Following embarrassing defeats at Ayr and Perth, Hearts went a long way towards reducing the anxiety levels among fans with an excellent 2-0 win against Celtic on Sunday. Second-half goals from Rudi Skacel and Ryan Stevenson sealed the win – although some poor Celtic finishing and a red card for Kris Commons helped enormously !!
Everyone put in a good performance, with Webster, Jonsson and Templeton probably being the pick of the bunch. Templeton played a key role in both goals – and the nature of these 2 moves surely gives a clue to how teams can pose the maximum attacking threat.
The lead-up to the first goal involved a high cross from Jamie Hamill being partly killed by Templeton – but Rudi`s reading of the situation prompted him to drift alongside young David to smash the ball into the left-hand corner of the net from around 16 yards.
The second goal resulted from a chip beyond the Celtic defence which was chased by both Templeton and Stevenson. Ryan anticipated David reaching the ball first and he moved on to the youngster`s back-heel before drawing Forster and rounding him, and driving the ball in to the net.
The value of having 2 attacking players within 5 yards of each other was well demonstrated in both these moves – no need for difficult long passes, just a simple flick from one to the other, while defenders seem unsure how to deal with such situations. More of this please, Hearts !!!
The other aspect of the performance was that – once again – the team achieved the result without a recognised goalscorer. Kevin Kyle is injured, Stephen Elliott seems to miss 99% of his chances, and Paulo Sergio doesn`t seem to rate John Sutton. In some respects, this is reminiscent of the Csaba days, when midfielders such as Michael Stewart and Bruno Aguiar scored most of our goals.
As Gary Locke said in his post-match interview, beating Celtic is of little value if the team can`t put in similar performances against the “normal” teams in the SPL – consistency is key. Maybe that`s why Vladimir Romanov decided to give a team-talk before the match. When I heard that he had left before the final whistle, my initial thought that he was perhaps preparing to dismiss Paulo Sergio for failing to beat Celtic by more than 2 goals !!
An away win at Dunfermline next, please !!
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beating the pars would indeed e nice! a good show i thiought, and though celtic missed at leas one sitter, we had out chances even before the red card. Jonsson and Temps were the star men for me, thoughI honestly thought Rudi played well (but man of the match mr wonga? please….!) and Ryan Stevenson again did well up top. I am really worried about the lack of a striler though, it is too like the Csaba days in many ways. I worry too that although you say ‘without Kyle’ I think Paulos non-rating of sutton and clear want to play football on the ground rather than in the air, leads me to wonder if having Kyle back really will help that much now – ?
Maybe just me but our approach to the game seemed a bit more JJ and a little less PS. As if PS has realised that a bit of grit (and maybe the occasional punt) might just get a few points on the board when blended in with the passing stuff. Also Temps was back and Skacel – I was beginning to wonder if he would ever play again. I would always play Skacel at home even if he lies back in a hammock for the best part of the game – he can score out of nothing.
Good points. So long as Rudi can get a few good shots at goal each game, his lack of involvement in other play isn’t a big issue for most fans – it’s only managers who don’t seem to like that kind of trade-off !!. And who knows what PS would make of KK …. thats assuming KK is ever going to reach fitness again.