John Robertson’s one word to sum up Hearts right now as minimum number of needed signings at Tynecastle named
One player is lauded, and the Hearts icon only requires one word to describe the Jambos right now.
One phrase about the current Hearts team comes to mind when John Robertson names his team’s standout player thus far this season.
The Jambos are receiving a lot of criticism following their disastrous midweek exit from the Conference League at home against Petrocub of Moldova. They missed out on the top 24 and European football after Christmas due to goal differential, and a 2-2 draw was insufficient to eliminate them from the league phase.
Currently at the bottom of the Premiership, Sunday’s matchup with St Johnstone is crucial. “Neil Critchley’s first game in the competition was great, but it’s not been good enough, far, far away,” Allan Preston, a former Hearts player and commentator, stated on Sportscene before to the January transfer window. Six guys, I’m going to raise you on that, I said.
They need more than that, in my opinion, as some of these individuals appear to have done their course and their
They seem to have lost their legs. They just aren’t playing at the level Hearts need to right now, even though some of them have been outstanding players. Additionally, I think it will be challenging between now and the January timeframe.
“And if they are fortunate enough to bring in players who can start right away, then it’s relegation time because that performance in the first forty-five minutes will get you demoted,” I’ll tell you. That is all there is to it. That was insufficient.
Using a single word to describe Hearts at the moment, Tynecastle legend Robertson claims that summer acquisition James Penrice has been among the team’s better players. He clarified: “Hearts’ standout player this season has been Penrice. A truly exceptional player. Additionally, he is forming a good alliance with Blair Spittal. You can see that Craig Gordon and Zander Clark are the two goalkeepers on the team. You Frankie Kent and Kye Rowles were beginning to form a small partnership there for a short spell before Kent’s injury.
Spittal and Penrice enjoy a good working relationship. In the middle of the park, Beni Baningime appeared to be doing well when he was in good shape. However, there have been issues with the right side. Gerald Taylor appeared to be a world beater at the beginning of the season, but after a horrible performance against Dundee, he has flatlined out and suffered a serious injury. There, young Adam Forrester and Daniel Oyegoke had been playing. Young Forrester is just a young man who has come in to do well, and Oyegoke appears to be a centre back playing right back when he plays.
For me, the main issue—which has persisted at Heats for some time—is that there is a serious lack of originality at the park’s centre. The park’s centre is incredibly large. Yes, you may discuss tempo and a variety of other topics, but you need someone to pass the ball to in the middle of the park. You wouldn’t describe the two Petrocub strikers, for instance, as extremely fast. They had players that could knock the ball around, play in the feet, had a lot of balls around the corner, and have players up supporting, but they weren’t particularly fast.
There was no midfield support when Hearts did throw the ball in towards James Wilson and Lawrence Shankland, so occasionally you had to question Alan Forrest and Yan Dhanda. Get off the flanks and save the wide spaces for your full backs if they’re approaching from the middle. If you’re playing your team in a 4-4-2, Forrest, then pass the ball to him and let them do their thing.
“Let them face the man and support him.” Penrice will lead them down the left-hand side, take the line, and put crosses in, so Dhanda, go inside, drag him inside, and leave him one for one. However, I wrote the word in Allan’s book at
“They were attacking straight lines across the park at times, with the back four, two in the middle, and four in the front. And that won’t stop a team that plays a nice little 5-3-2, 5-2-3 formation from playing in holes where one man can actually mark two Hearts players.”
