ourselves - i do not expect a pretty start to the game and it could be tense throughout. I speak for the whole of the Hearts support tho when i say that we all need to see some logic applied to the team selection. We need some consistency and we need a bloody midfield!
Monday, October 16, 2006
Honours Even ?
The last time i went to Easter Road, Hearts won 4 - 1 and it was 1993 or something like that.
Yesterday Hearts were never going to win 4 - 1 and i may never go back down to that god foresaken place again.
It was good fun, dumping the kids for once and heading off for a few beers before the game.
School boy error notwithstanding - does this mean that
A) I have no life, i am a sad individual who hasn't had a life for so long that my only saviour is a crashing mid life crisis ( christ hurry up ).
B) As the years have passed i have, grown into a responsible adult who has developed some means of looking after himself, avoiding over indulgence along the way.
C) I am not an alcoholic.
Did you know - In Edinburgh on a Sunday morning it is impossible to get a pub to sell you alcohol until 12:30.
Arranging to meet for a few pre match beers then at 11:30 was not the best idea i had ever had.
Searched the length of Rose St to no avail but ended up thankfully in Hudsons ( a hotel so apparently gets to sell beer before 12:30 ) £6.20 for two cooking lagers mind you so we paid for the pleasure.
I had no fears about this game whatsoever
Hibs had been playing rubbish
The last time Hearts played we were looking pretty good
I had put on my maroon coloured specs days before and ignored any rational thought
I fully expected Hearts to cream Hibs and to walk out of Easter Road with Hibernian Football Club contemplating their future - Were they really cut out for football? and maybe they should consider some other more appropriate sport ( make it up for yourself here ) ?
Hibs tore into the game and tore into Hearts and pretty much tore us apart in the opening 20 minutes.
Low cross from the right had the Hearts back 4 looking unusually panicked. I think it fell to Zamama ( who had an annoyingly good game ) he had a couple of good touches ( should not even had had one ) and slotted the ball low into the far corner. It has been a long time since i have sat in the minority watching the majority celebrate - i don't like it!
The socond was a corner or free kick on the left, looked like a near post knock back for the finish but i read that it went straight in?
And that was us 2 - 0 nil down, looking shellshocked.
Immediately the analysis of the now expected, stupid team selection started.
Miko, why the hell do we play this character?
Zaliukas, we now know why he aims to be invisible in each game he plays - if he ever got involved he would get found out immediately.
Brellier or Aguar how come something so obvious can be so missed by the selection committee.
Valicka & Mole why this partnesrhip, you could pick any 2 from 6 so why this pairing it just doesn't look that dangerous.
It is now pretty clear that ( at least for some of the games a season ) the Hearts team selection is built to satisfy a Lithuanian watching public. The games being streamed back to the motherland to be watched by how many punters?
Right maroon specs firmly on here goes -
For all that glorious Hibee football, playing the beautiful game and playing it at pace - both their goals stemmed from mistakes by Hearts, right!
Sure Hibs were dominant, they almost reminded me of Hearts in the early part of last season. They simply rolled over us, we couldn't play and they hammered their point home.
The difference, the difference is .....
If Hearts had gone into a 2 goal lead after 20 minutes we would have won the game 4 or 5 nil.
Hibs they just don't got it man, they are a team hobbled by the belief in their own myth. They have a few players who can play. A midfield which looks great to watch at times. As much as i canny be daein with that Scott Brown character i think every team should have one.
But really thats it - listen up and listen good. A decent midfield does not = a good team. There is just plain more to it than that.
The minute Hearts scored i was convinced once again that Hibs would not sustain themselves and we would win the game, somehow. The goal came out of nowhere.
Dreadful goal keeping error allowed Valicka to get his head onto a speculative chip forward. It was either the keepers ball or he should have remained on his line - he did neither and the ball looped into the net over the keeper and the rest of the Hibs defence.
