Boyce > Washington 
Stendel > Levein
Hearts > Hibs

Not to be overly negative but I hate almost all of our players and Boyce is up there. Apart from a few flashes, I have to say I think Lafferty with his height and general niggly presence, I think we would've got more out of Lafferty and would've been a bigger character around the dressing room, put a smile on the miserable bastards around Riccarton.

Hindsight is 20/20 though. On paper Boyce was a good signing - but again, barely contributed.

It feels a bit pointless saying this striker would do this or that when we've got Steven Naismith in the team and even he looks rotten.

Stendel was playing Boyce attacking mid. No wonder he was shite.

(05-18-2020, 04:10 PM)S.J. Wrote: Not to be overly negative but I hate almost all of our players and Boyce is up there. Apart from a few flashes, I have to say I think Lafferty with his height and general niggly presence, I think we would've got more out of Lafferty and would've been a bigger character around the dressing room, put a smile on the miserable bastards around Riccarton.

Hindsight is 20/20 though. On paper Boyce was a good signing - but again, barely contributed.

I'm sure i read that boyce was playing with an injury.

(05-18-2020, 04:04 PM)Morph Wrote: Not saying Mourinho couldn't have done a better job but don't think any of the managers that were in our budget would've.

This is just absolute nonsense though.

When he was appointed we had the same points as Hamilton and St Johnstone, two behind St Mirren and five behind Ross County. Every single one of those teams has outperformed us since then, St Johnstone by 13 points

If Stendel had done a better job than one of Brian Rice, Tommy Wright, Jim Goodwin or a Dingwall committee, we wouldn't be going down.

His signings were obviously largely a disaster but he was really unlucky with them as well. Boyce and Sibbick came in and immediately looked excellent - both injured early bells. Boyce struggled after that and was clearly never fully fit. Sibbick is just a sickener. He genuinely would have made the difference, based on his first two games. Wee porno tache came in with a decent CV but looked absolutely awful. Seems that one was a gamble that never paid off. Langer appears to have been miles off the pace - I saw nearly nothing of him so can only assume he wasn't good enough. The latter pair seem to have been tail end of the window, scrambling about for bodies because he'd had to get rid of players before he was allowed to sign anyone - not a problem his predecessor had to deal with, btw.

I think he was totally hamstrung by the lack of funds and support he got and therefore, while it's right to point to the signings and criticise him for them, it's not entirely fair to judge him on them either. If you don't have Boyce and Sibbick getting incredibly unlucky with injuries, his signings look a fair bit better.

How the fuck is it Stendels fault? His tactics might be absolutely golden for all we know but when you need to rely on the huddies in our squad to go out there and execute them then you're fucked no matter who the manager is.

I don't see the point in comparing what he could do in the market compared to what Levein could do. He signed the contract knowing the situation. Why don't we compare Levein's budget to Burley's? Irrelevant.

(05-18-2020, 04:27 PM)Kashinda Wrote: How the fuck is it Stendels fault? His tactics might be absolutely golden for all we know but when you need to rely on the huddies in our squad to go out there and execute them then you're fucked no matter who the manager is.

His tactics aren't golden if they're incompatible with the 11 players he picks to go out and execute them

(05-18-2020, 04:27 PM)Kashinda Wrote: How the fuck is it Stendels fault? His tactics might be absolutely golden for all we know but when you need to rely on the huddies in our squad to go out there and execute them then you're fucked no matter who the manager is.

Most games ended the same way under Stendel. Sticking 4/5/6 in attacking positions desperately chasing the game. Chaos against shite like St Mirren.

Those are not golden tactics.

(05-18-2020, 04:29 PM)Ross Kemp On Spice Wrote: I don't see the point in comparing what he could do in the market compared to what Levein could do. He signed the contract knowing the situation. Why don't we compare Levein's budget to Burley's? Irrelevant.

Eh?

We had a relegation squad thanks to Levein and it desperately needed an injection of new players. To ignore that is to let Levein off the hook for the mess he'd left us in, so it is entirely relevant. I'm not defending Stendel because but he didn't have a budget as a result of Levein pissing away so much money. He definitely didn't sign the contract knowing the situation btw He said after he started that the situation was way worse than he'd been led to believe

(05-18-2020, 04:27 PM)Kashinda Wrote: How the fuck is it Stendels fault? His tactics might be absolutely golden for all we know but when you need to rely on the huddies in our squad to go out there and execute them then you're fucked no matter who the manager is.

I've never seen a Hearts team defend like his in my life. It wa genuinely scary and the attacking play was kick and rush.

(05-18-2020, 04:35 PM)Little Bit Of The Boycey Wrote: Eh?

We had a relegation squad thanks to Levein and it desperately needed an injection of new players. To ignore that is to let Levein off the hook for the mess he'd left us in, so it is entirely relevant. I'm not defending Stendel because but he didn't have a budget as a result of Levein pissing away so much money. He definitely didn't sign the contract knowing the situation btw He said after he started that the situation was way worse than he'd been led to believe

Budge was talking about having to ship players out 4 days after he signed

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/s...ut-1337888

That would be some going if she's lied to him to get him and then said that to the media a few days later. Who knows though.

