SHORT of the novel concept of actually winning SPL matches, the only means to prevent depression working its way into the bones of Hearts' legions may be to quarantine the words of manager Csaba Laszlo. After Saturday's flop at Fir Park, his comments were contagion.
"We must also talk about the strikers," he said, after his team had failed to add to their nine league goals in SPL encounter number ten. "What we have at the moment isn't enough. This is the reality. I'm not a dreamer. We have so many inexperienced
players, we will have a lot of painful games. We're not dangerous and we don't score goals. This season will be really heavy for Hearts."
It already is. Not since season 1995-96 have the Tynecastle club won only twice as their number of league outings has moved on to the double-figure mark. Just the form to be going into a first Edinburgh derby against a Hibernian side who look in better nick than they have for nine years. And, for all that we know Laszlo spent the summer having good forward signing targets vetoed by impossible owner Vladimir Romanov, and for all we know that the squad is misshapen and not the coach's work alone, these severe handicaps do not in themselves explain why Hearts came within a goal of dropping to tenth place at the weekend. By rights, that ought to have happened, with Motherwell good for more than the fierce Ross Forbes' volley in 55 minutes that earned them the three points.
In their capacity for struggling against the most modest opponents – which does not include Jim Gannon's vibrant fourth-placed side, by the way – Hearts' problems are becoming increasingly less about personnel and more about personnel deployment. Problems on that front must be laid firmly at the feet of Laszlo.
Only with Gary Glen on for the injured, and irredeemable it seems, Christian Nade, did Hearts seem to experience the necessary injection of urgency and energy up front. The 4-2-3-1 formation with which Laszlo seems to have become fixated is not working. Nade did well in the Co-operative Insurance Cup victory at Celtic Park in midweek. But every front player with any physicality does well against the dodgy pairing of Stephen McManus and Gary Caldwell. And the whole notion of the cup win being a springboard completely overlooked the fact that, with the penalty they conceded and chances they contrived to miss, Celtic beat themselves more than anything else.
Laszlo seems determined to beat himself up, and stubbornly perhaps beat up on his owner, by sticking with players and ploys that, for the moment, have outlived their usefulness. Is it so much of a stretch to believe that it may be worth Laszlo playing two strikers and giving Glen a run? It is probably what Gannon would do.
After the win for his team that the red-card rightly shown to Hearts midfielder Eggert Jonsson with about a quarter of confrontation left had no bearing on, Motherwell captain Mark Reynolds admitted his manager had watched videos of their opponents and identified Hearts' weaknesses and the way his team "should play".
"What he was saying watching the games was that maybe Hearts were a bit weak in the two centre-half areas and, if we went direct and played balls up to our strong centre-forwards, we could fight for scraps and second balls. Build a base from there, as opposed to building a base from the back four. It worked a lot better and we played a lot more on the front foot."
Motherwell possess a flexibility and ability to play on the front foot that Hearts' approach precludes. Admittedly, central defender Marius Zaliukas is a huge loss for the Tynecastle men, and Michael Stewart's absence was sorely felt at the weekend. But neither of these men would be expected to make the telling difference in the final third.
The profound impact former Stockport Country manager Gannon has had on the Lanarkshire club gives the lie to the assertion regularly voiced by Laszlo, and Aberdeen manager Mark McGhee, that, in these straitened times for the Scottish game, it is nigh on impossible to wheel and deal, and wholly inadvisable to rely on the callowest of youth. Motherwell's starting XI contained two 18-year-olds, and three 20-year-olds.
"Everybody is pleasantly surprised how it is working out for us," Reynolds said. "The only man not surprised is Jim Gannon. He's brought in a lot of young players we've never heard of, and didn't know their calibre or what type of players they were. He assured us they were good quality and would do well in the SPL, and he's been true to his word.
"They've all done a job and turned our fortunes around. At the end of last season a lot of people at the club were panicking that we didn't have a squad, didn't have enough players. He's brought seven or eight young players in and they've all kicked on. He's a student of football, always learning, always trying new things. He's not scared to tinker or change it." Laszlo take note.