The rest of the half was pretty even, Hibs owned the middle third but just didn't do enough with it. You could argue the formation
3-5-2
versus
4-4-2
Gave Hibs the advantage in midfield but i prefer to believe that 3 out of the Hearts 4 were not up to the job, we needed Beslija and Brellier/Aguar in there to even up the score Miko, Zaliukas and Chesnauskis? Obvious we would struggle - to me anyroads.
Half Time
Hibernian 2
The Good Guys 1
Tall was playing right back in for Robbie, Zammama tormented him all day. I am never one to be the purest so the question is - would Robbie have kicked zammama in the first 10 minutes taken the booking and slowed him down a bit?
The second half started pretty evenly for me, hard to tell really as bucket loads of vitriol tends to cloud your judgement a bit.
I was getting really annoyed with Ivanauskas not changing things so i was pleased to see Beslija warming up. Miko will get hooked for him i thought, just as well because he has been murder. Suddenly there is a break on for Hearts and Miko is free screaming down the right wing. The rest of the team are up with the script as 3 are piling into the box ready for the cross and the equaliser. Absolutely inexplicably Miko cuts back and tries to beat the man rather than just play the cross. The defender wins the ball and Miko clips him in frustration. Second yellow so he walks and Beslija puts his jersey back on. Me and the rest of the South stand are furious - the absolute fanny.
2 - 1 down and now down to ten men we are obviously in trouble.
Another long ball knocked over the innefectual midfield looked hopeful and the defence's all the way, so how Valucka managed to get his shot in and more managed to get in round the near side of the keeper is beyond me - no it's not. Hibs are basically a bit crap, their keeper is shocking and their defence put under any real pressure are pretty much useless. So the goal was straight forward endeavour against bad football players. At the time tho i couldn't quite believe it.
Beslija came on but did not make an impression, Aquar however did, even down to ten men we competed much much better with him on the park.
Craig Gordon pulled off his customary stunning save in tha last few minutes to deny Hibs their victory. Great save but he is just a completely different class.
That was it 2 - 2, felt like a victory at the time but after a few more beers i was left with the nagging doubt that if we had played out best 11 the game would have been totally different.
Yesterday Hearts were never going to win 4 - 1 and i may never go back down to that god foresaken place again.
It was good fun, dumping the kids for once and heading off for a few beers before the game.
School boy error notwithstanding - does this mean that
A) I have no life, i am a sad individual who hasn't had a life for so long that my only saviour is a crashing mid life crisis ( christ hurry up ).
B) As the years have passed i have, grown into a responsible adult who has developed some means of looking after himself, avoiding over indulgence along the way.
C) I am not an alcoholic.
Did you know - In Edinburgh on a Sunday morning it is impossible to get a pub to sell you alcohol until 12:30.
Arranging to meet for a few pre match beers then at 11:30 was not the best idea i had ever had.
Searched the length of Rose St to no avail but ended up thankfully in Hudsons ( a hotel so apparently gets to sell beer before 12:30 ) £6.20 for two cooking lagers mind you so we paid for the pleasure.
I had no fears about this game whatsoever
Hibs had been playing rubbish
The last time Hearts played we were looking pretty good
I had put on my maroon coloured specs days before and ignored any rational thought
I fully expected Hearts to cream Hibs and to walk out of Easter Road with Hibernian Football Club contemplating their future - Were they really cut out for football? and maybe they should consider some other more appropriate sport ( make it up for yourself here ) ?
Hibs tore into the game and tore into Hearts and pretty much tore us apart in the opening 20 minutes.
Low cross from the right had the Hearts back 4 looking unusually panicked. I think it fell to Zamama ( who had an annoyingly good game ) he had a couple of good touches ( should not even had had one ) and slotted the ball low into the far corner. It has been a long time since i have sat in the minority watching the majority celebrate - i don't like it!
The socond was a corner or free kick on the left, looked like a near post knock back for the finish but i read that it went straight in?
