I haven’t been able to tune into as much of Euro 2008 as I’d have liked so far, but what little I have seen has been pretty decent, and Russia’s performance last night against the Swedes was simply a joy to watch.
How refreshing it was to see a young side like that throwing caution to the wind in the knowledge that they needed to win to stay in the tournament. And there was no shortage of skill on display too, as both of their goals, which were fabulously crafted in true ‘team’ style, helped to exemplify.
Watching these guys playing, I couldn’t help but think what it would be like if Hearts had a decent coach to try and get the best out of some of the young players at Tynecastle right now, particularly some of the foreign boys like Mikoliunas and Cesnauskas.
You might scoff at this and say that these players aren’t even in the same league as the Russian internationals – and you may have a point. But I can’t help thinking about the early form that both of these guys showed for Hearts – they played with the same innocent freedom as Russia did last night, and I defy anyone to say that they are not talented players, even if they do have quite obvious flaws with temperament, etc.
Sadly though, along with many other potentially productive players at Tynecastle, their careers have suffered in the extreme due to the shocking mismanagement of the Hearts first team in recent years.
Would it take much to turn things around and get players like this showing us exactly what they can do again? Well….how about sussing out Guus Hiddink’s availability for a start? That might just set us off on the right path….is that too much to ask, Mr Romanov?!
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Haven’t watched any of the games – the Hearts situation has turned me right off watching football just now, actually. It remains to be seen if Romanov got any inspiration from watching his countrymen play like that – probably not worth holding our breath on that one. I think the current farce has shown that , within the football world, Romanov is really just a very small fish – an amateur who has failed to make any positive impact as an owner / agent / scout (or whatever he thinks he is). Sure, he pays good money, but coaches and players can get good money at hundreds of clubs across Europe – and most of them probably offer a better career prospect than Hearts. The man is deluded about his ability – and sadly, so are we.
I agree with everything you say. In fact the reason I probably haven’t watched most games like normal is the sheer apathy that last season left me with regards to football. Sad isn’t it? We don’t seem to be alone either.
I’ve watched pretty much every game so far with the form team being Holland who have been awesome. Here again is a lesson in attitude and squad cohesion. The Dutch, we are led to believe, always seem to have infighting and fractions and hence underachieve. By all accounts Seedorf withdrew himself with a pet lip and as a consequence it appears that whatever disruptive influence he might have had has gone and the team are playing with flair and passion – their attitude in the final group game exemplifies this where they were already through so made 9 changes but this “2nd” team were still desperate to do well and ended up beating Romania. Obviously at an individual level the Dutch are very good and I’m not trying to compare these players to the Hearts squad but, we do have talent and with the right motivator at the helm shouldn’t we be able to produce a team who are capable of doing well?
I’ve watched as many games as I’ve been “allowed” to – can’t say I’m apathetic about football really, but I’m definitely weary of all the shenanigans surrounding our own chosen form of masocism. The Turkey v Czech game stands out for me – games like that remind me why I love this game. Turkey again are a side who are not filled with star names, but are well drilled & organised, and play with spirit. As to Hearts, the solution of course is staring everyone in the face – unfortunately (either through bad luck or just plain bad reputation) we don’t seem any further forward since January. It’s almost as though the club is at a complete standstill. With less than a week to go before pre-season starts, this is not where we need to be. Having said that, I would personally rather Frail ran the show than Ziggywhateverov coming in. Another Kaunas coach I don’t think I could stomach.
Look what I found…. “Eduard Malofeev ? officially the worst Hearts manager in the club?s history ? could be back at Tynecastle to supervise pre-season training. ” Oh dear. Is this the shape of things to come over the next few weeks!?!
Until Hearts appoint a manager, and communicate with the press, then I’d say yes – makey-up stories in the media are exactly what we have to look forward to over the next few weeks. Hey – the headline made you read it, didn’t it?