Actions speak louder than words. But in football results are always the be all and end all.
I get what Neil Critchley was saying after Saturday’s 3-0 scudding at Celtic Park when he admitted it became about damage limitation for Hearts. But this weekend at home to Dundee United? It has to be about inflicting the maximum damage on the Terrors. And that means three points.
Let’s not shy away from it – this 90 minutes is absolutely massive. The biggest game of Hearts’ season. An afternoon that could make or break the campaign. Critchley said the second half against Celtic was not how he wants to play at Hearts. He insists he will “live or die” by ensuring the club’s traditions of “going toe-to-toe, being on the front foot, being aggressive”.
That’s music to my ears. But it’s all fine and well saying it. Come 2.30pm on Sunday at a fired-up Tynecastle his players better be ready to prove it. Win and they cut the gap on fifth-place United to two points and maybe even secure that top six spot depending on other results.
Lose.. well that is simply unthinkable. Drawing isn’t much good either. This is another occasion when everyone from Critchley and his staff to his starting XI and subs will be under the microscope with fans.
Hearts need to show what happened at Celtic Park has been put in the bin. The manager was trying to protect his players saying they stuck to their task and were undone by two lapses of concentration.
They started with quite a brave line-up but after Celtic got two quick goals with their first attempts on target it just fell apart. I get it. The players know as soon as you go 3-0 down against the Old Firm it’s damage limitation time.
For the manager, as soon as that final whistle goes you have to walk in that changing room and say ‘Right, here’s my points, we could have done X, Y and Z better’. Then park it. It’s gone. It’s now full focus on United.
The crazy thing is there’s actually no happy medium for Hearts this season. It’s either going to be really good or really s**t.
Making the top six is imperative and if they get there after the woeful start they made before Critchley came in then it will be great. Then they have a Scottish Cup semi final against Aberdeen to look forward to which could make it excellent.
But Hampden can wait. It’ll have to. All I’d be caring about right now is securing top six. That would also give Hearts another chance to right the wrongs of the derbies this season.
Same with games against Celtic, Rangers and Aberdeen. They’ve barely laid a glove on them this season and haven’t won any of 12 games against the big four.
That is unacceptable and needs to be corrected. The win against United at Tannadice a few months back was probably the best result of the season. They now need to deliver another at Tynecastle.
The big players are going to have to step up to the plate. From Craig Gordon to Lawrence Shankland everyone has to be on their game and ready to fight. Training should be ultra competitive. Back in my day we’d be flying into tackles at Riccarton absolutely bursting to prove we were ready for the challenge.
These are the games you come in on a Monday and say ‘I’m ready to go gaffer’. And prove it with your training levels. Then when the game starts they need to give the fans something to hang on to.
If it goes badly, it’ll be toxic again. It’s down to the players to ensure that’s not the case. They need to take the responsibility, start well and don’t let up.
I might sound a bit of a dinosaur but in that changing room they should be told that in the first five minutes somebody needs to lay one on someone, not over the top, but make a tackle, show aggression.
Because you can bet your bottom dollar Jim Goodwin’s players will. Playing for Hearts can be simple. If the fans can see you bursting your n*ts and not shying out of tackles, putting it on the line, they’ll back you to the hilt.
Under Jim Jefferies and Billy Brown we’d be told ‘play in their half, make sure you win the first ball, make sure you win the second ball and don’t dare lose the third ball!’ That’s it this weekend. Win the battle then let the quality win you the game.
United are a strong outfit as you’d expect under Goodwin. You can bet they’ll be heading to Gorgie thinking ‘how good if we beat them down there and stretch the gap to eight points’.
That simply can’t happen. I’m confident Hearts have enough to get over the line.
It might sound arrogant but it has never entered my head they won’t finish in the top six. They have enough quality throughout the team to get the job done.
But it’s fine saying it. Now they need to go and let their performances do the talking.