And that was us 2 - 0 nil down, looking shellshocked.
Immediately the analysis of the now expected, stupid team selection started.
Miko, why the hell do we play this character?
Zaliukas, we now know why he aims to be invisible in each game he plays - if he ever got involved he would get found out immediately.
Brellier or Aguar how come something so obvious can be so missed by the selection committee.
Valicka & Mole why this partnesrhip, you could pick any 2 from 6 so why this pairing it just doesn't look that dangerous.
It is now pretty clear that ( at least for some of the games a season ) the Hearts team selection is built to satisfy a Lithuanian watching public. The games being streamed back to the motherland to be watched by how many punters?
Right maroon specs firmly on here goes -
For all that glorious Hibee football, playing the beautiful game and playing it at pace - both their goals stemmed from mistakes by Hearts, right!
Sure Hibs were dominant, they almost reminded me of Hearts in the early part of last season. They simply rolled over us, we couldn't play and they hammered their point home.
The difference, the difference is .....
If Hearts had gone into a 2 goal lead after 20 minutes we would have won the game 4 or 5 nil.
Hibs they just don't got it man, they are a team hobbled by the belief in their own myth. They have a few players who can play. A midfield which looks great to watch at times. As much as i canny be daein with that Scott Brown character i think every team should have one.
But really thats it - listen up and listen good. A decent midfield does not = a good team. There is just plain more to it than that.
The minute Hearts scored i was convinced once again that Hibs would not sustain themselves and we would win the game, somehow. The goal came out of nowhere.
Dreadful goal keeping error allowed Valicka to get his head onto a speculative chip forward. It was either the keepers ball or he should have remained on his line - he did neither and the ball looped into the net over the keeper and the rest of the Hibs defence.
The rest of the half was pretty even, Hibs owned the middle third but just didn't do enough with it. You could argue the formation
3-5-2
versus
4-4-2
Gave Hibs the advantage in midfield but i prefer to believe that 3 out of the Hearts 4 were not up to the job, we needed Beslija and Brellier/Aguar in there to even up the score Miko, Zaliukas and Chesnauskis? Obvious we would struggle - to me anyroads.
Half Time
Hibernian 2
The Good Guys 1
Tall was playing right back in for Robbie, Zammama tormented him all day. I am never one to be the purest so the question is - would Robbie have kicked zammama in the first 10 minutes taken the booking and slowed him down a bit?
The second half started pretty evenly for me, hard to tell really as bucket loads of vitriol tends to cloud your judgement a bit.
I was getting really annoyed with Ivanauskas not changing things so i was pleased to see Beslija warming up. Miko will get hooked for him i thought, just as well because he has been murder. Suddenly there is a break on for Hearts and Miko is free screaming down the right wing. The rest of the team are up with the script as 3 are piling into the box ready for the cross and the equaliser. Absolutely inexplicably Miko cuts back and tries to beat the man rather than just play the cross. The defender wins the ball and Miko clips him in frustration. Second yellow so he walks and Beslija puts his jersey back on. Me and the rest of the South stand are furious - the absolute fanny.
2 - 1 down and now down to ten men we are obviously in trouble.
Another long ball knocked over the innefectual midfield looked hopeful and the defence's all the way, so how Valucka managed to get his shot in and more managed to get in round the near side of the keeper is beyond me - no it's not. Hibs are basically a bit crap, their keeper is shocking and their defence put under any real pressure are pretty much useless. So the goal was straight forward endeavour against bad football players. At the time tho i couldn't quite believe it.
Beslija came on but did not make an impression, Aquar however did, even down to ten men we competed much much better with him on the park.
Craig Gordon pulled off his customary stunning save in tha last few minutes to deny Hibs their victory. Great save but he is just a completely different class.
That was it 2 - 2, felt like a victory at the time but after a few more beers i was left with the nagging doubt that if we had played out best 11 the game would have been totally different.
