Hearts midfielder Ruben Palazuelos is likely to return to first-team action when the team travel to Paisley next Saturday to face St MIrren.
The Spaniard had to pull out of last weekend’s match with Hamilton at the last minute after coming down with an illness the night before, which forced Csaba Laszlo to completely change the tactics he’d had in mind for the game all week. This clearly had an adverse effect on the team, and although they did manage to take all three points in the end from Hamilton, it came courtesy of a performance that was somewhat lacklustre. It’s definitely a game that they can count themselves pretty fortunate to have scraped a victory in, which is not what you’d have hoped for against struggling opposition like the Accies.
It’s difficult to measure quite how much the absence of Palazuelos directly influenced the match at the weekend, but after an unconvincing start to his Hearts career in my view, he is definitely a player who helps the team to retain possession and play decent football through the midfield. At the very least his presence in the team encourages others to keep the ball on the ground and play football as opposed to adopting ‘route one’ tactics, which happened all too often on Saturday with David Witteveen playing in attack.
Of his illness at the week and his prospects of returning against St Mirren, Ruben told the Hearts website:
‘I didn’t feel well at all on Saturday and there was little else I could do other than go home to rest.
‘I had my lap top with me in the house and listened to the game against Hamilton on Hearts.TV. I was also getting texts from friends and people at the game asking how I was and telling me what was happening, which was great.
‘I am feeling much better now, although still a little bit tired. Hopefully I will have my full energy back in the next day or so.
‘Obviously I was disappointed to miss the game but I think I will be okay for this weekend.’
While I’m quite happy for Palazuelos to come straight back into the side next weekend, the one thing that continues to be a problem in the Hearts midfield is the lack of a real physical presence in there. I’m not sure that a central midfield of Ruben and Michael Stewart is hard enough for your average SPL fixture, particularly away from home like this Saturday, and from what I’ve seen of Ian Black so far, I would say that he doesn’t have the necessary qualities to address this problem either.
No doubt Csaba will continue to adopt a ‘horses for courses’ approach to team selection in the weeks ahead, which is probably justified given what he has to work with at Tynecastle. Should Ruben Palazuelos be one of the players who is rarely used in part of his squad rotation and be a fixture in the side now, though? Quite possibly…
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I’ve always liked Ruben as a player. I think he’s elegant in the tackle, hard working, and he does the basics really really well – which is what you need in the holding midfield role. I also think he should be the captain of Hearts, but that’s perhaps another discussion. We miss him when he’s not playing – but whether he is that intrinsic to the whole team… not sure. He’s one of those players who is most effective when you don’t actually notice him or the things he does, because his style of play allows others to play off him.
Good analysis there, SJ. I think Ruben is maturing into a fine defensive midfielder, with under-rated strength and composure. I thought he was excellent against Killie, and he should be a first pick every week. You make a valid point about Black being a bit disappointing so far – and he is picking up a booking every game (even as a sub), so he is our new Brellier.
I wonder if Ruben perhaps felt somewhat overawed when Bruno was around and Kingston was pretending to care about us. Not that I’m suggesting he’s the same type of player, but with playing regularly and perhaps knowing he is an important part of the team, this brings with it a steady confidence in himself. Persoanlly I think he should be playing pretty much each week and I think it silently speaks volumes that we sorely missed him on Saturday.
Black our new Brellier SH? Sadly I fear he is not!
I think Rubens is a cracking wee player who very rarely makes mistakes, has a great touch and completes a lot of passes. I would like to see him get involved just a bit more.
Well – in terms of getting booked in every game for foolish challenges, I’d suggest that Black is very like Brellier, Mr H. Its all about opinions, but I was never a great fan of Brellier for that very reason. To me, he had limited ability although the other players probably appreciated his hardness – when he was available to play, that is.