Just irritates me when folk use Hearts having no money for players as an excuse for his results (not saying you are). It's Hearts ffs. That has been the story of our history.

If Stendel leaves now then what would've been is completely up in the air and unknowable. Leveins shadow will loom large over this club for years to come.

But also a massive amount of blame to the fans too for accepting this shit. We've a support that idolised a 34yr old Don Cowie.

You can't win on here man

Folk saying Neilson's football was dire and boring, but we were winning.

Levein plays hoofball and sit back because it suits the players but it doesn't work because it's a shite tactic. 

Stendel try's to play a different type of attacking game but it doesn't suit the players. So are we going to go back to leveins tactics that don't work? Naw. Keep Stendel, bin the players and let him bring in people that are suited to his tactics

The whole culture at the club is rotten. There is no ethos, no willingness for anyone to do better or improve themselves or the club. The attitude of the players is absolutely disgusting and it's set from the very top to the bottom.

If the director of football is overshadowing the manager at every turn (see Cathro), then who are the players going to respect? Not here to defend Cathro but he was being undercut and disrespected from the outset. Accusations that Levein was picking the team and still signing players. The embarrassing scenario of Levein passing notes down from the stand to Cathro and then two minutes later subs and tactical changes would be made accordingly.

Members of Cathro's failed backroom team are allowed to stay. Guys like Daly because he's a Levein yes man. MacPhee somehow stays because he's a snake oil salesman and convinces people he's a master tactician. But no one takes any responsibility, Daly and MacPhee both chuck Cathro under the bus and question his training methods and team fitness (newsflash lads, you're the fucking coaches, you're partly responsible as well). Then the director of football becomes manager.

And then that DoF comes in, the man who appointed the previous manager and effectively ran the team, picked the side and signed the players, gets the manager's gig. He shows up twice a week at most for training and lets the two coaches, Daly and MacPhee, the two men who were part of the Cathro shit show and couldn't even stand up to him, are given responsibility to run the show in Levein's absence.

And because Levein isn't there the majority of the time it breeds contempt. Players slack off. Other players are favoured as they become yes men to Levein because they get an easy ride. Other players then start getting allowed to train and rock up as and when they please. Just fucking look at the laughable deal we dished out to Whelan. Come up from down south one a week to play and then can train from home. And glass knees Naismtih then allowed to train from home.

So inevitably when Levein gets binned and a new manager comes along he's up against it straight away to try and turn around the mentality of the slackers in our squad. And the previous manager still lingers around the club, at the training ground, at reserves games, at the stadium. What message does that send out? Who are the players going to react to? The new guy whose come in and tried to implement new ideas and make the players work hard, or the previous manager who gave them an easy ride and is still creeping about and is undoubtedly still in touch with them.

We are ultimately a club that has consistently rewarded failure and created a culture as such. The atmosphere and ethos of the club is utterly vile. I'm not going to put forward a case for defending Stendel here as he's made plenty mistakes, but whoever came in was really up against it with the previous manager still lurking about and toil to get a reaction from the players.

(05-18-2020, 04:44 PM)CoroNaFish Wrote: If Stendel leaves now then what would've been is completely up in the air and unknowable. Leveins shadow will loom large over this club for years to come.

But also a massive amount of blame to the fans too for accepting this shit. We've a support that idolised a 34yr old Don Cowie.

The thrilling 'never lets you down' type.

I'm almost 27, I can count on one hand how many times we've had teams that have actually played good football.

Stendel should only be judged on anything since the start of January given the absolute shitshow he walked into; in fighting, players having downed tools, massive injury problems, Levein and his cohorts still kicking about and Budge having lost the plot. There was also the added distraction of her inability to sort things out with Barnsley promptly with both his compensation and his staff and his own personal situation in Germany. 

If you look at things reasonably he was always going to have to work with a terribly constructed squad, devoid of all confidence and only had the option to bring in a few players, several of whom had hardly kicked a ball all season. That he then quickly lost Sibbick who had looked promising was a huge blow. But results wise since the winter break we won 5, drew 3 and lost 3 including 2 wins over Rangers at Tynecastle (something Levein hadn't managed in over 20 matches) and a stirring win at Easter Road. One of the defeats was also at Parkhead so a bit of context is required in looking at how things panned out between January and March. 

This isn't to say there weren't still disappointing performances and room for lots of improvement but time is required to turn our abysmal squad around. It would be totally disingenuous to suggest it was great by any means but equally it is far too early to judge what a Stendel Hearts team would really look like and there have been signs in those big wins that when he and the team get it right we can be more than decent. If he leaves then it will be another shitty chapter where our club has failed us all. Something new and fresh could have been built with Stendel and I dread to think what parochial and boring road Budge will send us down next.