Miron Muslic has warned Hearts that Cercle Brugge have the weapons to strike down a second Scottish side this season – despite missing £14m man Kevin Denkey.
The struggling Belgians knocked Kilmarnock out of Europa League qualifying before dropping into the Conference League themselves. And while Muslic expects Hearts to carry a completely different threat to “long ball” Killie in the Jan Breydel Stadium tomorrow night, he is confident his players will come out on top again.
Cercle are languishing in 14th position in the Jupiler League and, like Hearts, are without a win in their last three outings. They are also two points behind the Tynecastle side in the Conference League standings. To add to their woes Muslic is without “six or seven” first team players including the suspended striker Denkey who has agreed an MLS record £13.9m move to FC Cincinnati after finishing last season as Belgium’s top scorer with 28 goals.
But the 42-year-old Austrian said: “We are playing this beautiful game, first of all, to win. We want to enjoy this international adventure. I think we’re also in a good position with four points. If we can manage to have a good performance tomorrow night and reward ourselves with points, we are in a very comfortable position in the Conference League. And for that, we need to find our limits tomorrow physically, technically and tactically.
“Then, if this is possible, we have all the weapons, the tools and the possibilities to go after Hearts and to play for the three points, knowing that this team is also here to perform. I don’t think they will let the 3000 supporters over there just come here to see nothing.
“They have the obligation also to go all in, to go fully. And we are also prepared for that. We will also pick up the fight. Kevin Denkey is not there, so we have to come up with some different solutions.
“We cannot replace Kevin one-on-one. It’s just simply impossible because you just can’t replace a guy who scored just 30 goals over the last season. But we have to share this goal threat and the share this goal threat responsibility and goal threat just on several other shoulders. It’s just a nice moment also for the players to step up and to get a little bit closer. So why not?”
Cercle dumped Kilmarnock 2-1 on aggregate but asked if he expected a similar test against Hearts, Muslic said: “Actually very different, especially since head coach Critchley took over.
“First of all very well coached, clear patterns, possession based. A lot of possession for a Scottish team to be fair, a lot of good things on the ball. They feel very comfortable with the ball. Kilmarnock was way more physical, way more direct, with long balls picking up the second.
“I think also this is in a repertoire of Hearts, but still with the capacity and the quality to build up, to prepare the attack, to progress the game from the defence to the midfield, looking then for Lawrence Shankland as a clear target player, a clear number nine. This guy also scored a lot of goals over the last two seasons for Hearts. So this is for me a very well coached team first of all, especially since my colleague Neil took over. Very attractive, very offensive minded and not really comparable with Kilmarnock.
“They will go fully, they will be intense, they will be physical, they will give it all. And very similar also, we had this experience with Kilmarnock. I think around 3,000 guys, 3,000 supporters will come here to cheer, to support. We had this beautiful experience with Kilmarnock. Then a game like tomorrow night just becomes a feast with a good atmosphere.
“And this is something we experienced already and we learned our lessons versus Kilmarnock, especially due to the physicality, due to the long balls, due to the set-pieces. This is also a threat of Hearts, but with a lot of solutions with the ball. And we define ourselves as an out-of-possession team, structured in our pressing, out of possession, against the ball. So I think if we can do some things right tomorrow, we will have also some opportunities to catch them in this style of play.”
Muslic was assistant coach at SV Ried in Austria when former Hearts favourite Peter Haring was commanding the midfield there. But he’s not reached out to his old colleague for inside info on the Jambos … yet. He laughed: “Of course, I know him back from Austria. I had him.
“I’ve not spoken to him (about Hearts) not at all because, f*****g hell, the last time I spoke with Peter, it was, I think, six or seven years ago! I was there, I think, assistant coach in Ried. We played in the second division in Austria and I was assistant coach. And he was also back there, big guy, strong guy, very dangerous in set pieces with a big heart. So actually he fit perfectly then to the Scottish competition and to the Hearts. But I forgot completely about him, to be fair.
“F*****g hell, now it’s too late! Maybe I’m going to find him today on Instagram and ask him everything about Hearts.”