Never in a month of Sundays
Or is that once in a blue moon.
Some guy told me once what a blue moon was, i don't know if this is true or not but here is his definition of the mythical blue moon of "Once in a Blue moon" coinage.
The blue moon is the second full moon in one calendar month. So 13 full moons per year and 12 calendar months = at least one blue moon per year.
It is less often than that, much more infrequent than that when Scotland or Currie Star for that matter, can sustain a possitive aspect for more than a game or two on the trot.
And so it was, after the fantastic exploits of last weekend, this week has brought both Scotland and Currie star crashing back down to earth.
Scotland take a painful 2 - 0 defeat away to Ukraine on Wednesday night and Currie Star take another horrific spanking 10 - 3 this time.
As usual for the lads it was the second half where it all went wrong, i had to leave at half time with the scoreline at 3 - 2, to make my way down to Leith for the derby match ( via the pub for an hour or so ) so i missed the worst of it.
Keep the head up lads it will come together soon.
Some guy told me once what a blue moon was, i don't know if this is true or not but here is his definition of the mythical blue moon of "Once in a Blue moon" coinage.
The blue moon is the second full moon in one calendar month. So 13 full moons per year and 12 calendar months = at least one blue moon per year.
It is less often than that, much more infrequent than that when Scotland or Currie Star for that matter, can sustain a possitive aspect for more than a game or two on the trot.
And so it was, after the fantastic exploits of last weekend, this week has brought both Scotland and Currie star crashing back down to earth.
Scotland take a painful 2 - 0 defeat away to Ukraine on Wednesday night and Currie Star take another horrific spanking 10 - 3 this time.
As usual for the lads it was the second half where it all went wrong, i had to leave at half time with the scoreline at 3 - 2, to make my way down to Leith for the derby match ( via the pub for an hour or so ) so i missed the worst of it.
Keep the head up lads it will come together soon.
Monday, October 09, 2006
My Blue Heaven - Vol 2
Well .... oh my god
That must make us world champions or somethin, just like when we tanked The Auld Enemy in 1967 ( the year after something happened can't quite remember now what it was ).
Scotland beat France 1 - 0 at Hampden Park on Saturday to go 9 from 9 in the chase for a european championships place in 2008. France the undoubted best team in the world at the moment ( well not any more ). France who beat ( annihilated ) the world cup winners Italy a couple of weeks ago.
Fantastic, you know what, we jump for joy and can't believe ourselves, but there is a little bit of every Scotsman who in their quitest moment will sit back, slippers on and cigar in hand and rest on the fact that .. this is how it is supposed to be. We invented the game, we took it to the world, we are and have always been the best footballing nation on the planet. What happened on Saturday was just, well normal. Par.
France started the game looking ominous, they looked to a man a head taller than each of us - i commented "You look at the French team and they are all North Africans, Algerian and Nigerian etc just think how good those teams would be / will be when they have the infrastructure that France has got - it is truly frightening"
Henry had a free kick 25 yards out, he took a step and half and stroked the ball at blistering pace onto the far post, it came off and hit Gordon on the head and thankfully slipped wide. If that had gone in, France may have run away with a 5 goal drubbing of Scotland and this entry would be very different. Not to be tho.
2 goals disallowed for offside, and we started to think things may be a bit strange today.
Was this not France's day?
Scotland held out til half time then in the second half done a number on France.
We out thought the French, we allowed them lots of the ball but abjectly refused to allow them to do anything with it. I wouldn't say they got frustrated more a bit perplexed by the scurrying Scottish midfield and defence. We got a chance and we took the chance with a well struck Cauldwell effort from a Hartley outswiging corner. There was only one place the ball could go and Cauldwell found it - so great goal.
France still could not better the Scottish defensive set up and as the game progressed Scotland were the more likely scorers - Hartley, Teale and OConnor all having efforts.
Henry had one chance to level the game but his header was weak and easy for Gordon to collect.
