I have a dream

Forty-five years on from Martin Luther King's illustrious speech in Washington, I too, have a dream.  Okay, it may not be quite so noble or have such lofty ambitions as the civil rights' leader and instead of sending out a message to the hearts of his supporters, this one is to the supporters of Hearts.  But I have a dream today.....

I have a dream that all Hearts players, regardless of nationality or creed, fitness or skill levels, will one day work as hard as they possibly can for the good of the team.  I have a dream where no-one grafts any less than his team-mates and they all labour together towards a common goal (no pun intended).  It's a dream where every single man puts in a shift despite being not quite on form.  And, if you think that's a dig at you, Larry Kingston, then yes, you've probably hit the nail on the head.  Is it asking too much for everyone to put the team before their own individual performances?

I have a dream where we have an inspirational figure as captain, one who can be relied upon to rally the troops with a few well-chosen words (or gestures!) when the chips are down.  Whilst the current incumbent of the post, Christophe Berra, is a reliable and capable young defender, he's no Dave Mackay.  Or Steven Pressley.  Christophe may mature into a fine captain one day.  But that day is not today.

I have a dream where we have a striker capable of putting the ball in the net with regular monotony.  Capable though Jamie Mole is at working the channels, he's not going to be sitting near the top of the SPL goalscoring charts come May next year.  How about playing two up front instead of a lone striker?  Or perhaps we could unearth a new John Robertson.  In fact, maybe we could encourage last season's signing from Sheffield Utd, Christian Nade, to continue to emulate the wee man's qualities.  After all, he does seem to possess the Hearts legend's propensity to pile on the pounds easily.

I have a dream where the Manager develops the team so they are able to adopt different styles depending upon the situation.  During our League Cup defeat on penalties earlier this week, it was painfully obvious that our slow, patient, passing game was making little impact on an Airdrie side determined to defend deep in numbers.  Some quicker, sharper passing was required at times which would have limited the chance for our opponents to get back behind the ball when their own moves broke down.  Okay, quicker passing can lead to the ball going astray on occasions but surely it was evident that Airdrie's attacking ambitions were limited and they were never going to outnumber us in our half of the field?  And on that note, why continue to play with a defensive midfielder sitting in front of our back four when we were hardly under threat of couter-attacks?  Despite the fact that Karapidis performed pretty adequately in the role, I hardly think sacrificing him for a more attack-minded midfielder was going to threaten our grip on the game or make us more vulnerable.

So far, Csabo has made all the right noises but a Cup defeat to a side in the division below us now means that the honeymoon is over and he needs to back up his talk with actions.  Over to you Mr Laszlo.

Okay, as I said, maybe my dreams don't have the soaring aspirations of the famous civil rights leader - in fact when it comes to idealism, they're probably nearer to Abba's "I Have A Dream" than Mr King's.  But nonetheless, I have a dream today........

Comments

[RobJones]

Thanks for the comments, zicoinexile. You're right, given the result in Hamilton, the honeymoon isn't over yet - I was maybe a bit hasty after the Airdrie defeat. We're still in the honeymoon period with Csaba - there's plenty of time yet before we find out if he picks his nose, farts or leaves the top of the toothpaste tube lying about.....

[zicoinexile]

And sometimes dreams come true :-)

I agree entirely on Berra and Kingston. Personally I still feel the honeymoon with Csaba has a wee bit to run. We have 7 pts more than we had last season so a good start.

We are without doubt a work in progress. But the early report card is favourable from me.

Bring on Falkirk.