Great instinctive finish from Shankland.

Our back 4 all over the place at times though (minus Liam Smith who has fared quite well).

Kevin Clancy giving us fuck all here.

Not surprised they equalised! 9 shots to our 2!

Scotty Banks. Limited time in a tough game but looking like a right wee player.

A draw at Tynecastle is not  the worst result even if the performance was not the best and they had a red card as well.

Hearts are superior to any opposition on the Championship so I will not panic yet, if that perforomance had been against the likes of East Fife, Stenhousemuir or Cowdenbeath then I would be more concerned.

Despite the penalty result it is not the worst outcome as win the 3 other games and finish with 10 points which should be one of the runner up spots for going through I would imagine.

kingdomarab wrote:

Wasn’t even angry after the shootout, just laughed as I left the ground.

 
Easier when the penalties didnae define a win or loss in this unique competition.

I'm OK with the result and mair grasping positives. Early days, much to improve on but a decent point in a competition I give no fuck about this season mair than ever.

Winning the league matters mair than anything this season.

Pretty mixed night there against decent opposition in a difficult venue. Thought Sporle had a torrid time albeit, against probably one of the best players in the league next year. Thought he just started to settle a wee bit before his booking. Smith looked ok on the other side but lack of options for him to pass to or link with.

Regardless of the opposition though, we’re playing a really simple 4-4-2 and don’t look remotely comfortable. We don’t look for the ball nearly enough and have no one to control the tempo. This isn’t knee jerk, it’s from last season too. We either play a million miles an hour stuff which sometimes comes off or it’s a punt.

Hopefully Adam King can control a game. On the plus side, like the look of Banks and fair play for wanting to take a corner, free kick and penalty!

I'm willing to cut Sporle some slack, new country.new language, getting subbed at half time could make or break the boy, hopefully the former, if he's still no' made progress by xmas e'll start to worry. Overall no' a great performance the night, but a pretty good 90 minutes result, considering the opposition.

I hope we've got the laddie Banks on a Jim McLean contract, never looked out of place or fazed, got high hopes here, likewise the boy Appere, although there's still some rough edges to be smoothed off, but dug in and never looked out of his depth. I'm hoping we can keep this young batch coming through, as they can be great mentors to the fine group just turned pro and coming through the academy at the moment.

blackandtangerine wrote:

kingdomarab wrote:

The absolute state of our fans on Twitter. Holy fuck.

I can imagine.
 

 
Some hilarious comments on there. A few "get him to fuck" are my favourites.

We didnt play well last night but we've had 3 weeks pre season. People who cant give a measured opinion and look at the big picture shouldnt be commenting as it just creates a toxic atmosphere online. Depressing to be honest.

Fact of the matter is, we picked up 1 more point than a lot of us expected and there are small positives here and there we can cling onto. The young guys and Shankland scoring definitely things to be happy about.

Also the fact that we didnt have or use players like Pawlett, Sow, Harkes, C Smith, King just shows we have decent strength in depth already with maybe one or two still to come in.

Looking forward to the next 3 games and I'm expecting 9 points and hopefully a few goals per game.

We’re still at least a left winger and a centre half short, especially if Neilson’s gonna have them playing out from the back like he was trying last night.

People laying into Connolly and Reynolds forget who they were up against last night, I can guarantee if you were to survey the centre halves of the Premiership, most would  tell you Ikpeazu is the striker they hate coming up against most, boy’s an absolute animal, they won’t face a striker with that kind of raw physicality at any other point this season.

I had my concerns after watching Sporle at Brechin last week, and tonight only increased them tenfold. We may want to hang fire on punting Booth as I’m really worried about this boy. His sense of where to be on a football pitch is woeful, and wants rid of the ball as soon as it comes near him. Early days yet but I’m not impressed with him at all.

Young boys that came on impressed again, both look ready to be a part of the squad this season, Banks looks fearless on the ball, and what a size Appere is, even compared to Berra and Souttar who both aren’t wee. Could he be the target man we need to get the best out of Shankland?

Last edited by JerryDungle (13/7/2019 7:36 am)

First half we were very poor i thought. As others have said good for Shankland to get off the mark with his goal and hopefully that is the first of alot for him this season.

We improved a bit in the 2nd half but overall we rode our luck.  Clark should have scored some chance missed.

The Argie at left back had a horrific 45 minutes and if that continues left back will be a problem again this season. I will give him time to get used to this league and hope it works out but thats now Brechin and Hearts ive seen him and been very disappointed in him.

Reynolds and Connolly were all over the place at times and i am starting to worry about the centre back partnership. Thought Liam Smith done well.

Siegrist done well few decent saves. Not a good penalty stopper though.

A tough test for the squad last night but i do not think we are ready for the season with what we have.

Just under 1200 Utd fans in attendance fantastic effort.

Last edited by bowers (13/7/2019 9:11 am)

lifesanocean wrote:

Think people are being very harsh on Connolly and Reynolds. I thought they did well last night against the aforementioned Ikpeazu who is a real handful but they dealt with his physicality well but also Connor Washington who was a regular for QPR for many years, plays up front for Northern Ireland, including all 4 games in Euro 2016. We'll not face that quality again this season, especially with Walker, Smith and Mulraney supplying them.

The goal we scored was fantastic as well.

However, Bouhenna was absolutely stinking, either giving the ball or getting caught on it, virtually every time he had it. The few occasions when he didn't lose it he usually took the easy option when we were breaking and passed it backwards, killing any momentum we had. He looked exactly what he is; a centre half playing in midfield. Its one thing strolling it against trialists and workies at Brechin, totally different against a Premiership team who are closing you down, in those conditions.

Nicky Clark was almost as bad, but could at least say he had a hand in the goal and getting the boy sent off. Cammy Smith must be fucking horrendous in training or something to never be given a chance. I worry that Shankland and Clark together lack work rate and mobility . Cammy would give us that.

The two young lads were excellent. Appere is built for the Championship and Smith was positive every time he had the ball and never once took the safe option. The worry is Neilson knocks that out of him.

I think appere would do a very good job in our league. I'd like to see him and shankland play together as a proper striker partnership in a couple of our league cup games.
 

the boy Ikpeazu is a unit, hard to get near him.

can’t play football though.
all I’ve saw of him was last night, mind