02-02-2017, 12:17
(This post was last modified: 02-02-2017, 13:25 by HerefordBull.)
I have been interested to see Cathros tactics against both Celtic and Sevco. He has employed the Klopp style of Gegenpressing which I thought was unlucky not to get something for at Celtic Park but it paid dividends last night.
To carry this off successfully it certainly tests the fitness of your players but would have been helped last night by the slightly smaller size of the pitch. The big question is will he employ this tactic to all games and more importantly in the Cup game v Hibs? We are so used to seeing these games as tight, dour affairs with neither side committing too much in case of a mistake.
Apart from fitness the other main drawback is rather like a "blitz" in American Football where it leaves a lot of space in the backfield if it doesn't come off, in soccer there is plenty of space to exploit if you pick the right passes and are accurate with them. A lot of teams are learning this now against Liverpool and their results are not quite so good just as happened at Dortmund in Germany before. They create many chances but also defensively are not so strong as past teams. The question is will Hibs be good enough to counter the gegenpress as it is a situation that does not often face them? All games this season we have teams that park the bus for as long as possible. To have a team come out in their faces from the first whistle will certainly be a new experience.
One thing is for sure is the confidence in the fans .......after the game on Sunday it was nearly all doom and gloom on Hearts forums and Hibs were desperate to get a ticket for Tynecastle and take apart this "scattergun" team of loans and frees. After last night the attitudes have certainly changed and the shout is now.....bring on the Hibees and reading through the Hibs responses they are certainly now a little more subdued. All eyes will be on the JT's performance at the weekend and seeing how their confidence and gelling of the team is coming along against Motherwell.
As I have said before this is a game we can do without as nearly all thoughts are turning to the derby tie yet to me the most important game is the league game v Ayr this Saturday.
The final thing that has struck me is......what a big side Hearts are now.......Levein must narrow his choices of new players related to their height!
To carry this off successfully it certainly tests the fitness of your players but would have been helped last night by the slightly smaller size of the pitch. The big question is will he employ this tactic to all games and more importantly in the Cup game v Hibs? We are so used to seeing these games as tight, dour affairs with neither side committing too much in case of a mistake.
Apart from fitness the other main drawback is rather like a "blitz" in American Football where it leaves a lot of space in the backfield if it doesn't come off, in soccer there is plenty of space to exploit if you pick the right passes and are accurate with them. A lot of teams are learning this now against Liverpool and their results are not quite so good just as happened at Dortmund in Germany before. They create many chances but also defensively are not so strong as past teams. The question is will Hibs be good enough to counter the gegenpress as it is a situation that does not often face them? All games this season we have teams that park the bus for as long as possible. To have a team come out in their faces from the first whistle will certainly be a new experience.
One thing is for sure is the confidence in the fans .......after the game on Sunday it was nearly all doom and gloom on Hearts forums and Hibs were desperate to get a ticket for Tynecastle and take apart this "scattergun" team of loans and frees. After last night the attitudes have certainly changed and the shout is now.....bring on the Hibees and reading through the Hibs responses they are certainly now a little more subdued. All eyes will be on the JT's performance at the weekend and seeing how their confidence and gelling of the team is coming along against Motherwell.
As I have said before this is a game we can do without as nearly all thoughts are turning to the derby tie yet to me the most important game is the league game v Ayr this Saturday.
The final thing that has struck me is......what a big side Hearts are now.......Levein must narrow his choices of new players related to their height!
"FOREVER UNITED"