On the whole, Hearts are staying realistic about actually becoming champions, but they are at least allowing themselves to get excited about the prospect of sustaining a title challenge after Sunday’s 3-1 win.
Derek: Eight-point lead and a plus-11 goal difference on second place? Dreamland, that’s where Hearts fans are. Who would have thought we’d have such a strong opening, coupled with such a weak Old Firm? We dominated Celtic – possession may say different, but it’s what you do with it, and we were magnificent at times. Alexandros Kyziridis was superb, Claudio Braga was immense, Lawrence Shankland put in a strong shift, the defence was strong, everything lined up as we knew it could and we ran out deserved winners. Am I excited? Of course I am.
Norrie: The work ethic of this team is remarkable. Cammy Devlin, Oisin McEntee and Harry Milne just never stop and what they do is highly effective. Shankland has gained a yard since last season. He doesn’t seem to be held back by pressure. The whole team is just exciting to watch and, considering the league is only nine games gone, it’s such a contrast to this time last year.
Jim: A good performance and a great three points. After watching Hearts for 60 years, though, I am certainly not getting too carried away. One game at a time and three points on Wednesday in Paisley would do nicely.
Alan: The biggest test for us now is the next game, St Mirren away. They are the only team to beat us, albeit on penalties in the cup.
Chris: We’ve obviously had a great start to the season, but we’ve really only clicked here and there. We’ll get better. That said, teams will need to work very hard to beat us. Derek McInnes has them working at a high intensity. I expect the Old Firm to get their acts together and we’ll obviously lose points eventually. But we have real quality sitting on the bench and even in the stands. Come May, the new recruits will have found their feet, we’ll have strengthened in January and we’ll be in the mix, fighting for the title.
Celtic fans are split about who takes the blame – manager Brendan Rodgers or the board – but they are obviously not happy.
Darren: It’s not Brendan Rodgers that’s the problem. It’s the board. They buy and sell the players and expect the head coach to build a team out of what they buy. It’s the board acting like a bunch of selectors and they got it wrong badly. Celtic can be a force in Europe, but this board won’t take a chance.
Jim: It seems that Celtic are going backwards with Brendan at the helm. He doesn’t appear to be interested or fully committed to the club and the players seem to lack inspiration or motivation. Maybe it’s time for changes both on and off the field.
David: Dane Murray got his chance and blew it. He was directly to blame for the first and third goal. Callum McGregor showed some form at last but was fighting a lone battle. Well played Hearts, you were good.
Joe: Rodgers’ position must now be in serious jeopardy. Forget the transfer window, Celtic are consistently losing to clubs with a fraction of the resources they have. The standard of play is truly awful and lack of goals is embarrassing. That sits with the manager.
Patrick: A really poor performance. A shame for the youngsters, but let’s hope they learn from it. Momentum is everything and Hearts have it all while Celtic have none. Need to improve these performances as the board can’t do anything until January now, so no point blaming them. The manager needs to get more from the players.
Stuart: Again, Rodgers has no answer, takes off our best player for an inferior winger. He built this squad and should take the blame. Rodgers should do the honourable thing and resign. Would you give him the huge amount of money he will need in January to improve this lot?
On the other side of Glasgow, there is a bit of relief among Rangers fans after their 3-1 win over Kilmarnock.
Graeme: Good first step. Finally, a manager/coach that prepares for the opposition and gives the team a proper chance. Hopefully we’ll get to see why these signings were made and recruitment can be properly judged.
Colin: Much better from Rangers. There was a freedom in the play that had been lacking under Russell Martin. It was nice to see a manager willing to change the plan to suit the opposition. Rangers used to play with two central forwards and really go at teams. In recent years, that changed to two defensive midfielders. It’s time to get back to going after teams. Dare I say a team of Rangers’ size has shown too much respect to teams of late, which has removed much of the fear of playing against us that used to be there.
Bill: One swallow doesn’t make a summer. This shows someone can relate to players, can get a bit extra out of them. A work in progress, but I’m not going to get carried away. Hopefully he can weed out the dross.
Steve: What I immediately like about Rohl is that he is not afraid to make changes early. How many managers have we had that would wait too long before changing things up, or worse, making changes when it’s panic stations. The team were playing reasonably well, but he decided changes were needed to push for the win and it worked out very well. Long may that continue.
Gazza: Not getting too carried away but it looked much better on the eye. Structure better, second-ball winning better and goals to boot. Tough one on Wednesday at Hibs, but I hope this showed we will be in better shape for Easter Road.
Hibs’ 2-1 win in Aberdeen has Hearts’ city rivals in third and their fans in positive mood.
David: A very professional performance from Hibs and a great platform now in place to push on and beat Rangers on Wednesday.
Tim: Typical of Hibs to give us a nervous last three minutes after being so superior throughout the match – conceding in injury time is our worst habit. But plenty to like about the performance, both defensively and in attack. A well-balanced side with a strong bench.
Gordon: Another good three points for Hibs. Pittodrie always a difficult place to go irrespective of where Aberdeen are in the table, but please learn to put the ball in the back of the net and Martin Boyle learning to stay onside would help. Grant Hanley again solid at the back and Thibault Klidje also played particularly well together with Josh Mulligan and Jamie McGrath putting in good performances.
Sandy: First-class team performance with Dan Barlaser man of the match. Raphael Sallinger is looking a really fine goalkeeper and had a great game.
Laurence: Good to get an away win, but if we’d taken our chances, it would have been five or six. Third in the table but can’t stop thinking about the draws with Kilmarnock, St Mirren and Falkirk, plus the injury-time goal against Hearts. A win on Wednesday against Rangers will solidify things and we can look upwards with confidence. It’s a big game.
