Time for a wee mid-week news update.

Arunas Klimavicius

We all know that Hearts made a total hash/horlicks/mistake (call it what you will) of the transfer window, but it appears Hearts might have found a replacement for Berra. Lithuanian (what? you’re surprised?) internationalist Arunas Klimavicius (first prize for who ever can pronounce right it first time) has been on trial at Hearts down at Riccarton for the past few days. The centre-back seems pretty desperate to play for Hearts and the head of the Lithuanian FA speaks quiet highly of him.

Time for a pop quiz! Who did the the President of the Lithuanian FA Liutauras Varanavicius used to work for?

That’s right! Tsar Vlad at Heart of Midlothian!

Anyway, constant changes to the back 4 is never a good thing…except Hearts don’t have a choice and a replacement for Berra is needed pretty urgently, especially after Zaliukas is regularly proving to be unreliable.

It is likley that a decision will be made in the next couple of days (hopefully by Csaba) and we will see if the Lithuanian internationalist (19 caps by the way) ends up playing for Hearts.

If my opinion is worth anything (and seeing as this is my blog - my word = law), it would probably be a good thing to sign…this player since Hearts failed to get the desired replacement (who has moved elsewhere anyway).

Hearts play St. Mirren on the weekend and Csaba has stated it is an important game…Why is it in the run up before EVERY match the manager is quoted saying how important the match is? Isn’t it obvious? All matches are important! Every loss could come back to bite Hearts on the bum in the future. Remember 06-07? Hearts missed out on third spot (and a Europe place) to Aberdeen by only 4 points, two silly losses a few months before the end cost Hearts that 3rd spot. So I wish managers would tell us something constructive rather than telling the world how important every match is.

To round things off, an odd little Hearts story. Former HMFC striker Michael Pospisil would love to return to play for Hearts. Is it me or does this sound like a cry for help? Pospisil is currently on loan in Belgium and will probably not play for Hearts again…simple as that.

Hearts play St. Mirren at Tynecastle on Saturday so make sure to check here for the pre and post match reports!

This post is dedicated to the people in the flat below who set off the building’s fire alarm as I was writing this. Cheers lads…

A cold and deafened Believer

By Jove! I think they’ve got it! A stunning 2-1 win over the Dons and a fantastic effort from the Jambos!

Aberdeen scored first 19 minutes in and it was pretty close up till then, Aberdeen getting the lucky break when they took the lead.Now in the past, the Jambo’s would normally capitulate/give up/roll over and die. But not today! They thundered back and dominated the second half resulting in an equalizer from Christian Nade 1 minute before HT. This didn’t stop in the second half either. Hearts were quiet willing to kick the Dons when they were down. Hearts pushed and pushed and Andy Driver headed in the winner after 66 minutes (which FINALY shut up the noisy Dons fans).

The domination continued until the 80th minutes when things got a little scary and Aberdeen began one last-ditch attempt to equalize. The closest they got was hitting the post and Balogh nabbing it before an Aberdeen striker could lay his feet on it. With 5 minutes left, Hearts could have scored again with Aberdeen looking shell shocked but they chose to waste time (resulting in a couple of bookings).

The refereeing in this match was almost as terrible as last week. Aberdeen players could have sharpened the studs on their boots and carried swords and gotten away with it. As one person behind me pointed out: “Are you getting payed by the foul?” in reference to the Dons going down easy. It also struk me as odd when 5 Aberdeen players were “injured” whenever Hearts reached the Don’s box. Coincidence? I think not, but Aberdeen players are clearly very brittle.

It’s not all good news though. Despite a great game from the JT’s they were still prone to sloppy mistakes and a reluctance to shoot the ball. I also think that Mikey Stewart should probably give the next few games a miss. He’s becoming to reluctant to get stuck in with the tackles and often hesitates, dancing round the opposition rather than trying to get the ball. Obua is becoming a waste of space as well. His style of “clever” and “tricky” play does not suit the Scottish game. As soon as Miko gets better, he needs to replace either Stewart or Obua and maybe giving Chesney a start.

On a related note, Mike Tulberg (who was supposed to be back this week) will supposedly return next week for the match against St. Mirren. How long has he been out? I can’t honestly remember when he last played for Hearts. Maybe he’s the miracle Hearts have been waiting for though. It will hopefully create some competition amongst Nade, Glen and Tulberg for regular starts for Hearts. It could be beneficial having more Strikers than we actually need, much like the goalie situation - they play above and beyond the call of duty, knowing that they might not be playing in the next match.

My man of the match is Janos Balogh for some stunning goalkeeping

Match Facts courtesy of the BBC:

Hearts: Balogh, Neilson, Karipidis, Jonsson, Lee Wallace, Obua, Stewart, Aguiar, Driver, Glen (Palazuelos 81), Nade (Mrowiec 90).
Subs Not Used: MacDonald, Cesnauskis, Thomson, Elliot, Templeton.

Booked: Nade, Stewart.

Goals: Nade 45, Driver 66.

Aberdeen: Langfield, Foster, Diamond, Severin, Mulgrew, Young (Considine 76), Kerr, Duff (Maguire 76), Vidal, Miller, Mackie (Wright 79).
Subs Not Used: Bossu, Stewart, Paton, Pawlett.