That was it
Scotland 1 France 0
Scotland now travel to Ukraine for the next qualifier on Wednesday. It is way too early yet again ( how many times do i say that ) but if we do beat them ( what am i drivelling about ) and then take points of Italy in our next game against them - both will struggle to catch Scotland.
It is easy because we are the greatest footballing nation in history, we just need to write that history.
That must make us world champions or somethin, just like when we tanked The Auld Enemy in 1967 ( the year after something happened can't quite remember now what it was ).
Scotland beat France 1 - 0 at Hampden Park on Saturday to go 9 from 9 in the chase for a european championships place in 2008. France the undoubted best team in the world at the moment ( well not any more ). France who beat ( annihilated ) the world cup winners Italy a couple of weeks ago.
Fantastic, you know what, we jump for joy and can't believe ourselves, but there is a little bit of every Scotsman who in their quitest moment will sit back, slippers on and cigar in hand and rest on the fact that .. this is how it is supposed to be. We invented the game, we took it to the world, we are and have always been the best footballing nation on the planet. What happened on Saturday was just, well normal. Par.
France started the game looking ominous, they looked to a man a head taller than each of us - i commented "You look at the French team and they are all North Africans, Algerian and Nigerian etc just think how good those teams would be / will be when they have the infrastructure that France has got - it is truly frightening"
Henry had a free kick 25 yards out, he took a step and half and stroked the ball at blistering pace onto the far post, it came off and hit Gordon on the head and thankfully slipped wide. If that had gone in, France may have run away with a 5 goal drubbing of Scotland and this entry would be very different. Not to be tho.
2 goals disallowed for offside, and we started to think things may be a bit strange today.
Was this not France's day?
Scotland held out til half time then in the second half done a number on France.
We out thought the French, we allowed them lots of the ball but abjectly refused to allow them to do anything with it. I wouldn't say they got frustrated more a bit perplexed by the scurrying Scottish midfield and defence. We got a chance and we took the chance with a well struck Cauldwell effort from a Hartley outswiging corner. There was only one place the ball could go and Cauldwell found it - so great goal.
France still could not better the Scottish defensive set up and as the game progressed Scotland were the more likely scorers - Hartley, Teale and OConnor all having efforts.
Henry had one chance to level the game but his header was weak and easy for Gordon to collect.
That was it
Scotland 1 France 0
Scotland now travel to Ukraine for the next qualifier on Wednesday. It is way too early yet again ( how many times do i say that ) but if we do beat them ( what am i drivelling about ) and then take points of Italy in our next game against them - both will struggle to catch Scotland.
It is easy because we are the greatest footballing nation in history, we just need to write that history.
My Blue Heaven - Vol 1
No defeat for the mighty Currie Star this Sunday, and yes they did play.
Not sure who the lads played against this week but they ripped into a 2 - 0 lead in the first half.
Could have and maybe should have been a couple more, but...
Lost their way a bit in the second half and the plucky visitors pulled it back and 2 - 2 was a deserved draw in the end.
Lots better than the previous defeats tho and the team are definitely heading in the right direction.
Hoo on the Star
Not sure who the lads played against this week but they ripped into a 2 - 0 lead in the first half.
Could have and maybe should have been a couple more, but...
Lost their way a bit in the second half and the plucky visitors pulled it back and 2 - 2 was a deserved draw in the end.
Lots better than the previous defeats tho and the team are definitely heading in the right direction.
Hoo on the Star
Monday, October 02, 2006
Time to hand over the cash Vlad
Promising signs indeed, big time!
After our exit from what can only be described as a shambolic euro campaign, we could all have been forgiven for expecting a downtrodden Hearts performance yesteday. We have however a gargantuan squad of players and maybe they are not all world class but most are capable of doing a shift in the SPL. So there really is no excuse for a tepid performance when the team can basically be re-invented from a Thursday to a Sunday.
