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n each programme, we’ll hear the views of one of the many Hearts-related podcasts available to download. This week, its Alan Scrimgeour of the Since I Was Young podcast
We are currently sitting third in the league, behind the Old Firm. From the outside looking in, a ‘newly promoted’ side sitting third in the table would be viewed as very strong start. At face value, that is exactly what it is. Factor in that we began with a run of 11 games without tasting defeat, that adds further sparkle to the stats sheets. But let’s dig a little deeper. Hearts have played 12 fixtures this season, 5 wins and 6 draws, and (sadly) 1 loss. Wins against Celtic ten men St Mirren, Dundee United, Livingston & Motherwell with the added bonus of playing well and controlling games was something that really stood out for me. Robbie Neilson implemented the 3-4-3 system at the back end of
the Championship season and we were delighted to see it brought into the new campaign. It quite simply makes the best of the players that we currently have. Defensively we look far more solid; this is of course helped by having Scotland’s number 1 keeper in goal. Cochrane and Smith working the wide areas effectively whilst Devlin and Beni provide an engine room the like of which us fans have not witnessed for many a year. Their energy, drive and enthusiasm are infectious. Now, let’s look at the games we’ve drawn; Aberdeen, Hibs, Ross County, Rangers, Dundee and St Johnstone. Again, taking these at face value, draws against Aberdeen, Hibs and Rangers and (factoring in our poor record in Perth) St Johnstone are acceptable points to pick up, However, reflecting on some of those games, there is more of a feeling of points dropped rather than points gained. A draw against Rangers at Ibrox felt more like a win due to the nature of the game
and how hard we worked for it. Our cause was absolutely aided by the fact the Rangers forward line left their shooting boots at home. Now it’s time to put my negative hat on and bring up the draws that we absolutely should have won against Ross County and Dundee. In both of those games, we controlled possession and have been the better side. The frustration comes when you see that County and Dundee are the bottom two in the league and both had been struggling for form prior to coming up against us. There is an annoyingly familiar pattern in some of these draws. Domination on the stats sheet, the so called “total football”, means absolutely nothing if you can’t capitalise and turn the chances created into goals. It is refreshing, however, to hear noises from the dressing room that these draws are absolutely not the standards that have been set. Indeed, it was on Saturday October 30th that we were to
