Hearts may be the ‘one-nil kings’ at the moment after a series of three back-to-back results in their favour to that effect, but I wonder how many of the fans would stay with them if this sequence of results and performances were to continue?
They always say that results are ultimately the ‘be all and end all’ in football, an argument that Csaba Laszlo has himself used in recent weeks to defend the unadventurous style of play that his team has been adopting, but the people who come through the turnstiles also have to entertained to at least some extent.
I didn’t make it to Inverness so can’t really comment on how the team played there, but in the three matches before that (two of which Hearts won) the tactics and style of play were starting to look very akin to those that Joe Jordan used to employ back in his spell as Hearts manager in the early ’90s.
Jordan wasn’t anywhere near as bad a manager as some Hearts fans would have you believe, and at one stage actually had us looking like serious title contenders in the ’91/92 season, especially after his side won a fixture in early January at Parkhead to remain in the pole position they’d retained since pretty much day one of the season. However the reason that he gets such a bad name is that as soon as the many single-goal victories that his sides achieved started to dry up, the defensively sound, ‘safety-first’ tactics were thrust much more clearly under the microscope, and the fans at Tynecastle simply couldn’t warm to it.
To a lesser extent, the same could also be said about Craig Levein’s tenure as Hearts manager, although I’d argue that the tactics he used were much more positive than many will attempt to tell you. He too placed a strong emphasis on a solid back four being the basis from which you can build any successful side, and again when the results didn’t always go Hearts’ way (as they invariably don’t), many of the fans starting openly complaining about the style of play.
However although Hearts now seem to be playing very negatively whilst, temporarily at least, achieving positive results, I’m really not sure that this is out of choice on Csaba Laszlo’s part. As discussed here last week, I do think (or would certainly like to at any rate) that the tactics being deployed just now are merely what the manager feels are the best he can do with the talent he has at his disposal. If for example he had a world-class defensive midfielder, a solid back four and a plethora of talented strikers at the club (we wish!), I’d doubt very much if he’d be playing 4-5-1 at home to Hamilton Accies….for his and our club’s sake I really do hope not anyway!
But Csaba does need to tread carefully if he thinks he can get away with what’s been happening recently until say the end of the season. Yes the results recently have been good but they won’t continue like that indefinitely with the squad Hearts have just now, so the day is going to come when they’ll fail to score the odd goal that they need against the Invernesses or Hamiltons of this world, and that’s when Csaba could start to have a real problem. You only have to look at the reaction from the fans after the 1-0 WIN against the Accies last week to see what the general view on the current product is just now.
I do think Csaba will eventually change things once he gets more of his own players in and moves out some of the deadwood from Tynecastle, but to what extent I’m really not sure. If he does go the Jordan route though, with a squad unlikely to be winning trophies any time soon, he could well be a man under pressure before too long….
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Good piece. What annoys me (hello I’m back btw!) more than anything is the apparent unwillingness to score more than 1 goal per game. I’m reminded of the old ‘Scotland the What?’ sketch with Denis Law where he imparts his famous words of wisdom: “One goal is never enough. Unless you win one nuthin’ of course.”. This is a major problem, especially (as has happened a few times this season) we go a goal down early doors – at home especially. We are either unwilling or unable to respond – which means we KNOW that if we go a goal down the best we can hope for is a draw. You’re probably right in that Csaba is merely only using the best striker he’s got (i.e. Nade), and until we get some more strikers in that’s the best he can do. But there are other options – and I’m moderately pleased that Aguiar is taking a more advanced role. Bottom line though – our defence is good, but not perfect, and we will leak goals. What’s needed though is the ability to change things during a game when required… which Csaba seems reluctant to do for some reason…
Hmm I agree with SJ that Csaba does seem to stick to the game plan no matter what and this has concerned me when watching the guys. Also, I agree fully with that he uses what he has to his disposal. What I hope for though, is that this focus on defence (which was needed!) could be matched with a more forward approach. Csaba has spoken about ?needing to go forward more? against Falkirk and Rangers and he has also spoken about deploying Tulbberg upfront with Nade. It is early in the season yet and the last nine points are invaluable and I for one rather we slog it out (for some games) and win rather than playing pretty and loos (I know I am paraphrasing Csaba…)
Maybe Csaba is right… maybe it is all about the suksis.
The narrowness of our wins (and the Falkirk and Killie defeats actually) mirror the tightness of the league, where anyone outside the OF can beat everyone else. We’ll no doubt lose a few 1-0s too. However you’d probably have to admit that we’d gladly take a 1-0 win against either of the OF … if we could ever get close to them over a 90 minute game (95 minute game if we were 1-0 up !!). I suspect that Csaba is quite shrewd, and has realised the limitations of the current players, so we’ll probably just have to live with this sort of play for this season at least. “You play mit ze striker, ja, maybe he score zee goal, maybe not, but zees ees suksis, ja ?”
It’s a pity that everyone has started using phrases like “apart from the Old Firm” so readily again. Have they all of a sudden become good in the space of a few weeks from the garbage they were earlier in the season? Or have we all just dropped down a gear? Admittedly Celtic looked good at Tynecastle, but look who they were playing against!
Come on MrH – I admire your bravado and all, but the OF are streets ahead of everyone else in this league at the present moment in time. Hearts included. It will be a couple of years at least before we (or anyone else for that matter) are in a position to challenge them. It may be that they are both poor teams in world football terms, but in this league, they are way ahead. Sad, but true. 🙁
I think SJ is right – they are streets ahead of us and everyone else. Thats what I was getting at in the article I did last week about the lack of goals. Let’s face it – they get regular practice at playing in Europe (and have done pretty well actually), and are much more astute at spotting good players to sign then we are. The rest of us are much more vulnerable to the harsh economics of the game – not to mention the self-destruct policies of our beloved regime. Hopefully things may be stabilising at Hearts (if Vlad doesn’t do something stupid). Csaba may not be a GREAT football manager – but at least he IS a football manager.
I think I know what Mr H is saying ? if you get into that mindset that Rangers and Celtic are unbeatable then you are never going to beat them. I hate when you hear managers saying things like ?anything we get out of a game against the old firm is a bonus? etc. Trouble is, as we know, it?s not usually enough for Hearts to be as good as them we have to be way ahead to get results – you know how it works up here. And to be honest at the moment, as far as I can see, we are well short of that.
Look !! you are currently enjoying a bit of stability at last which cannot be easily dismissed ,, it would seem that the days of guessing how a Hearts team would perform on a week to week basis has finally subsided ,, OK ,, you are still no great shakes by any matter of means ,, but the signs are good ,, without meaning to sound condescending ,, I would forget about using the old firm as a yard stick in regards to your progression under the new set up ,, albeit temporarily ,, realistically ,, your immediate goal this season is to secure 3rd place in the SPL and do yourselves proud with a storming Scottish Cup run ,, as an outsider looking in I see far more positives than negatives ,, and the fact that Vladimir Romanov,s bank has secured an £ 18M profit whilst operating in a financial quagmire has to be taken as good news also ,, get yourself a half decent striker in January and I wouldn’t bet against Hearts securing European football next season ,, and building on that status thereafter ,, sometimes it,s hard to see the wood for the trees ……….. yours ,, Forest Gump supporters club ……..
Oh and btw ,, what price 1 – 0 to the ars… sorry !! Hearts tomorrow ?????
6-1 at bet365.com. Might be worth a flutter?
That’s exactly what I’m getting at, imcd. The attitudes of both managers and supporters in the SPL of the non-OF clubs is one of the main reasons why the gap exists…in my opinion.