There have been stats like 49 changes in 8 weeks and 19 games on the bounce without the same team. This pales into insignificance when you compare it against benitez at Liverpool who have now gone 94 games on the trot with a different team - mind you they did get gubbed 2 - 0 at the weekend.
Dundee Utd got only one slice of the Roseburn stand so we could maximise the home support and i must say i am loving that, the more the merrier and the DUtd bit was full too. I had no misconceptions about this game, hard midweek soul crushing euro disaster or not, we were going to win this game and we were going to win it well.
Some of the stuff we played against Aberdeen and our general demeanour in domestic games since the scraped win against Motherwell let me to be full of confidence that we would despatch Dundee Utd. Not to mention my deep disregard for them as competition, with all the lack of respect i can muster they ( Dundee Utd ) have been murder for ages now.
In the first 20 minutes that was by far and away the best Dundee Utd i have seen at Tynecastle for ages, no idea about the Craig Brewster thing really but if their play in that 20 minutes was down to him, they should hang back and give him a chance.
Most of the reports have said that Hearts were sluggish and found it hard to get started in the game, maybe so but not fully, Dundee Utd started well and took the game to us. They played with pace and width and we were definitely troubled. A debatable offside goal, the woodwork and couple of standard Gordon saves, keeping the game scoreless.
As is the way of the world, whereas last year we started like a tornado and had most games at Tyney wrapped up in the first half hour, so this year Hearts take half an hour to remember we have a game to play. As time tick't closer to that point tho Hearts gradually began to impose themselves, that said the goal when it came, came out of nowhere. A lot of midfield to-ing and fro-ing and endeavour was sliced through by one intelligent pass from Miko straight through the left channel to the onrushing Velicka. He smashed the ball goalwards - a touch fortunate took a deflection but in it went.
From that point there was only one winner in this game.
The next 15 minutes saw some of the best football i have seen hearts play in ages.
Beslija could do nothing wrong, he was even screaming down the wing and hitting the byline like a proper winger. He was receiveng 40 yard pin point passes from Aguair and everything was coming off. This could just be the catalyst he needs, that and a decent run in the team and maybe Vlad will be forced to conceed that he did actually buy a player after all and finally do the homourable thing and pay for him. beslija's fine performance culminated in a raking cross from deep on the right across the six yard line to the on rushing Hearts attack, Velicka missed it but Makela was there - fantastic goal. Can't remember being so delighted in just the shear joy of a great goal in ages. It really is about enjoyment, sometimes.
Felt like the game was over and i think Hearts dropped a gear from that moment, still played some decent football but the momentum wasn't there anymore. Best of all was a midfield general display from Aguair, who was strolling through the game spraying passes all over the park.
Tall was on for Neilson, i believe it is very much horses for courses these days and maybe tougher opposition would have had Neilson on the park, as it may have had wallace instead of Fyassas but Hearts just look better to me when Tall is at right back, we play with more options and are less predictable coming forward. Wish Robbie could improve his distribution because when it comes to the defensive side to that position he is as good as anyone in Scotland.
I don't know who was to blame but someone one was, someone tossed a coin and it landed on it's edge or something. Something happened anyroads because the game kicked off with Hearts facing the home support in the first half. Just not cricket.
The second half, was played out with Dundee Utd playing some decent football but just not enough of a threat to trouble what seemed a very comfortable back 4. Miko had had one of his games, he had played really well, run himself into the ground really and left for Chesnauskis after the hour. This meant that Beslija was going to get his full game, this is good we really should give him a decent crack at the whip, seems to me that the quality into the box is better when it is coming off his foot. Bednar came on for Makela and Mole came on for Velicka - OK now i am thinking do we have an embarrassment of riches here? For this game we do.
Chesnauskis hit the bar and Beslija was played in to play for the penalty and get it, despatched by Hartley for 3 - 0, now from the kick off Utd played the ball back to their own 18 yard box, they played it back like a beaten team, Bednar stole in squared well to Mole who duly finished for 4 - 0.