Booked: Foster.

Goals: Mackie 20.

Att: 15,049

Ref: C Richmond

A very happy Believer

Right, my train to Haymarket is in half an hour so lets thrash out a pre-match thing. Hearts vs. Aberdeen, certainly one of the JT’s most important SPL games since the Derby at the start of January. I’m finding it difficult to come up with a prediction for this one but my Cynical side is coming forth saying that Aberdeen might win (boo! hiss!). In their past 3 games, they have had the better run of form. They beat Celtic at Home, then getting a draw against Rangers (again at Home) and then topping it all off by loosing to Falkirk in Falkirk.

Ignoring the Scottish Cup loss, Hearts have also had 2 wins and a loss, except they were only to the smaller teams: Kilmarnock, Inverness and the loss to Hamilton. If we do consider the Scottish Cup game, I think we can take something from it. Hearts had a superb 1st half, only failing to capitalise on their chances. If the JT’s can take the same style of play (maybe without Jonsson up front…) with a 4-4-2 formation, things should be alright.

Kingston might not be playing as he was playing for Ghana on Wednesday, but you never know. And as we all know, Zaliukas is out with a 3 match ban, meaning that the defence needs to be muddled about a bit again. This could be Hearts Achilles Heel today - the defence. Since Berra left, the defence has been good, but not what it was, particularly as it has changed in every match since he went South. Jonsson will probably be taken from Striker and be thrown back into the back 4 for this match, alongside Neilson, Wallace and…I’m not entirely sure to be honest. It is likely that the Dons will try to play the long balls and will be looking for a defensive mistake in order to get their goals. Offensively, Hearts should be alright, a half-decent midfield and 2 up front (Nade and Glen) should be able to create something. Hopefully they will have worked on shooting and set-ups in training and with any luck this will show up in the match.

Here’s the predicted linups courtesy of the BBC:

Hearts: Balogh, Neilson, Jonsson, Karipidis, Wallace, Obua, Stewart, Aguiar, Kingston, Driver, Nade, MacDonald, Glen, Cesnauskis, Thomson, Mrowiec, Elliot, Templeton

Aberdeen: Langfield, Foster, Mulgrew, Mair, Severin, Kerr, Vidal, Duff, McDonald, Miller, Mackie, Bossu, Diamond, Young, Aluko, Wright, Maguire, Crawford.

The Referee is Charlie Richmond

On Previous meetings this season, it was 1-1 at Tynecastle (+ 1 missing penalty…) and 1-0 Aberdeen at Pittodrie

My Predition: I’m gonna hedge my bets on this one and say 1-0 to Hearts (but it could go wither way :p)

A very hopefull Beliver

Happy 45th Birthday Csaba Laszlo!

And many more!

Happy Birthday!

First off, I want to change what I said about Zaliukas in the Falkirk game. I originally stated he did not deserve a red card. This was due to where I was sitting in the stand and it appeared that he was punching the ground, not the player. After seeing highlights, it is clear that Zaliukas deserved the red card and should probably be suspended by the club for his stupid conduct. He’s now picked up 3 red cards this season which is silly (the second red card was undeserved but we’ll ignore it to keep things simple). This does lead on to another complaint about the referee’s. The head of the Scottish referees praised Csaba for his public condemnation of Zaliukas action. Why is it we only hear about this guy when someone does something he approves of. I mean, if a referee has an absolutely stunning game (not something that happens in Scotland), he’d the first person to come out of the woodwork to praise him. But when there’s a “MacDonald” game like Hearts v Falkirk on the weekend, he’s no where to be found.

The issue with the refereeing problem is that the Managers (with the exception of the In-firm managers) are too scared to say anything because the SFA can destroy them for being too critical. No one will listen to the fan’s either because they will be thought to be biased and out to get the referee. The only person left to complain who will be heard is Vlad, and everyone thinks he’s nuts. So when the next set of fixtures roll around, there will be no outcry, no one demanding blood because everyone will have forgotten about it or be too bitter to say anything.  The last time anything was mentioned was when the in-firm managers complained at the same time and the SFA had to listen. Now that the referees are destroying the hopes of everyone outside of Glasgow, it doesn’t matter anymore. Lets hope they all get stuck in Spain on their “team-building exercise”. (more like holiday…)

What about the rest of the season? At the moment, I’m going to be opptomistic and say that this is little slump is just a blip on the radar. I see it in lots of other sports (it even happens in Football Manager…) and Hearts just need a good win to break out of it. Maybe a change in tactics might do it…? Maybe 2 up front…? This is the same argument over and over again. In fact, I hope Csaba does it just so I can have something else to talk about.

Something different here though. St. Mirren have asked that next weeks match be moved from Saturday to Sunday next week and Hearts have turned them down (rightly so). It would be a massive inconvenience for me if they did. It would also be a massive inconvenience for many Hearts fans who have bought tickets or match-day hospitality. Hearts have often been on the receiving end of the SFA and the Old Firms rubbish and after last weeks fiasco, I can actually see Hearts feeling a little bitter, and the Buddies were the perfect target for Hearts annoyance.

Anyway, it’s a big match against Aberdeen on Saturday, so make sure to come back for my analysis.

An Ill and Bitter Jambo