So i have been reading a few of the comments on the Scotsman online articles with some Hibees getting involved - i think to myself have they nothing better to do than read and comment on Hearts articles, don't they get enough written about their own mob. Thats not my point. My point is next league game is against them down at Easter Road, and the excitement is groing. About time as well it seems like ages since we got to play them.
They haven't had the best of the past couple of games since they took out the big bad blue but i don't think that will mean much, they will be right up for it and confident they can do a number on us.
My prediction for the first derby game of the season..........................
Pain
Pain
and
humiliation
and
more pain
for the green ranks
Hearts will soak up an initial onslaught in the first 15 then strike with a clinical double to send Hibs into a tailspin. Desperate to recover they will lose at least another 2.
After our exit from what can only be described as a shambolic euro campaign, we could all have been forgiven for expecting a downtrodden Hearts performance yesteday. We have however a gargantuan squad of players and maybe they are not all world class but most are capable of doing a shift in the SPL. So there really is no excuse for a tepid performance when the team can basically be re-invented from a Thursday to a Sunday.
There have been stats like 49 changes in 8 weeks and 19 games on the bounce without the same team. This pales into insignificance when you compare it against benitez at Liverpool who have now gone 94 games on the trot with a different team - mind you they did get gubbed 2 - 0 at the weekend.
Dundee Utd got only one slice of the Roseburn stand so we could maximise the home support and i must say i am loving that, the more the merrier and the DUtd bit was full too. I had no misconceptions about this game, hard midweek soul crushing euro disaster or not, we were going to win this game and we were going to win it well.
Some of the stuff we played against Aberdeen and our general demeanour in domestic games since the scraped win against Motherwell let me to be full of confidence that we would despatch Dundee Utd. Not to mention my deep disregard for them as competition, with all the lack of respect i can muster they ( Dundee Utd ) have been murder for ages now.
In the first 20 minutes that was by far and away the best Dundee Utd i have seen at Tynecastle for ages, no idea about the Craig Brewster thing really but if their play in that 20 minutes was down to him, they should hang back and give him a chance.
Most of the reports have said that Hearts were sluggish and found it hard to get started in the game, maybe so but not fully, Dundee Utd started well and took the game to us. They played with pace and width and we were definitely troubled. A debatable offside goal, the woodwork and couple of standard Gordon saves, keeping the game scoreless.
As is the way of the world, whereas last year we started like a tornado and had most games at Tyney wrapped up in the first half hour, so this year Hearts take half an hour to remember we have a game to play. As time tick't closer to that point tho Hearts gradually began to impose themselves, that said the goal when it came, came out of nowhere. A lot of midfield to-ing and fro-ing and endeavour was sliced through by one intelligent pass from Miko straight through the left channel to the onrushing Velicka. He smashed the ball goalwards - a touch fortunate took a deflection but in it went.
From that point there was only one winner in this game.
The next 15 minutes saw some of the best football i have seen hearts play in ages.
Beslija could do nothing wrong, he was even screaming down the wing and hitting the byline like a proper winger. He was receiveng 40 yard pin point passes from Aguair and everything was coming off. This could just be the catalyst he needs, that and a decent run in the team and maybe Vlad will be forced to conceed that he did actually buy a player after all and finally do the homourable thing and pay for him. beslija's fine performance culminated in a raking cross from deep on the right across the six yard line to the on rushing Hearts attack, Velicka missed it but Makela was there - fantastic goal. Can't remember being so delighted in just the shear joy of a great goal in ages. It really is about enjoyment, sometimes.
Felt like the game was over and i think Hearts dropped a gear from that moment, still played some decent football but the momentum wasn't there anymore. Best of all was a midfield general display from Aguair, who was strolling through the game spraying passes all over the park.
Tall was on for Neilson, i believe it is very much horses for courses these days and maybe tougher opposition would have had Neilson on the park, as it may have had wallace instead of Fyassas but Hearts just look better to me when Tall is at right back, we play with more options and are less predictable coming forward. Wish Robbie could improve his distribution because when it comes to the defensive side to that position he is as good as anyone in Scotland.
I don't know who was to blame but someone one was, someone tossed a coin and it landed on it's edge or something. Something happened anyroads because the game kicked off with Hearts facing the home support in the first half. Just not cricket.
The second half, was played out with Dundee Utd playing some decent football but just not enough of a threat to trouble what seemed a very comfortable back 4. Miko had had one of his games, he had played really well, run himself into the ground really and left for Chesnauskis after the hour. This meant that Beslija was going to get his full game, this is good we really should give him a decent crack at the whip, seems to me that the quality into the box is better when it is coming off his foot. Bednar came on for Makela and Mole came on for Velicka - OK now i am thinking do we have an embarrassment of riches here? For this game we do.
Chesnauskis hit the bar and Beslija was played in to play for the penalty and get it, despatched by Hartley for 3 - 0, now from the kick off Utd played the ball back to their own 18 yard box, they played it back like a beaten team, Bednar stole in squared well to Mole who duly finished for 4 - 0.
So i have been reading a few of the comments on the Scotsman online articles with some Hibees getting involved - i think to myself have they nothing better to do than read and comment on Hearts articles, don't they get enough written about their own mob. Thats not my point. My point is next league game is against them down at Easter Road, and the excitement is groing. About time as well it seems like ages since we got to play them.
They haven't had the best of the past couple of games since they took out the big bad blue but i don't think that will mean much, they will be right up for it and confident they can do a number on us.
My prediction for the first derby game of the season..........................
Pain
Pain
and
humiliation
and
more pain
for the green ranks
Hearts will soak up an initial onslaught in the first 15 then strike with a clinical double to send Hibs into a tailspin. Desperate to recover they will lose at least another 2.
Promising signs
Promising signs for Currie Star on Sunday morning.
An unseasonally warm Sunday morning had us travelling to the pitches behind Woodburn school in Dalkeith to see the Currie Star lads take on Dalkeith Miners.
Currie Star keeper could not make it for one reason or another and it was down to my lad to volounteer to put on the #1 shirt.
So i stood behind the goals to make some attempt at couching him through the trauma -
Remember that scene in Gregory's Girl
Shite Gregory that was lacross - ohh
Gregory, Gregory concentrate, now Gregory go to the ball, the ball accchh!!
Stopped short at diving for the ball behind the goals but not by much.
A tight game to begin with, it was clear that the Dalkeith boys were a more clued up outfit and it wasn't too long before they took the lead. It was beginning to go pear shaped for the Currie Star as half time approached with the score 3 - 0 and i felt the heavy defeats of the last few weeks repeating themselves.
Credit to the coach and to the boys tho, they regrouped and dug in and drew the second half 1 - 1.
Keep that spirit up lads and the results will follow.
An unseasonally warm Sunday morning had us travelling to the pitches behind Woodburn school in Dalkeith to see the Currie Star lads take on Dalkeith Miners.
Currie Star keeper could not make it for one reason or another and it was down to my lad to volounteer to put on the #1 shirt.
So i stood behind the goals to make some attempt at couching him through the trauma -
Remember that scene in Gregory's Girl
Shite Gregory that was lacross - ohh
Gregory, Gregory concentrate, now Gregory go to the ball, the ball accchh!!
Stopped short at diving for the ball behind the goals but not by much.
A tight game to begin with, it was clear that the Dalkeith boys were a more clued up outfit and it wasn't too long before they took the lead. It was beginning to go pear shaped for the Currie Star as half time approached with the score 3 - 0 and i felt the heavy defeats of the last few weeks repeating themselves.
Credit to the coach and to the boys tho, they regrouped and dug in and drew the second half 1 - 1.
Keep that spirit up lads and the results will follow.
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